---
title: "Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content"
description: "Enable and add advanced components to a Blend-ed course, such as H5P, SCORM packages, PDFs, polls, LTI live sessions and the Interactive Content XBlock."
source: "https://docs.blend-ed.com/product/course-creation/enhancing-your-course-with-advanced-content/"
---

# Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content

Beyond the core components, Blend-ed supports a wider set of content types called **advanced components** — interactive content, embedded documents, SCORM packages, external tools, and more.

Advanced components differ from core components in one important way: **they aren’t available until you enable them for your course.** This article covers how to enable them, how to add them, and what each one does.

## Part 1: Enable advanced components for your course
By default, the Advanced option in the Add a Component window offers nothing. You first enable the modules you want.

1. In the course-level left navigation, scroll to **OTHER SETTINGS** and click **Advanced Settings**.
2. Scroll to **Advanced Module List**.
3. Under **Suggested modules**, click the **+** on any module you want to enable. It moves up into **Enabled modules**.
4. Click **Save Changes**.

![Advanced Module List with Suggested modules chips](/_astro/image1e.C7LZRsYV_xVzY1.webp)

**Suggested modules**

| **Module key** | **Component** |
| --- | --- |
| h5pxblock | H5P XBlock |
| edx_sga | Staff Graded Assignment |
| conditional | Conditional Block |
| scorm | SCORM Module |
| poll | Poll Block |
| survey | Survey Block |
| annotatable | Annotation Block |
| done | Completion Block |
| lti_consumer | LTI Consumer |
| pdf | PDF XBlock |
| google-document | Embed Google Slides |
| interactive_content_xblock | Interactive Content |

Hover any chip to see its full name.

**Enabling a module that isn’t suggested**

Type the module key into the **Add module** field and click **+ Add Module**. Use this for anything not in the suggested list, such as Content Experiment, Google Calendar, or Word cloud.

*Tip: Enable only what you’ll actually use. A shorter list keeps the Add a Component window easier for your team to scan.*

*Warning: Removing a module from Enabled modules while components of that type still exist will break those components. Delete the components first.*

**Other settings on this page**

The Advanced Settings page also holds Course Dates, Learner Features (Calculator, Student notes, subsection prerequisites), Additional Features (proctored exams, social sharing), and Course Customization (custom CSS and JavaScript URLs, LTI passports, other course settings). These are covered in [Advanced Course Configuration](/product/course-creation/advanced-course-configuration/).

## Part 2: Add an advanced component
1. Open the Unit you want to add content to.
2. Click **+ Add component**.
3. Choose **Advanced**, then click **Add component**.
4. Select a component from the list and click **Select**.
5. Configure it and save.

![Add a Component modal showing the Advanced component list](/_astro/image1f.llueSzWm_1eyLh3.webp)

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 32](/_astro/image1e.C7LZRsYV_xVzY1.webp)

*Note: Advanced components open a settings-style editor with named fields rather than the visual editor used by Text and Problem. Most also have a settings panel for display name, grading, and component-specific options.*

## Part 3: Advanced components
### Annotation
**What it’s for.** Guided close reading. You mark up a passage with commentary that learners reveal by clicking a highlighted phrase, and you can tie each annotation to a problem on the same page. Good for analysing a source document, walking through a standard or contract clause by clause, or teaching a text where interpretation matters as much as content.

**Setting it up.** The EDITOR tab holds XML, not a visual editor. The component arrives pre-filled with a working example you replace.

1. Add the component and click the **pencil** icon.
2. On the **EDITOR** tab, replace the text inside <instructions> with your own guidance, written in HTML.
3. Replace the sample passage with your text.
4. Wrap each phrase you want annotated in an <annotation> tag.
5. Click **Save**.

The structure is an <annotatable> root containing an optional <instructions> block and your passage.

| **Attribute** | **Required** | **What it does** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| body | Yes | The text of the annotation |
| title | No | Annotation title. Defaults to *Commentary* |
| problem | No | Zero-based index of the problem this annotation relates to, so problem=“0” is the first problem on the page |
| highlight | No | yellow, red, orange, green, blue, or purple. Defaults to yellow |

Learners see the passage with your highlights and a control to show or hide the annotations.

