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3.4 Understanding Course Structure: Units, Modules, and Lessons

How Intertwined courses are organized, so you can navigate them efficiently and plan your pacing.

Written by Kerry Ao

The Hierarchy

  • Course

    • Module (a major curriculum theme)

    • Lesson (a sub-topic within the module)

      • Section (an individual learning activity)

      • Assessment (a quiz or check for understanding)

Modules

A module is a major thematic chunk of the course. Most Intertwined courses have 8-15 modules, each focused on a broad area of personal finance.

Example units from Personal Finance Core Foundations (2e):

  1. Financial Responsibility

  2. Checking Accounts

  3. Savings & Investing

  4. Credit & Debt

  5. Taxes & Income

  6. Career & Earning Potential

  7. (etc.)

In the Gradebook and Classroom Performance views, units are how the curriculum is grouped at the top level — for example, expanding "1. Financial Responsibility" reveals the lessons within it.

Lesson

A lesson is a sub-topic within a unit. Modules group related lessons together. For example, within the "Financial Responsibility" unit, you might find modules like:

  • Introduction to Financial Responsibility

  • Wants vs. Needs

  • Understanding Income and Expenses

  • Creating a Personal Budget

  • Smart Shopping and Spending

Lessons appear as expandable sections in the Classroom Performance tab, where you can see metrics like "Total Missed Questions" and "Average Completion Time" at the module level.

Lessons are what you actually assign through the Assignments tab. When you create an assignment, you select one or more lessons to bundle into it.

Lesson examples include:

  • Definition of Financial Responsibility

  • Wants vs. Needs

  • Demonstrating Financial Responsibility

  • Analyzing Financial Information and Fraud

  • Consumer Protection

  • Financial Goal Setting

  • Checking Concepts

  • Pros vs. Cons of Different Banking Options

  • How to Write a Check

  • Importance of Routing Numbers

Section

A section is the smallest assignable unit of curriculum. Each lesson is typically a few minutes of student work, and includes:

  • Instructional content (text, videos, interactive elements)

  • Practice activities

  • A check-for-understanding assessment

Assessments

Assessments are the formal checks for understanding embedded within lessons. They're how the Gradebook calculates mastery and how the Performance tabs track accuracy.

Each assessment is auto-graded, so you don't need to manually mark work for most lessons.

Where to See the Structure

The full structure of any course is visible in several places:

  • Classroom Performance tab — Expand units to see modules and lessons grouped by performance

  • Gradebook tab — Use the Course and Module dropdowns to filter; lessons appear as columns

  • Assignments tab — When creating an assignment, you'll see the full course tree

Why the Structure Matters

Knowing the hierarchy helps you:

  • Plan pacing — One unit per 2–3 weeks is a common cadence

  • Diagnose gaps — If students are struggling, drill from module → lesson → section to find the specific concept

  • Differentiate — Assign individual lessons to students who need extra support, rather than the whole unit

  • Communicate with parents — "We're in Module 3, Lesson 2" is easier to explain than "lesson 47"

Related articles:

  • 3.5 Available Courses Overview

  • 6.5 Drilling into Module-Level Performance

  • 7.3 Filtering Gradebook by Course and Unit

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