Our Content Hierarchy
To effectively author content for the Codecademy platform, you need to understand the breakdown of our content hierarchy. This will allow you to see how all our content fits together on our platform.
Courses and Paths
The highest level of content is a course or path. A course is a content container made up of a single track. A path is a content container made up of multiple tracks. For example, Learn Python 3 is a very popular course, while Analyze Data with Python is a path.
There are two types of paths: skill paths and career paths. The objective of a skill path is to teach learners a specific skill or outcome, while a career path teaches learners concepts for career readiness. Typically, paths are longer than courses, but sometimes a path can be made up of a single track.
Modules
Modules are the content containers that form courses and paths (these are sometimes referred to as "tracks" too). Modules are containers that hold the content items learners interact with. Think of courses or paths like books, and the modules are the chapters in these books. For example, the Learn Python 3 course contains multiple modules like Functions, Control Flow, Classes and Objects, and String Methods.
Content Items
Content items are the bread and butter of Codecademy. Content items are the content that learners directly interact with. Oftentimes, in the Codecademy modules, you will find the following content items:
We also have content items are referred to as practice content that is used to help learners practice new concepts. This content appears on the learner dashboard on the web application and in the mobile application. You can see an example of these practice content items here.
- Review Card
- Multiple Choice Assessment
- Fill in the Code Assessment
- Evaluative Code Assessment
- Free Response Questions
You will learn more about each of these content items in their respective section in the docs.
Content Hierarchy Diagram
Everything is more helpful with a diagram! Here is everything described above, visually.