![Editing: Annotation modal showing the XML editor](/_astro/image21.CWZFpBAP_ygfGr.webp)

### Completion
**What it’s for.** A single control learners click to confirm they’ve finished something. Use it for work that happens away from the platform: reading a printed handbook, attending a session, completing a task at their workstation. It’s the only way to get completion data on activity the platform can’t otherwise observe.

**Important: this component is graded.** It always appears on the learner’s Progress page. Where it sits determines what that means:

- **In an ungraded subsection** — the score appears as a practice score and doesn’t affect the final grade.
- **In a graded subsection** — it counts toward the final grade. Learners who mark the activity complete score 1/1; learners who don’t score 0/1.

Use it in ungraded subsections unless you specifically intend completion to carry marks.

**Setting it up.**

1. Add the component from the Advanced list.
2. Click the **pencil** icon and set the **Display Name**.
3. Click **Save**.

There’s no content to author. The component renders a **Mark as complete** control; once a learner clicks it, the label becomes **Unmark**, so they can change their mind as often as they like.

### Conditional
**What it’s for.** Hides content until a learner has done something else first: attempted a problem, answered a poll, submitted work. Good for releasing an answer key only after submission, gating bonus material behind an assessment, or enforcing a sequence within a single unit.

**Setting it up.**

1. Add the component from the Advanced list. It’s added to the unit immediately.
2. **First, get the ID of your source component.** Open the component the condition depends on, open its settings, and copy its component location ID.
3. Return to the Conditional component and click the **pencil** icon.
4. Configure the fields below.
5. Click **Save**, publish the unit, and check it with **View Live Version**.

| **Field** | **What to enter** |
| --- | --- |
| **Source Components** | The component location IDs of every component the condition checks |
| **Conditional Attribute** | Which attribute must match: poll answer, submitted, attempted, correct, or voted |
| **Conditional Value** | The value that attribute must equal: true or false |
| **Blocked Content Message** | What learners see when the condition isn’t met. Include {link} in your text and it renders as a direct link to the required unit, for example *You must complete {link} before you can access this unit.* |
| **Display Name** | Shows as *Conditional* by default. Rename it to suit your content |
| **Hide sequence content After Due Date** | Optional. Hides the sequence from non-staff once the due date passes |
| **Is Entrance Exam** | Optional. Tags this as an entrance exam. Entrance exams must be enabled in course settings for it to take effect |
| **Number of Relative Weeks Due By** | Optional. Weeks until due, counted from each learner’s enrolment date |

*Tip: Source Components is the step people skip. Without a valid component ID the conditional silently shows nothing and gives no error.*

### Content Experiment
**What it’s for.** Shows different content to different groups of learners from the same unit, so you can compare two approaches or deliver role-specific material without maintaining separate courses.

**Before you start.** Create a group configuration under **OTHER SETTINGS > Group Configurations**. The experiment can’t work without one, and the configuration defines how learners are divided.

**Setting it up.**

1. Add the component from the Advanced list.
2. Click the **pencil** icon and choose your **Group Configuration**.
3. Save. The component creates one child group for each group in your configuration.
4. Open each group in turn and add the content that group should see.
5. Publish the unit.

| **Field** | **What it does** |
| --- | --- |
| **Display Name** | Internal name. Not shown to learners |
| **Group Configuration** | Defines how learners are divided between versions |
| **Hide sequence content After Due Date** | Hides the sequence from non-staff after the due date |
| **Is Time Limited** | Limits how long learners have with this content |
| **Time Limit in Minutes** | The limit, used when Is Time Limited is on |
| **Is Proctoring Enabled** | Marks this as a proctored exam |
| **Is Practice Exam** | Marks this as testing-only. Practice exams aren’t verified |
| **Is Onboarding Exam** | Marks this as an onboarding exam |
| **Software Secure Review Rules** | Rules the proctoring team follows when reviewing recordings |
| **Number of Relative Weeks Due By** | Weeks until due, from each learner’s enrolment date |

*Warning: Changing the group configuration after learners can see the experiment will corrupt your experiment data. Settle the configuration before you publish.*

### Google Calendar
**What it’s for.** Embeds a Google Calendar in a unit. Good for publishing a course schedule, live session dates, office hours, or assessment deadlines somewhere learners will actually look.

