CourseMagic

CourseMagic is an AI course design tool for educators, instructional designers and training teams. The home page pitches it as a way to "Build a course with your own AI Instructional Designer": it generates a course using learning design best practices, lets the author adjust it for any level, and imports the result straight into a learning management system. It is created and operated by OpenLearning, which the site describes as an AI-powered lifelong learning platform for short courses, micro-credentials and online degrees, and the site footer credits OpenLearning Limited.

The About page says CourseMagic was designed and developed by educators and runs on GPT-4 from Microsoft Azure's OpenAI service. Its suggestions cover learning activities, content creation and assessment strategies. The site also says it works with the major LMSs with no integration work or prompt engineering needed, so a lecturer does not have to learn how to write prompts to get a usable draft.

How a course gets built

Rather than jumping from a topic to finished pages, CourseMagic follows a step-by-step instructional design process, and each step builds on the one before:

1. Course objective. The author enters the topic, audience and goals, and CourseMagic drafts the course objective.
2. Learning outcomes. Outcomes are generated from one of eight taxonomies, or typed in directly. The home page names Bloom's taxonomy, project-based learning, soft skills and dimensions of knowledge among them.
3. Course structure. The About page says the author selects from seven frameworks, and the home page gives competency-based learning and subject-centered design as examples, to produce a structure that delivers on the chosen outcomes.
4. Module structure. Each module gets a plan built on that framework, which the author refines before CourseMagic generates the activity pages.
5. Quizzes. Custom quizzes come in diverse question types matched to the outcomes, written to promote critical thinking, real-world application and reflection.
6. Content. Generated material can range from tables and mathematical formulas to case studies and how-to guides.
7. Activities and assessments. The tool offers over 15 interactive activity and assessment types to keep learners engaged and aligned with the objectives.

The emphasis is on assessment that shows real learning. The home page describes interactive activities that encourage collaboration, critical thinking and deeper understanding, and produce "rich evidence of learning through project-based activities, formative assessments, and more". The author stays in control throughout: the site says AI-generated content can be refined to match a teaching style, audience and course objectives. Its closing pitch is that the entire course structure, from objectives to content and activities, can be generated in a matter of minutes, saving months of design work.

Getting courses into an LMS

CourseMagic is a design tool rather than a place to host learners. Its integrations page is about building courses and exporting them to other LMS platforms, and lists five targets: OpenLearning, Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard (Blackboard Learn) and Desire2Learn (D2L Brightspace). That covers the systems many universities and colleges already run, so a faculty can design in CourseMagic and teach in its existing environment.

CourseMagic+ inside OpenLearning

For OpenLearning customers there is a more advanced version, CourseMagic+. The OpenLearning integration page says it is built into OpenLearning's own course creation tools and sits alongside drag-and-drop authoring widgets for text, video, audio, images, files, quizzes and more. Authors can add constructivist-style interactive activities, group work and outcome-based assessments, and use OpenLearning's learning analytics tools to shape the course around specific student needs. Learners' work is added automatically to their ePortfolio on OpenLearning, where they can show their learning artifacts and achievements. That fits OpenLearning's own approach, which the About page describes as rooted in social constructivist philosophy, with collaborative learning at its center.

Existing OpenLearning educators log in with their educator account to reach CourseMagic+, and newcomers can start a free 30-day trial of OpenLearning to try it. The integration page marks CourseMagic+ as available on all plans, with OpenLearning as the requirement. OpenLearning's own figures, given on the About page, are over 250 education providers and 3.5 million learners worldwide, and the home page says CourseMagic is "Trusted by 250+ Education Partners".

Where it is used

The site sets out four use cases, framed as designing "for face-to-face, online and for every level":

• MOOCs and micro-credentials. Stackable courses and credentials for flexible learning pathways, content aligned to skills outcomes, and project-based portfolios with verified credentials learners can show to employers.
• Professional development. Industry-specific programs with videos, images and project-based activities, reviewed and updated with subject matter experts.
• Higher education. AI help with brainstorming, content generation and assessment design, with the course then moved into the institution's LMS.
• Corporate training. Turning existing content into training and onboarding programs, with interactive content for collaboration and translation capabilities for multilingual teams.

OpenLearning also runs an awards program around the tool; the site banner promotes #OLAwards2024 with an award for Outstanding Course Design with CourseMagic.

What educators say

The home page quotes three university leaders from OpenLearning partner institutions. Cherie Diaz, Executive Director, Education Innovation at Western Sydney University, calls the collaboration a sign of "our dedication to embracing innovative technologies that can enable the future of education." Professor Dr Hiew Pang Leang, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wollongong KDU Malaysia, says: "This technology will help us maintain our commitment to delivering high-quality, engaging learning experiences to our students, while ensuring the responsible use of AI." Prof. Dr. Abhi Veerakumarasivam, Provost of Sunway University Malaysia, says his institution is part of the pilot program and adds: "Generative AI tools will dramatically shape the future of work."

Access and pricing

Signing up is free and the site says no credit card is required. The site publishes no price list; its Pricing link leads back to the home page, so costs beyond the free sign-up and the 30-day OpenLearning trial have to come from the company.

Who it suits

CourseMagic fits university teaching staff, learning designers and training teams who want a structured design process rather than an instant course. The taxonomy and framework choices suit people who already think in learning outcomes and want the AI to do the drafting inside that structure. Institutions on Moodle, Canvas, Blackboard or D2L can use it without changing systems, and OpenLearning customers get the deeper CourseMagic+ version inside the platform they already teach on.

It is a design and authoring tool, not a hosted academy: a creator who needs to sell courses, take payments or manage learners outside an LMS will need a separate platform for that. Corporate L&D teams can use it as well, mainly to turn existing slides and documents into onboarding and upskilling programs, with translation for staff who learn in other languages.