Create a Custom Course (CCX)

Create a Custom Course (CCX)#

Tags: educator how-to

A custom course (CCX) lets you reuse existing course content for a new group of learners on a different schedule. As a CCX coach, you select the content to include, enroll learners, set the schedule, and manage grading.

Note

Your site operations team will need to first Enabling Custom Courses on your Open edX instance before you can use this feature. Once enabled, a course admin must also enable CCX for the specific course in Studio Advanced Settings and assign you as the CCX coach.

Note

A CCX can contain only content from an existing course. You cannot author new content within a CCX.

Enable CCX for Your Course#

A course admin must enable CCX in Studio for the specific course before a CCX coach can be assigned. CCX is disabled at the course level by default.

  1. In Studio, open the course and select Advanced Settings from the Settings menu.

  2. Locate the Enable CCX key and set its value to true.

  3. Select Save Changes.

Add a CCX Coach#

A CCX requires exactly one CCX coach. Before assigning a coach, confirm that the person has registered an account in the LMS and enrolled in the course.

  1. In the LMS, select Instructor, then select Membership.

  2. In the Course Team Management section, open the Select a course team role dropdown and select CCX Coaches.

  3. Enter the coach’s username or email address, then select Add CCX Coach.

When the CCX coach next logs in, the CCX Coach tab will appear in the course navigation.

Note

The CCX Coach dashboard is not accessible to team members with the Admin or Staff roles.

Create the Custom Course#

Once assigned as CCX coach, you can create a CCX from inside the original course.

  1. In the LMS, open the course and select the CCX Coach tab.

  2. Enter a name for your CCX.

    Tip

    Choose a name that distinguishes this CCX from others based on the same course.

  3. Select Coach a new Custom Course for edX.

You are redirected to the full CCX Coach Dashboard. To return to the CCX later, open the original course and select the CCX Coach tab.

Configure the CCX Schedule#

The Schedule tab is where you select source course content to include in the CCX and set start and due dates for each unit.

  1. In the CCX Coach Dashboard, select the Schedule tab.

  2. Use the dropdown menus to browse the course content hierarchy and select items to include.

    • To include all source course content, select Add All Units.

  3. For each unit, set a start date and due date as needed. To edit dates after adding a unit, hover over the unit row in the content hierarchy.

  4. Select Save Changes.

Enroll Learners#

  1. In the CCX Coach Dashboard, select the Enrollment tab.

  2. Select Student List Management to add individual learners who already have platform accounts.

  3. To send email invitations to learners added through Batch Enrollment, select Notify users by email. Learners are automatically enrolled when they access the invitation link.

View and Download Grades#

  1. In the CCX Coach Dashboard, select the Student Admin tab.

  2. From this tab, you can view the gradebook or download learner grades.

Modify the Grading Policy#

A CCX coach can adjust the grading policy inherited from the original course.

Warning

Modifying the grading policy incorrectly can make your CCX unusable. Only attempt this if you are confident you understand how your changes affect grading.

  1. In the CCX Coach Dashboard, select the Grading Policy tab.

  2. Edit the grading policy, which is in JSON format.

  3. Verify that the JSON is well-formed before selecting Save Grading Policy.

See also

Enabling Custom Courses (site operators how-to)

Guide to Course Team Roles (reference)

Maintenance chart

Review Date

Working Group Reviewer

Release

Test situation

2026-04-09

sarina

Ulmo

Pass