**Setting it up.**

**First, make the calendar public and get its ID:**

1. Open the calendar’s settings in Google Calendar.
2. Find the calendar you want to share and open its sharing settings.
3. Make the calendar public and save.
4. Open the calendar’s details and copy its **Calendar ID**. It looks like [abcdefghijklmnop1234567890@group.calendar.google.com](mailto:abcdefghijklmnop1234567890@group.calendar.google.com).

**Then add the component:**

1. Add **Google Calendar** from the Advanced list. It arrives with a default calendar embedded.
2. Click the **pencil** icon.
3. Enter a **Display Name**.
4. Paste your ID into **Public Calendar ID**.
5. Choose a **Default View**: Month, Week, or Agenda. This is only the starting view; learners can switch.
6. Click **Save** and preview with **View Live Version**.

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 34](/_astro/image22.-93F8cgu_1VEas6.webp)

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 35](/_astro/image23.DQXZoQcA_Z2uQRtg.webp)

*Note: Google’s interface changes from time to time, so the exact path to the sharing settings and calendar ID may differ from the steps above. The two things you need are a publicly shared calendar and its ID.*

*Note: Google services aren’t reachable in some countries. Learners in those regions may see nothing where the calendar should be. Provide the same information another way if this affects your audience.*

### Google Document
**What it’s for.** Embeds a Google Doc, Sheet, Slides deck, Drawing, or Form so learners read it in place. Most often used for slide decks, which is why it appears as *Embed Google Slides* in the suggested modules list.

**Setting it up.**

**First, publish the file and copy its embed code:**

1. Open the file in Google Drive.
2. From the **File** menu, choose **Publish to the web**.
3. Select **Publish** and confirm.
4. Open the **Embed** tab.
5. Copy the entire string from the **Embed** field, including the <iframe> tags. For an image, copy the full img tag instead, since Google images don’t use an iframe.

**Then add the component:**

1. Add **Google Document** from the Advanced list. It arrives with a default presentation embedded.
2. Click the **pencil** icon.
3. Enter a **Display Name**.
4. Paste the string into **Embed Code**.
5. Click **Save**.

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 36](/_astro/image24.DPMe8IUJ_1NAQow.webp)

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 37](/_astro/image25.C0Lm-dQq_ZePUih.webp)

*Tip: It’s the embed code you need, not the document’s share link. A share link pasted here will not render.*

*Note: Once embedded, edits you make to the file in Google appear to learners immediately. You never need to touch the component again to update the content.*

*Note: Blend-ed sets the height and width of embedded Google files. Size attributes in your embed code are overridden.*

### H5P Content
**What it’s for.** Plays H5P interactive content: interactive video, branching scenarios, drag-and-drop, flashcards, memory games, timelines, and many more. Several H5P types report a score to the gradebook, so it works for graded practice as well as exploration.

**Setting it up.**

1. Build your activity in H5P and export it as an .h5p file, or get the URL of hosted H5P content.
2. Add the component and click the **pencil** icon.
3. Upload the .h5p package, or enter the hosted content URL.
4. Set display options: whether to show the H5P frame, download button, copyright information, and embed button.
5. If the activity is scored, set whether it’s graded and its weight.
6. Click **Save**, then preview with **View Live Version**.

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 38](/_astro/image26.Cu6lLKxr_Zh7dxT.webp)

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 39](/_astro/image27.BPM8grOY_1z1iCA.webp)

*Tip: Test the activity as a learner before publishing. H5P content is self-contained, so a package that fails to load gives learners a blank space rather than an error they can report usefully.*

### Interactive Content XBlock
**What it’s for.** Custom activities built from HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, with learner interactions captured for grading, analytics, and state restoration.

This is the component to use when you’ve generated an interactive activity with an AI tool. Pasting raw HTML into a Text component gives you something that looks right but records nothing: no interaction data, no grade, no memory of what the learner did. This component captures all of it.

