The custom sections format has a setting called "Number of sections" that is inconsistent and leads to unnecessary pain points for course creators.

The proposal

The setting is inconsistent because it only appears when creating a new course. However, when editing an existing course, the setting is absent and cannot be edited. Instead, the number of sections became an internal counter and is recalculated every time a section is added or removed.

The proposal is to remove this setting from the creation form completely and use always the default system value defined by the admin. After that, the teacher can create or delete as many sections as needed using the course editor as usual.

It is important to note that the proposal will affect only the custom sections for now. The week format has the same problems, but because sections influence the ending date of the course, some UX research will be required, and this should be done in a future follow-up issue.

Reasons for the change

• The admin has a setting to define the default number of sections, and asking it again when creating a new course adds more fields to an already extremely complex form for the user.
• It is hard to undo in case of a human error. If a user can create a course with 50 initial sections by mistake, there are only two ways to fix it: manually remove the empty sections, or delete and recreate the course. However, the course creator and teacher roles cannot delete courses by default, so only manual removal is available in most cases.
• Having a field that only appears on creation is entirely unpredictable and unexpected to the user.
• In the past, creating sections was slow and complex, and setting up an initial section number was significant. However, the current course editor allows sections to be created, deleted, and edited easily, even in bulk. Creating courses with a few initial sections is enough.
• The number of sections is updated automatically when a new section is added. This happens when the teacher adds a new section or subsection to the course, as well as when restoring a backup or importing a course. That number became more of an internal counter than a setting.
• It will make creating courses easier and the platform more consistent.