AI Course Creator

Portal: /lms · Desk: Learning workspace

Overview

The AI Course Creator wizard in Smooth LMS turns a topic description into a structured course—outline, chapters, lessons, and chapter quizzes—in minutes. Access it from /lms when creating a new course (AI Generate / AICourseModal.vue) or invoke backend APIs from desk workflows.

Designed for L&D teams building employee training quickly while keeping human review in the loop before publication.

Prerequisites

• Course Creator, Moderator, or System Manager role
• LMS Settings → Enable AI Course Creation = checked
• Valid OpenAI API Key configured
• OpenAI enabled by your administrator

Without these, the modal displays configuration errors from get_ai_client().

Wizard step 1: Define the course

Fields in the AI modal form:

Click Generate Outline → calls generate_course_outline with JSON-structured prompt returning title, short introduction, HTML description, and chapter list.

Wizard step 2: Review outline

Review screen allows:

• Edit Course Title and Short Introduction
• Rich-text edit Description
• Rename, reorder (drag), add, or remove chapters

When satisfied, click Generate Course to invoke sequential API calls:

1. create_course_from_outline — creates LMS Course and Course Chapter stubs, assigns you as instructor
2. Per chapter: generate_chapter_lessons → save_generated_lessons
3. Optional: generate_quiz → save_chapter_quiz for checkpoint quizzes

Progress indicators show chapter-by-chapter status. Large courses may take several minutes—do not close browser tab.

What gets created

For each generated course:

• LMS Course unpublished by default—review before setting Published
• Course Chapter records with titles/descriptions
• Course Lesson records with EditorJS-compatible HTML bodies (3–5 lessons per chapter typical)
• LMS Quiz per chapter when quiz generation enabled—linked via lesson quiz_id
• LMS Question records for each quiz question (4 options, single correct)

Defaults on AI quizzes: 60% passing, 3 max attempts, show answers enabled.

Manual refinement after generation

AI output is a draft. Before mandatory HR deployment:

1. Open course in Edit Course mode.
2. Fact-check policy references with legal/HR.
3. Replace generic examples with company-specific procedures.
4. Adjust quiz Passing Percentage to match Employee Compliance standards.
5. Add attachments (PDF policy docs) to lessons.
6. Mark Mandatory if all employees must complete.
7. Publish and create LMS Training Assignment rows or rely on onboarding auto-enroll.

Attach final quiz PDFs to Employee Document after employee completion—not the draft AI source files.

API reference for custom workflows

Key whitelisted methods in lms.lms.ai:

• generate_course_outline(topic, target_audience, difficulty_level, num_chapters)
• generate_chapter_lessons(course_name, chapter_name)
• generate_quiz(course_name, chapter_name, num_questions, topic)
• create_course_from_outline(outline_json)
• save_generated_lessons(course_name, chapter_name, lessons_json)
• save_generated_quiz(course_name, quiz_data, chapter_name)
• save_chapter_quiz(course_name, chapter_name, quiz_data)
• generate_lesson_content(course_name, chapter_title, lesson_title, topic_hint)

Contact Smooth support for bulk certificate generation.

Lesson-level AI generation

Outside the full wizard, Lesson Form supports Generate with AI for individual lessons via generate_lesson_content—returns EditorJS blocks plus instructor_notes for trainers.

Use when extending AI-generated courses or adding one-off modules to existing libraries.

Cost and performance tips

• Lower Number of Chapters for pilots; expand manually later.
• Generate lessons in off-peak hours for long courses.
• Cache OpenAI organization limits; split 12-chapter courses into two generation sessions if timeouts occur.
• Prefer gpt-4o-mini for drafts if quality sufficient—set in LMS Settings.

Troubleshooting

Frequently asked questions

Does LMS training completion automatically update Employee Compliance?

No. Smooth LMS tracks learning progress, quiz scores, and certificates. Smooth HR Employee Compliance is updated separately by HR when a regulatory or policy requirement is satisfied. Download LMS PDFs and attach them to Employee Document, then mark the matching compliance row Complete with the correct renewal date.

Where should quiz PDFs be stored for audits?

Use Employee Document on the employee record with an appropriate Employee Document Type (for example Training Record or Policy Acknowledgment). Include the Quiz Submission Report PDF exported from LMS. For organization-wide retention policies, align document type expiry settings with Employee Compliance renewal periods.

Which desk workspace manages LMS content?

Open the Learning workspace from the app switcher. Desk paths use /app/list name slugs—for example /app/lms-quiz and /app/lms-enrollment. Learners consume training at /lms on the same site.

How do new hires get enrolled in mandatory training?

When Employee Onboarding is created in HRMS, the LMS integration enrolls the employee user in every published Mandatory course and creates LMS Training Assignment rows with default due dates. Ensure the Employee record has a linked User with the LMS Student role.

What is the difference between an LMS Certificate and HR compliance?

An LMS Certificate proves course completion inside Smooth LMS. Employee Compliance in Smooth HR tracks regulatory obligations (training renewals, I-9, background checks) with scheduled expiry alerts. Course certificates do not automatically appear on the HR compliance ledger—HR attaches LMS PDFs to Employee Document and updates Employee Compliance when policy requires.

Can managers view their team's quiz scores?

Managers with Moderator or Course Creator roles can open LMS Quiz Submission list views filtered by course and member. The Statistics dashboard summarizes average assessment scores by course. For official personnel files, export PDFs and store under the employee's HR documents rather than sharing desk login credentials.

Glossary

Smooth LMS + Smooth HR capability map

Use Smooth LMS for training delivery and assessments, and Smooth HR for employee files and compliance records — both on the same account.

Course completion certificates from LMS are separate from HR compliance records until HR explicitly files them. Attach LMS PDFs to Employee Document or update Employee Compliance when a training record must appear on the official employee file for audits.

LMS roles reference

HR users without LMS roles can still manage Employee Document and Employee Compliance records when L&D provides exported PDFs.

Connecting training records to Smooth HR

Smooth LMS and Smooth HR share one account. Completing a course does not automatically update HR compliance—you connect the two when your policy requires it.

Recommended workflow: When an employee completes mandatory training and passes required assessments, download the LMS certificate or quiz PDF from the Learning portal or desk, then attach it to an Employee Document or update the corresponding Employee Compliance record. HR Managers can configure Compliance Type with renewal periods so expiring certifications trigger scheduled reminders—complementing LMS Training Assignment due dates.

New hires enrolled via Employee Onboarding may receive automatic LMS enrollments for courses marked Mandatory; HR still uses Employee Compliance for regulatory items (I-9, background checks) that live outside LMS.

Related guides

• AI Overview
• Create and Manage Quizzes

Last updated: May 2026