**Setting it up.**

1. Add the component and click the **pencil** icon.
2. Fill in the fields below.
3. Use **Test Grading** to confirm your grading works.
4. Click **Save**, then publish.

| **Field** | **What it does** |
| --- | --- |
| **Generate with AI** | Generates the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript from a prompt. Click **Generate** |
| **Display Name** | Name shown for this component |
| **HTML Content** | The markup rendered inside the block |
| **CSS Styles** | Styles for your content |
| **JavaScript Code** | Interactivity. Call submitInteraction(data) to send data back to the component |
| **Weight** | How much this activity counts toward the grade |
| **Completion Mode** | *On submit* when the learner submits, *On view* for simulations with nothing to submit, or *Manual* when your JavaScript calls markComplete() |
| **Auto Grade Enabled** | Grades automatically from the interaction data |
| **Show Feedback to Learners** | Shows correct and incorrect feedback |
| **Show Previous Response** | Restores the learner’s last submission when they return |
| **Grading Configuration** | Your **Correct Feedback** and **Incorrect Feedback** messages. These display even when your own JavaScript controls grading |
| **Enable Debug Mode** | Staff-only state panel, for development |

**Test Grading**

Below the fields sits a live preview. Interact with it, and when your JavaScript calls submitInteraction() the grading result appears. **Reload Preview** refreshes it after you change your code.

*Tip: Run Test Grading before every save. Custom JavaScript grading is easy to get subtly wrong, and this is where you want to discover that, not in a learner’s gradebook.*

**Generating content without writing code**

Two routes: the built-in **Generate with AI** field, or Blend-ed’s Interactive XBlock Content Generator on the Blend-ed website. The generator takes your own Gemini API key and produces simulations, roleplays, or interactive quizzes for you to review and export. It runs entirely in your browser, so your API key never leaves your device.

![Interactive Content XBlock rendering a sample quiz](/_astro/image28.C5a5Uzd__e02S6.webp)

![Interactive Content XBlock rendering a sample quiz](/_astro/image29.B42WMbfD_Z206ydA.webp)

![Interactive Content XBlock rendering a sample quiz](/_astro/image2a.DggCAih2_1nEPu9.webp)

![Interactive Content XBlock rendering a sample quiz](/_astro/image2b.C4TG2QN-_ZXCugl.webp)

### LTI Consumer (Creating & Managing Live Sessions)
**What it’s for.** The LTI Consumer component lets you bring third-party tools, external applications and external learning content directly into your Blend-ed course. Learners use the tool inside the course without leaving Blend-ed.

LTI (Learning Tools Interoperability) is a standard way for learning platforms and external tools to work together. In this setup, Blend-ed is the **LTI Consumer** (the host platform), and the external tool is the **LTI Provider**.

**What it can do**

| **Capability** | **What it means** |
| --- | --- |
| Tool integration | Add any LTI-compliant tool to your course outline, such as Zoom for live sessions, adaptive learning tools, quizzes or lab simulations |
| LTI versions | Supports LTI 1.1/1.2 (basic launch and grade passback), and LTI 1.3 with LTI Advantage |
| Display options | Show the tool inline in the page, in a pop-up (modal) window, or in a new browser tab |

With LTI 1.3, the component also supports these **LTI Advantage** services:

| **Service** | **What it does** |
| --- | --- |
| Deep Linking | Lets you choose and set up specific content from the tool without entering parameters by hand |
| Assignment and Grade Services (AGS) | Sends scores and activity status from the tool back to the Blend-ed gradebook |
| Names and Role Provisioning Services (NRPS) | Shares roster details, such as names, emails and roles, between Blend-ed and the tool |

Note: Check which LTI version your tool supports before you start. The tool’s vendor will give you the credentials and launch URL you need.

Note: Only send learners’ details, such as username and email, when the tool genuinely needs them. Each field you share is learner data leaving your platform.

**Example: Adding Zoom live sessions with LTI Consumer**

Zoom is one of the tools you can add with LTI Consumer. Using Zoom’s LTI Pro app, you can put a Zoom meeting panel inside a unit. Instructors schedule meetings from inside the course, and learners see the upcoming sessions and join with one click. This is useful for scheduled classes, office hours and cohort calls.

**Before you start.** You need:

- a Zoom account with admin access, to set up Zoom LTI Pro
- LTI Consumer enabled for the course. If it isn’t listed under **Add component > Advanced**, enable lti_consumer in the Advanced Module List first. See Part 1 of this article.

Setting up Zoom has three stages: getting credentials from Zoom (once), adding them to your course, then adding the session to a unit.

