LMS Orientation Videos from Course Maps and Rubrics
A week-zero course map and a rubric deck become orientation videos. Pair them with the real LMS navigation, then check whether students can name the first task and how the rubric scores.
The direct answer: Build course orientation from the design documents, then adapt it to sections and new terms without rebuilding every explanation.
Golpo is built to be the complete AI explainer workflow for that orientation. Start from the course map, the rubric deck, an approved script, or the instructor's recording. Golpo drafts the narration in Prompt Mode, plans the scenes, and designs the visuals. Review the script before creating the video, then place the file in the LMS module it explains. A short recording of the real navigation belongs inside the explainer. The animated scenes carry the course logic. Captions, the player, and completion tracking stay checks you run in the course.
This guide is for instructional designers, online-learning teams, faculty developers, LMS administrators, accessibility teams, and program leaders. The two renders below were produced in Prompt Mode from the documents linked beside them. The first is week zero. The second is how one assignment is evaluated. The aim you can test is specific: after week zero, a student can name the first required task and the module order. After the rubric video, they can say what each criterion is worth.
What week zero has to show
The shell, and the logic behind it.
- Students meet navigation, dates, participation, support, and grading before the content starts.
- A screen recording shows the real buttons. An explainer shows why the modules are in that order.
- Rubric labels are visible, and the points behind them still need their own scenes.
- The same course look should carry from week zero to the rubric and into the next term.
Use the course map as the source, and the live shell as the picture of navigation.
The course map, then the rubric
Keep these as two videos. Week zero explains how the course is organized. The rubric video explains how one assignment is scored. In the linked course map, Start Here must be completed before Module 1 unlocks, and the shell opens to students at 8:00 a.m. on January 8, 2027. A useful week-zero video makes that sequence obvious. The linked rubric deck uses five criteria that sum to 100 points, with a worked score of 87 that posts as 87. The rubric video should keep those criteria distinct and should not promise a grade.
Companion example · smaller, sharper, task-specific
How This Assignment Will Be Evaluated
Turn the rubric deck into a student-facing explanation of criteria, performance levels, evidence, submission, feedback, and revision.
Open the source PowerPoint · No narration script was supplied.
Production brief and visual controls
Build this video entirely from the attached document. Title it: How This Assignment Will Be Evaluated. Turn the rubric deck into a student-facing explanation of criteria, performance levels, evidence, submission, feedback, and revision. Write the narration yourself from the attached document; no narration script is supplied. Do not introduce any fact, figure, date, name, instruction, policy, right, deadline, recommendation, promise, or outcome not in the document. Treat the people, institution, identifiers, and values as the document's own facts. Never call the document a sample, demo, fictional, synthetic, illustrative, or an example. VISUAL DIRECTION Use one visual scale per criterion and quote rubric labels exactly. Never promise a grade. FIGURE LOCK: every number, date, time, code, fee, threshold, window, phone number, status, and identifier shown or spoken must come from the attached document. Do not invent placeholder values.
Navigation footage plus course logic
The week-zero render explains the map. The rubric render explains how an assignment is scored. The version to embed adds a clip of the real shell and the instructor's voice, in a course style you can reuse next term.
The real LMS page, inside the explainer
Own Media inserts your images and video into the generated explainer, on Business and higher plans. Drop in a short, authorized recording of Start Here and the control that opens Module 1. The animated scenes then explain why that gate exists, how the weekly rhythm works, and where support lives. A drawn LMS is not the shell students log into. See plan availability.
One scene per criterion, and per learner action
Custom Scenes lets you move sentence boundaries so each rubric criterion, and each learner action such as completing Start Here, gets its own scene, within the engine limit. Custom Scenes does not rewrite the narration or make a point value correct. It is on Growth and higher plans. The week-zero render uses Canvas Illustration (Compact), which groups related parts. The rubric render uses Sketch Formal. Compact groups components; Expanded spreads them. Notebook is Compact-only. In the API, unsuffixed Canvas values select Expanded and _compact selects Compact.
The instructor's recording, or a presenter beside the board
Own Narration uses an authorized instructor recording to drive the visuals, on Business and higher plans. The recording sets duration and spoken language. A language setting leaves that audio as recorded. Audio-only upload does not create a face. Picture-in-Picture, in the Picture-in-Picture guide, keeps the recorded instructor visible.
AI Presenter is the on-camera alternative: a stock presenter, or an authorized custom presenter from a photo, beside the explanation. It is on Creator and higher plans. A synthetic presenter is not a recording of the instructor. Presenter API support is coming soon, so create presenters in the dashboard.
