Lesson Document Lifecycle
How lesson content flows from course lessons to student copies, and what happens at each stage.
Who this is for
Teachers who create lesson content in courses and assign it to students through live sessions or the homework page.
What this page answers
- What are the three layers of the lesson system and how do they connect?
- When does a student receive their own copy of the lesson content?
- Why doesn't editing the course lesson update the student's copy?
- How does "Continue from previous" work?
- What is different between individual and group sessions?
- Who can cancel or delete a lesson, and what happens to billed tokens?
Prerequisites
- A published course with at least one lesson
- At least one enrolled student
The master-and-copies model
A course lesson is the master document. When you assign it to a student, the system creates a copy. From that point, the master and the copy are independent — editing one does not change the other.
The three layers
The lesson system has three distinct layers. Each has its own role.
| Layer | What it is | Analogy | Statuses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course Lesson | The original lesson inside your course. You create and edit it in the Lex Editor. Any course lesson can serve as a blueprint for student copies. | The master document in your binder | Draft, Published |
| Lesson | A student-specific copy created when you assign a course lesson. Each student gets their own. | A photocopy given to the student | Added, Started, Passed, Verified, Canceled |
| Live session | The scheduled classroom appointment. It can include one or more student lesson copies depending on session type. | The classroom appointment | Scheduled, Active, Ended, Canceled |
Editing a course lesson after assignment does not update existing student copies. The copy was already made. The two are now independent.
When the copy is made
The copy happens at the moment of assignment — when you attach a course lesson to a session or assign homework to a student. There are two main triggers:
-
From the Schedule calendar — you create or edit a session and select a lesson from your course. The system creates a new Lesson (the student's copy) with a snapshot of the course lesson's document.
-
From the Homework page — you assign homework directly to a student or group. Same thing: a new Lesson is created with a copy of the course lesson's document.
Child lessons follow the parent
If your class lesson has child homework or exercises attached to it, those are also copied automatically when you assign the parent. Each child course lesson produces its own Lesson copy for the student.
Why editing the course lesson does not update student copies
Once the copy is made, the course lesson (master) and the Lesson (student copy) live separate lives. If you go back to the course and edit the original — fix a typo, add a new exercise, rewrite a paragraph — the students who already received their copies will not see the change.
This is by design. It protects students from having their in-progress work disrupted by edits to the original.
Overwrite Lessons: pushing changes to student copies
If you do need to update student copies with the current course lesson content, use the Overwrite Lessons feature in the course lesson editor. It gives you two modes:
| Mode | Affects | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Not started only | Lessons in "Added" status — the student has not opened them yet | Fixing typos or improving content before students begin |
| All | Every assigned Lesson, regardless of status | Correcting a factual error that everyone needs to see |
Overwriting replaces the student's document entirely. If the student has already started working and you use the "all" mode, their in-progress answers and edits will be lost. Use "not started only" unless you have a specific reason to overwrite everything.
Document flow during a live session
How the document behaves during a session depends on whether it is an individual or group session.
Individual (1:1) sessions
The teacher and the student both work on the same Lesson document — the student's copy. The teacher can toggle whether the student is allowed to edit.
Group class sessions
Each participant has their own Lesson (their own copy). During the session, the teacher's edits are pushed to all participant Lessons simultaneously. Everyone sees the same content in real time.
Group homework and exercises are NOT shared. Each student gets their own isolated copy and works independently. The shared-document behavior described above only applies to live group class sessions.
Continuing from a previous session
Sometimes a class session runs out of time before covering everything. The "Continue from Previous" feature lets you carry the document state from one session into the next, instead of starting over from the clean course lesson.
How it works
Every live session automatically saves the teacher's document state. When you later assign a lesson to a new session, you can pick up where you left off by selecting a past session instead of a fresh course lesson.
To use it, open the assignment dialog and check the "Show continuable" toggle in the lesson browser. This reveals a "Continue from Previous" section that lists past sessions with saved documents.
The assignment dialog then shows two sections:
- Course lessons — the standard list of lessons from your course (fresh copies from the original)
- Continue from Previous — a list of past sessions that have saved documents
If you pick "Continue from Previous," the new Lesson is created with the document from the selected past session, not from the course lesson.
Either way, a new Lesson is always created. The only difference is where the document content comes from: the clean course lesson or the previous session's document.
The "Continue from Previous" section is hidden by default. Check the "Show continuable" toggle in the lesson browser to reveal it.