**Stage 1: Get your Zoom LTI Pro credentials (one-time)**

*If you haven’t set up LTI Pro before:*

1. Go to the Zoom Marketplace and search for **LTI Pro**.
2. Add the app, and click **Authorize** when it asks for access to your Zoom account.
3. Create a new credential, give it a name, and click **Save**.

*If you already use LTI Pro:*

1. Sign in to the Zoom Marketplace and click **Manage**.
2. Click **Added Apps**.
3. Beside **LTI Pro**, click **···**, then **Configure**.
4. Create a new credential, give it a name, and click **Save**.

*Then, on the* ***LTI Credentials*** *tab:*

1. In **Email or Employee Unique ID Attribute Name**, enter instructor_email.
2. In **Approved Domains**, add your learner and Studio addresses, for example [https://apps.learn.blend-ed.com/](https://apps.learn.blend-ed.com/) and [https://author.learn.blend-ed.com/](https://author.learn.blend-ed.com/).
3. Copy the **LTI Key** and **LTI Secret**. You’ll need both in Stage 2.

![Zoom LTI Pro credential page showing LTI URL, LTI Key and LTI Secret](/_astro/image2c.C8qtpwmm_qO4Kc.webp)

Note: Treat the LTI Key and Secret like a password. Anyone who has them can connect a tool to your Zoom account. If they’re ever exposed, click **Regenerate** in Zoom and update the passport in Blend-ed.

**Stage 2: Add the credentials to your course**

1. Open the course, then under **OTHER SETTINGS** click **Advanced Settings**.
2. Scroll to **Course Customization > LTI passports**.
3. Fill in the three boxes:

| **Box** | **What to enter** |
| --- | --- |
| ID | zoom, or another short label. You’ll enter this again in the component |
| client_key | The LTI Key from Zoom |
| client_secret | The LTI Secret from Zoom |

1. Click **Save Changes** . A confirmation reads **Your changes have been saved** .

![LTI passports with zoom, client_key and client_secret filled in](/_astro/image2d.DyPS2HpJ_UdFwa.webp)

Tip: Click **+ Add passport** if you need credentials for more than one LTI tool. Each passport needs its own ID.

**Stage 3: Add the live session to a unit**

1. In the unit, click **Add component > Advanced > LTI Consumer** .

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 46](/_astro/image2e.DY7uh9hg_Z1FElGT.webp)

The component shows **Please provide launch_url. Click “Edit”, and fill in the required fields.**

1. Click the pencil icon to open the editor.

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 47](/_astro/image2f.y3K3YpCv_2dClHT.webp)

1. Fill in these settings:

| **Setting** | **What to enter** |
| --- | --- |
| Display Name | A name learners will see, for example **Live Session** |
| LTI Application Information | A short description of the tool, for example **Zoom** |
| LTI Version | **LTI 1.1/1.2** |
| LTI ID | The ID from your passport, for example zoom |
| LTI URL | [https://applications.zoom.us/lti/rich](https://applications.zoom.us/lti/rich) |
| Custom Parameters | [“instructor_email=your Zoom admin email”], for example [“[instructor_email=admin@yourcompany.com](mailto:instructor_email=admin@yourcompany.com)”] |
| Scored | **False**. Live sessions don’t send a grade |

1. Optionally, set **LTI Launch Target** to **Modal** and adjust **Modal Height** and **Modal Width** if you want the Zoom panel to open in a pop-up instead of inline.
2. Click **Save**.

The Zoom panel now appears in the unit.

![Live Session component showing the Zoom panel with Meetings, Upcoming Meetings and Schedule a New Meeting](/_astro/image30.BB059QuC_JY6Vo.webp)

1. In the Zoom panel, click **Schedule a New Meeting** and set up your session. It appears under **Upcoming Meetings**.
2. Click **Publish Unit**.

Tip: Tick **Show my course meetings only** in the Zoom panel to hide meetings from other courses on the same Zoom account.

Note: The **LTI ID** must match the passport ID exactly, and the **instructor_email** must be the email of the Zoom account that set up LTI Pro. A mismatch in either is the most common reason the panel doesn’t load.