A course style the next module can reuse
Custom Style saves a named style from a course image, a video, or a description under My Styles, then reuses it in Canvas or Sketch on Business and higher plans. Week zero, the rubric, and the next term can share that look. It is not pixel-exact branding or exact typography. API use of a saved style also needs the relevant API access.
Prompt Mode can draft narration from the frozen map. Approve it with Edit script before creating video. Use Script Mode when a date, a tool name, or a rubric label must be spoken exactly, and put visual directions in Video Instructions. About 1,050 characters of narration fit in a selected minute.
Workflow before the next assignment opens
- Source. Freeze the approved course map for week zero and the rubric deck for the assignment students ask about. The public files on this page are synthetic demonstrations. The syllabus and the live shell remain the sources of truth.
- Settings. Save the course style. Insert a short navigation recording with Own Media. Use Custom Scenes so rubric criteria and learner actions each have a scene. Add the instructor's recording or an AI Presenter.
- Script review. Golpo can draft from the map in Prompt Mode. Approve the narration before creating the video. Use Script Mode for the sentences that name dates, tool names, and point values.
- Result. The week-zero video on this page runs 2:15 in Canvas Illustration (Compact). The rubric video runs 2:07 in Sketch Formal. They explain the documents. The navigation-clip version is the one to embed.
- One correction. If a frame names the wrong tool or the wrong point value, use frame editing on all paid plans. The first edited version is free across sessions until finalized. Later editing is charged on the selected duration of that version and leaves the narration unchanged. If the spoken date is wrong, revise the script and generate again.
- One reuse. When the next term changes dates or section names, update those sentences in the approved script and generate a section variant in the same course style. The API can request that generation and report status. Embedding the file, completion tracking, and any SCORM package stay in the LMS.
Plan, duration, and credits
| Render on this page | Settings shown | Finished length |
|---|---|---|
| Week Zero: How This Course Works | Canvas, Illustration (Compact) | 2:15 |
| How This Assignment Will Be Evaluated | Sketch, Formal | 2:07 |
A standard video, including Own Narration, uses 1 credit per selected minute. A 3-minute selection is 3 credits. These renders finished at 2:15 and 2:07, so confirm the duration you select. A new-term variant is another render at that same rate. Prices are on the pricing page. You can download Golpo's free 1-minute video without a watermark for $9.99, or subscribe to download it at no extra charge.
- Custom Scenes: Growth and higher.
- Custom Style, Own Media and Own Narration: Business and higher. Frame editing: all paid plans.
- AI Presenter: Creator and higher.
The API can request a generation and report status, including a saved Custom Style when API access is in place. Scale includes API access. Business has a paid API add-on. API Only is metered separately and does not include dashboard generation. The API does not embed the file, report completion, or build a SCORM package. Reviewer time is the designer's pass against the frozen map: dates, tool names, rubric totals, captions, contrast, and the player the LMS actually uses. See the API docs.
Review once before you publish
- The syllabus, the live shell, the assignment, the rubric, and instructor announcements remain in control.
- Dates, tool names, criteria, and point totals match the frozen map. In the linked rubric, the five criteria sum to 100, and the worked example posts 87 as 87.
- The video does not promise a grade or a completion rate.
- Captions, transcript, contrast, reading order, player behavior, and the surrounding LMS page get their own accessibility check. Golpo output is not that check.
- A navigation clip shows the real interface and contains no other student's data.
- If a synthetic MP4 or PDF from this page is shared without the article, label it as a demonstration beside the player or in the download name.
Evidence and governing references
Stock Avatar videos use 3 credits per minute. Custom avatar videos use 5.
Frequently asked questions
Where does a screen recording fit?
Use a short recording of the real LMS navigation as Own Media inside the explainer. Use the animated scenes for module order, weekly rhythm, and what the rubric means. The recording shows the interface. The explainer shows the course logic. Neither one replaces the live shell.
Can the video replace the rubric?
No. It helps students read the rubric. The published assignment and rubric control.
Does Golpo make the video accessible automatically?
No single output guarantees accessibility. Captions, transcript, visuals, player, contrast, and surrounding LMS content require review.
Can this scale across sections?
Golpo can generate an approved variant for each section from the shared map plus that section's dates and names. Embedding the file, completion tracking, and gradebook reporting stay in the LMS. They are not Golpo features.
Can the video promise a score?
No. It can explain criteria and evidence without predicting or assigning a grade.
Related guides
- Build a classroom video library from lesson plans
- Drive a video with your own recording
- Request generations with the Golpo API
Explain the rubric students ask about
Explain the rubric students ask about most before the next assignment is released. Give each criterion its own scene, and keep a short recording of the real submission page in the video. Start in Golpo. Course style, navigation media, and an instructor recording are on Business and higher for the media and the recording. Compare plans on the pricing page.
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