"Continue from Previous" works for both individual and group sessions.
The full picture
Here is the complete document lifecycle from creation to completion.
Cancelling and deleting lessons
A teacher who is assigned to a lesson (the teacher on that enrollment or live session) can cancel or delete it at any point in its lifecycle — including lessons that have already passed. Org Admins keep the same ability across every lesson in the school.
Use the after-the-fact option when you need to undo a billing mistake, remove a session that never actually happened, clear a test lesson, or correct a record after the fact.
| Action | What it does | Affects refunds? |
|---|---|---|
| Cancel | Moves the lesson to Canceled status. The lesson stays visible in history. | Yes — a billed lesson is auto-refunded. |
| Delete | Removes the lesson from the schedule and the student's lessons list. | Yes — a billed lesson is auto-refunded. |
Auto-refund on billed lessons
If a lesson has already been billed (the lesson cost was deducted from the school's token balance or the student's account, or homework/exercise charges were applied), cancelling or deleting it returns those tokens automatically. The refund appears in My School → Finance as a transaction entry — there is no manual balance edit and no support ticket needed.
The teacher sees a refund notice in the deletion confirmation dialog before they confirm, so the financial effect is clear before the action runs.
Per-student deletion inside a group session
When a teacher deletes one student's lesson inside a group live session, only that student's lesson copy is removed and only that student's deduction is refunded. The rest of the group session and the lessons attached to the other participants stay as they are.
For deleting an entire group session, the same rule applies for every per-student lesson attached to it — each participant is refunded individually.
What the student sees
- For canceled lessons, the lesson card moves to the Canceled state in the student's schedule and lessons list. The student receives the standard cancellation notification.
- For deleted lessons, the lesson card is removed from the student's schedule and lesson list. If a refund applied, the student's transaction history shows the refund entry; no separate banner is shown.
If you need to move a lesson rather than drop it, prefer rescheduling over cancellation — rescheduling keeps the lesson copy and history intact and carries any attached homework or exercises along with the new time.
Quick reference
| Action | What happens to the document |
|---|---|
| Assign a lesson to a session | A new copy is made from the course lesson |
| Edit the course lesson | Existing student copies are NOT affected |
| Overwrite Lessons (not started) | Only Added-status copies are replaced with the current course lesson content |
| Overwrite Lessons (all) | All assigned copies are replaced with the current course lesson content |
| Save during individual session | The one Lesson document is updated |
| Save during group class session | All participant Lessons are updated simultaneously |
| Continue from Previous (assignment) | New Lesson is created from a past session's document instead of the course lesson. Enable the "Show continuable" toggle to see past sessions. |
| Cancel or delete a billed lesson | The lesson moves to Canceled / disappears, and any billed tokens are auto-refunded as a transaction entry. |
Related pages
- Manage Course Lessons — creating and organizing lessons in your course
- Live Session Scheduling — scheduling sessions and assigning lessons
- Running Live Sessions — tools and workflow during a session
- Homework Management — assigning, tracking, and verifying homework
Q&A
I updated my course lesson but the student's copy didn't change. Is this a bug?
No. This is by design. The student received a copy of the document at assignment time. Changes to the course lesson do not propagate to existing copies. If you need to push an update, use the Overwrite Lessons feature in the course lesson editor.
Can I overwrite only one specific student's lesson?
No. The two available modes are "not started only" (all Added-status lessons) and "all" (every assigned lesson). You cannot target a single student. If you need to update a single student, cancel their current lesson and assign a fresh one.
What happens if I overwrite a lesson the student already started?
Using the "all" mode replaces the student's document with the current course lesson content. Any answers, edits, and annotations the student made in that lesson are lost.
Does "Continue from Previous" use the course lesson or the student's work?
It uses the document from the previous session's Lesson, which includes all edits, answers, and annotations from that session. It does not use the course lesson.
In a group session, can one student's edits affect another student's lesson?
During a live group class session, the teacher's edits push to all participant Lessons. Students can only edit if the teacher grants them permission, and their edits also go through the shared save mechanism. Outside of the live session, each student has their own independent copy.
What happens if I assign an unfinished lesson to a new session via "Continue from Previous"?
A brand new Lesson is created with a copy of the previous session's document in its current state — including any partial work. The original lesson in the previous session is not affected. You now have two independent Lessons: the old one (with whatever status it had) and the new one (status: Added, with the carried-over document).