**What learners see**

Learners open the unit and see the session’s upcoming meetings, each with its topic and meeting ID. They click **Join**, then choose **Join from Zoom Workplace app** or **Join from browser**.

![Learner view of the unit with an upcoming meeting and the Join button](/_astro/image31.BHrvwZ5l_2sMSVb.webp)

![Zoom Join meeting page with Join from Zoom Workplace app and Join from browser](/_astro/image32.C56Rhtqv_Z4fK0x.webp)

Tip: Preview the unit with **View Live Version** before publishing, and join a test meeting yourself.

### PDF
**What it’s for.** Displays a PDF inline with a viewer, so learners read it without downloading anything. Good for handouts, reference sheets, standards, and worksheets. For long multi-chapter documents, use Textbooks instead.

**Setting it up.**

1. Upload your PDF under **BUILD > Assets** and copy its URL, or have an external URL ready.
2. Add the component and click the **pencil** icon.
3. Enter a **Display Name**.
4. Paste the URL into the **PDF URL** field.
5. Choose whether to allow downloading.
6. Click **Save**.

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 51](/_astro/image33.Cr06WVSk_Z29Y2c5.webp)

### Poll
**What it’s for.** One question with a set of answer options, showing learners the aggregate results once they’ve answered. Ungraded. Good for opening a topic with a temperature check, gathering opinion, or creating a moment of engagement before a lesson.

**Setting it up.**

1. Add the component and click the **pencil** icon.
2. Enter a **Display Name**.
3. Enter your question.
4. Enter each answer option. Options can include an image as well as text.
5. Optionally add feedback text shown after answering.
6. Set whether results are private, and the maximum number of submissions allowed.
7. Click **Save**.

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 52](/_astro/image34.CQZbcMN8_2ccHu.webp)

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 53](/_astro/image35.CS-kxT36_W4AYP.webp)

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 54](/_astro/image36.-872PoBD_2sLQiV.webp)

### SCORM module
**What it’s for.** Plays a SCORM package, saving learner state and reporting scores to the course Progress tab. Supports SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004. Good for existing e-learning built in Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate, iSpring, or similar, including compliance content you’re required to deliver unchanged.

**Setting it up.**

1. Export your content from your authoring tool as a SCORM .zip package.
2. Add the component and click the **pencil** icon.
3. Upload the .zip package.
4. Set **Scored** to False if the package has no quizzes. If Scored is True, set the **Weight** to the points the quiz is out of.
5. Enter a **Display Name**.
6. Click **Save**, publish, and test with **View Live Version**.

**Things to know**

- **One SCORM component per unit.** More than one won’t work.
- **Display Name is Studio-only.** Learners see the component under the unit title, not the display name.
- **Keep packages between roughly 1 MB and 15 MB.** Larger packages load slowly and make for a poor learner experience. Break long content into unit-sized chunks, ideally with one quiz per package.
- **SCORM content isn’t supported in the mobile app.** If your learners are mobile-first, plan around this.

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 55](/_astro/image37.BLMEiqDY_elNYd.webp)

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 56](/_astro/image38.2z-PnLO9_ZyhWBw.webp)

*Tip: Confirm the score and completion actually reach the gradebook before releasing the course. A package that plays perfectly can still fail to report.*

### Staff Graded Assignment
**What it’s for.** Assigning scores for work done off the platform: attendance, participation, practical assessments, in-person presentations. The component shows learners your instructions and displays the grade you give them.

**How grading works.** There’s no learner submission. Learners don’t upload anything. You enter grades in bulk by exporting a CSV, filling it in, and importing it back.

**Setting it up.**

1. Add the component and click the **pencil** icon.
2. Enter a **Display Name** and the **Maximum Score** (or **Problem Weight**, the points possible, which defaults to 1.0).
3. Add instructions telling learners what the off-platform activity is and how it will be assessed.
4. Click **Save** and publish.

**Grading learners**

Once the course is running and learners have completed the activity:

1. Open the component’s instructor view in the live course.
2. **Export scores.** Download the grading CSV. You can filter by track or cohort to grade a subset of learners.
3. **Fill in the grades.** Open the CSV in a spreadsheet and enter scores in the **New Points** column. Leave any row blank to leave that learner’s score unchanged.
4. **Import scores.** Upload the completed CSV. Learners see their grades as soon as the import finishes.
5. **Review the result.** A summary appears at the bottom of the screen showing what was validated and applied.

