Author Overview

As a content author in CurryCMS, you create and edit the actual educational content that makes up curricula. This overview explains your role, what you can do, and how to get started.

What is a Content Author?

Content authors are team members who create, edit, and manage curriculum content. You work within structures defined by administrators to build courses, lessons, activities, and other educational materials.

Your focus: Creating high-quality educational content, not managing the platform architecture.

What Authors Can Do

As an author, you can:

Create and Edit Content:
- ✓ Create new curricula from available structures
- ✓ Add content nodes (courses, units, lessons, activities)
- ✓ Edit your own curricula and content
- ✓ Delete your own content and curricula
- ✓ Organize content hierarchy (reorder, move nodes)

Work with Variants:
- ✓ Create curriculum variants for different audiences
- ✓ Override inherited content to customize for specific needs
- ✓ Revert overrides to restore parent content

Standards Alignment:
- ✓ Align content to educational standards
- ✓ Browse standards library
- ✓ Manage alignment categories (Addressing, Practicing, etc.)

Collaboration:
- ✓ View other team members' curricula (if permitted)
- ✓ Submit content for review (workflow states)
- ✓ View structures and node types

What Authors Cannot Do

Authors have focused permissions. You cannot:

• ❌ Edit other authors' curricula (unless you're an Editor)
• ❌ Create or modify structures
• ❌ Add or edit node types
• ❌ Manage attribute bundles
• ❌ Invite or remove team members
• ❌ Change account settings

Need to do these? Ask your administrator for Editor or Admin role.

Your Workspace

Dashboard

When you log in, you'll see:

My Curricula
- Curricula you've created
- Recently edited items
- Quick access to resume work

Available Structures
- Templates you can use to create new curricula
- Click to start a new curriculum

Navigation
- Content → Curricula: View and manage all curricula
- Standards → Browse standards library (if enabled)
- Account Switcher: Switch between accounts if you belong to multiple

Content → Curricula

The main workspace for managing your curricula:

List view:
- All curricula you have access to
- Filterable by structure, status, etc.
- Search by name or description

Detail view:
- Curriculum overview and metadata
- Content tree showing all nodes
- Actions: Edit, Create Variant, Delete

Core Concepts for Authors

1. Curricula

A curriculum is a complete educational program based on a structure. Examples:
- "Grade 3 Mathematics - 2024 Edition"
- "AP Biology - California Standards"
- "Kindergarten Literacy - Spanish Version"

Key characteristics:
- Based on exactly one structure (cannot be changed after creation)
- Aligned to one standards framework (optional but cannot be changed)
- Contains hierarchical content nodes
- Can have child variants

Your curricula vs. All curricula:
- Authors can only edit their own curricula
- Editors can edit any curriculum
- Everyone can view curricula (Viewers and above)

2. Content Nodes

Every piece of content in your curriculum is a content node. Nodes are organized hierarchically based on the structure's rules.

Example hierarchy:

Course: Grade 3 Math
├── Unit: Addition & Subtraction
│ ├── Lesson: Adding Two-Digit Numbers
│ │ ├── Activity: Practice Problems
│ │ └── Assessment: Quick Check
│ └── Lesson: Subtraction with Regrouping
│ ├── Activity: Regrouping Practice
│ └── Assessment: Unit Test
└── Unit: Multiplication Basics
└── ...


Node characteristics:
- Has a specific type (defined by the structure)
- Contains attribute values (title, description, content, etc.)
- Positioned in the hierarchy (parent-child relationships)
- Has a workflow status (Draft, In Review, Published, etc.)

Adding nodes:
- You can only add node types allowed by the structure
- Hierarchy rules enforce what can contain what
- Nodes inherit attributes from their type's bundles

3. Attributes

Each node has attributes—the data fields you fill in when creating content.

Common attributes across all types:
- Title (required)
- Description (optional)

Type-specific attributes:
- Duration (for lessons, activities)
- Learning Objectives (for lessons)
- Question Count (for assessments)
- Materials Needed (for activities)

Attribute sources:
- Direct attributes: Defined specifically for this node type
- Bundle attributes: Come from attribute bundles applied to the type

Required vs. Optional:
- Required attributes (marked with *) must be filled before publishing
- Optional attributes can be left blank
- You can save drafts with incomplete required fields

4. Variants

Variants let you create adapted or localized versions of a curriculum while maintaining a connection to the parent.

Example use cases:
- Texas variant of a national curriculum (different standards)
- Spanish translation of an English curriculum
- Accelerated version of a standard course

How variants work:
- Start with all content from parent (inherited)
- Override specific nodes to customize
- Added nodes exist only in the variant
- Parent updates can flow to inherited content

Variant states:
- Inherited (blue badge): Content from parent, updates automatically
- Overridden (amber badge): Customized in this variant, no longer updates from parent
- Added (green badge): Only exists in this variant

See Using Variants for complete details.

5. Standards Alignment

If your curriculum has a standards framework assigned, you can align content nodes to specific standards.

