YouTube is giving its creators a powerful new tool to share their knowledge and expertise with the world, through a feature aptly named Courses. But this new offering isn't entirely new. YouTube first unveiled it in 2022 and tested it with a select group of creators to make sure it was ready for prime time. Now it's rolling out to more creators, opening up a whole new world of possibilities for both educational content and monetization.
What are YouTube courses?
In short, Courses allows creators to package their videos into structured, multi-lesson learning programs. It's like having your own virtual classroom right on your YouTube channel. The feature is packed with helpful tools, like quizzes to test your students' understanding and dedicated discussion sections to encourage interaction and community building. What's more, these courses can be offered for free or for a one-time fee, giving creators another way to turn their passion into profit.
YouTube focuses on “courses”
YouTube not only introduces courses, but actively promotes them to ensure maximum visibility. Courses appear across the platform with a special badge, whether you're browsing search results, visiting a channel page, or seeing what's next in your recommendations. Each channel with courses even has its own Courses tab, and some may even be featured on a central courses page on YouTube itself. YouTube has also thought about how to keep learners engaged and motivated. A new information box on the course playlist page shows how long the course is and how much of it you've already completed. And for those who make it to the end? They'll be rewarded with a new badge that appears on their You tab.
Getting started with the courses is pretty straightforward and the process is similar to uploading new videos. Creators just need to go to YouTube Studio on desktop, click “Create,” then “New Course,” and fill in all the details. Currently, you can only create a course on a computer, but you can still upload individual videos from your phone and add them to the course later when you're back on your computer.
YouTube is taking it slow with this rollout, so if you don't see the New Course option in YouTube Studio yet, you may have to wait a little longer for it to appear. Still, this is definitely an exciting new feature that's a win-win for both creators and viewers.