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 57](/_astro/image39.CLffhMA-_ZGbbq8.webp)

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 58](/_astro/image3a.T9K446xz_2gtow5.webp)

*Note: The import handles files up to about 4 MB. For very large cohorts, split the CSV into several files, keeping the header row in each, or use the track and cohort filters to grade in batches.*

*Note: If you need learners to submit a file or a written answer, this isn’t the right component. Use the Open Response core component instead, covered in [Adding Content Components](/product/course-creation/adding-content-components/).*

### Survey
**What it’s for.** Several questions that share one set of answer options, laid out as a grid, with aggregate results shown afterwards. Ungraded. Good for course feedback, self-assessment checklists, and pre-course skill audits.

**Setting it up.**

1. Add the component and click the **pencil** icon.
2. Enter a **Display Name**.
3. Enter the answer options. These are shared across every question, which is what makes the grid layout work.
4. Enter your questions.
5. Optionally add feedback text shown after submission.
6. Set whether results are private, and the maximum number of submissions.
7. Click **Save**.

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 59](/_astro/image3b.CeXYCgtw_Z2acvhP.webp)

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 60](/_astro/image3c.CCF2rc23_1eX72f.webp)

*Tip: Because all questions share the same options, a survey only works when every question fits the same scale. Mixed question types need separate Poll components or a Problem component instead.*

### Word cloud
**What it’s for.** Learners submit words in response to a prompt, and the component displays everyone’s answers as a cloud that grows as more people respond. Good for brainstorming, surfacing prior knowledge, and giving a cohort a visible sense of shared thinking.

**Before you start.** Word cloud isn’t in the suggested modules list. Type word_cloud into the **Add module** field in Advanced Settings and save.

**Setting it up.**

1. Add the component and click the **pencil** icon.
2. Enter a **Display Name** and your instructions or prompt.
3. Set the **number of inputs** — how many words each learner submits.
4. Set the **maximum number of words** shown in the cloud.
5. Choose whether to display the percentage alongside each word.
6. Click **Save**.

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 61](/_astro/image3d.C7AdyzxM_ZDuzpz.webp)

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 62](/_astro/image3e.Cno0YFL__Z2gIend.webp)

## Textbooks
Textbooks are managed in their own area rather than added as a component. A textbook appears as a dedicated tab in the course with chapters learners can navigate.

**What it’s for.** Long reference documents split into chapters: course handbooks, manuals, standards. Learners get a navigable table of contents instead of one endless PDF.

**Setting it up.**

1. In the course-level left navigation under **BUILD** , click **Textbooks** .

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 63](/_astro/image3f.wvFFSmBM_Z153KsS.webp)

1. Click **+ New textbook** .

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 64](/_astro/image40.DKL8BYYr_Z1em4nJ.webp)

1. Enter a **Textbook name**, for example *Course Handbook*.
2. Under **Chapters**, enter a **Chapter name** and add the **PDF file**, either by uploading it or pasting a Studio path.
3. Click **+ Add a chapter** for each additional chapter.
4. Click **Add Textbook**.

![Enhancing Your Course with Advanced Content screenshot 65](/_astro/image41.BYvu0R8U_Qvnq4.webp)

Both Textbook name and each Chapter name and PDF are required, so the **Add Textbook** button stays disabled until every chapter row is complete.

![New TextBook modal with name and two chapter rows](/_astro/image42.r1t94Gbi_2uj6ts.webp)

*Tip: One PDF per chapter. A ten-chapter textbook is far more usable than a single 200-page file, and learners can jump straight to what they need.*

## Publishing
Advanced components follow the same draft rules as core components. Use **Publish Unit** in the Unit sidebar, or **Publish Changes** on the Course Outline page.

Because advanced components often depend on external services, preview them with **View Live** before publishing to check they load correctly for learners.

## What’s next
- Core content types: [Adding Content Components](/product/course-creation/adding-content-components/)
- Upload the files these components point to: [Managing Assets](/product/course-creation/managing-assets/)
- Custom CSS, LTI passports, and group configurations: [Advanced Course Configuration](/product/course-creation/advanced-course-configuration/)