Standards alignment:
- Associates content with educational standards
- Helps track coverage and compliance
- Makes content discoverable by standard

Alignment categories:
- Addressing: Content directly teaches this standard
- Building On: Content builds on prior knowledge from this standard
- Building Toward: Content prepares for this standard
- Practicing: Content provides practice for this standard

See Standards Alignment for complete details.

6. Workflow States

Content nodes progress through workflow states:

Typical workflow:
1. Create content in Draft state
2. Fill in all required fields
3. Submit for Review
4. Reviewer approves or requests changes
5. Publish approved content

Note: Workflow may be customized by your organization.

Common Author Workflows

Creating Your First Curriculum

1. Navigate to Content → Curricula
2. Click Create Curriculum
3. Fill in:
   • Name (e.g., "Grade 4 Science - 2025")
   • Description (optional context)
   • Structure (choose from available templates)
   • Standards Framework (required, cannot change later)
4. Click Create Curriculum
5. Start adding content nodes

See Creating Curricula for detailed steps.

Adding Content to a Curriculum

1. Open your curriculum
2. Click Add [Root Node Type] (e.g., "Add Course")
3. Fill in attributes
4. Save the node
5. Add child nodes by selecting parent and clicking Add Child
6. Continue building your content tree

See Working with Content for detailed steps.

Creating a Variant

1. Open the parent curriculum
2. Click Create Variant
3. Enter variant name and description
4. Choose structure (parent's structure or a variant)
5. Choose standards framework (same or compatible via crosswalk)
6. Click Create Variant
7. Override nodes as needed for customization

See Using Variants for detailed steps.

Aligning Content to Standards

1. Open a content node for editing
2. Scroll to the Standards section
3. Click + Align to Standard
4. Search or browse for the standard
5. Select alignment category
6. Click the standard to add it
7. Save your changes

See Standards Alignment for detailed steps.

Tips for Effective Authoring

Plan Before You Build

Before creating a curriculum:
- Review the structure to understand node types and hierarchy
- List the content you need to create
- Identify required attributes for each node type
- Consider how content will be organized

Sketch it out:

Course: Grade 2 Math
├── Unit 1: Place Value
│ ├── Lesson 1.1: Understanding Tens and Ones
│ ├── Lesson 1.2: Comparing Numbers
│ └── Assessment: Unit 1 Quiz
├── Unit 2: Addition
│ └── ...


Use Consistent Naming

Be systematic with names:
- ✅ "Unit 1: Place Value", "Unit 2: Addition" (numbered and descriptive)
- ✅ "Lesson 1.1: Understanding Tens and Ones" (hierarchical numbering)
- ❌ "Lesson A", "Some Lesson" (unclear, inconsistent)

Why: Clear naming helps you, your team, and end users navigate content.

Fill Required Fields Early

Complete required attributes first:
- Prevents blockers when submitting for review
- Ensures you don't forget essential information
- Allows focusing on optional enhancements later

Save Drafts Frequently

While editing:
- Save after completing major sections
- Save before navigating away
- Save before testing or previewing
- No autosave—must click Save

Use Standards Alignment Strategically

Align as you create:
- Align content when it's fresh in your mind
- Don't wait until the end to align all content
- Review coverage periodically

Align at the right level:
- Lessons and activities should align to specific standards
- Units may align to broader standards or aggregate child alignments

Leverage Variants for Efficiency

When creating similar curricula:
- Create one master curriculum
- Create variants for regional, linguistic, or audience differences
- Override only what needs to change
- Parent updates flow to variants automatically

Example:
- Parent: "AP Biology - National"
- Variants: "AP Biology - California", "AP Biology - Texas"
- Override standards alignments in each variant
- Share common content through inheritance

Getting Help

Documentation

Core author guides:
- Creating Curricula - Start new curricula
- Working with Content - Add and edit nodes
- Using Variants - Create adapted versions
- Standards Alignment - Link to standards

Other resources:
- Glossary - Key terminology
- Getting Started - Platform overview

Ask Your Administrator

Contact your admin for:
- Questions about available structures
- Requests for new node types or attributes
- Permission issues or role changes
- Standards framework questions

Common Questions

"Which structure should I use?"
Ask your administrator which structure fits your content type. They can explain the available structures and their intended uses.

"Can I change my curriculum's structure after creating it?"
No. The structure is locked when you create a curriculum. Choose carefully, or create a test curriculum first.

"Can I edit someone else's curriculum?"
Only if you have Editor or Admin role. Authors can only edit their own curricula.

"What happens if I delete a content node?"
The node and all its children are permanently deleted. This cannot be undone. Consider moving nodes instead if you're unsure.

"How do I submit content for review?"
Complete all required fields, then click Submit for Review on the content node. It moves to "In Review" state.

Next Steps

Ready to start creating content?

1. Creating Curricula - Create your first curriculum
2. Working with Content - Add and organize content nodes
3. Using Variants - Create localized or adapted versions
4. Standards Alignment - Align content to educational standards

Related Documentation:
- Creating Curricula - Step-by-step curriculum creation
- Working with Content - Content node management
- Using Variants - Variant system guide
- Standards Alignment - Standards alignment workflow
- Glossary - Key terms and concepts