The questions we get asked before anyone signs.
They come from deans, program directors, faculty, and heads of learning. Each answer starts with the answer.
What it takes to start, and what it costs.
What do you need from us to start?
Whatever you already have: slides, recordings, a syllabus or a playbook, readings, past exams. It does not need to be tidy or complete. A syllabus, a reading list, and a conversation with the person who teaches the subject are enough.
How long does it take?
Weeks for a new course. A revision to a course that is already live takes days.
How much of our people's time does it take?
About a day of decisions, across 4 conversations. Each design choice arrives as a short menu with our recommendation. Review is separate, and you set how deep it goes: your faculty or your experts approve the design, and teaching assistants, learning designers, or others on your team can check the build against it. The steps are on How we work.
Can we see something before we commit?
Yes. We build an example from your own material, at no cost, before you decide. Ask for it when you book a demo.
What does it cost?
A fee per course, quoted once we have seen your material. For universities, there is no share of tuition. A pilot is paid work, and it is separate from the free example.
Can we talk to a client?
The call we offer is with Alma. Organizations are not named on this site. Five stories are on the customer stories page, and we will set up a call to talk one through.
Your people decide what is taught, and they approve it.
Does this replace our faculty or our experts?
No. They keep the direction and the review: what to teach, how, and whether it is right. Alma's learning engineers do the production. At a university the instructor of record does not change, and you decide which roles stay human, office hours included.
Do instructors agree to their face and voice being used?
Yes, in writing. Lectures show your own people in their own face and voice, and each of them agrees first.
Who owns the course?
You do. You pay a fee for the work and you own what is built. There is no revenue share.
What happens to a course when the instructor who authored it leaves?
At a university, your institution's policy decides, as it does for any recorded course. It is a question of who holds the rights to the course.
AI is labeled wherever it speaks, and you choose who grades.
Do people know when they are talking to AI?
Yes. Wherever AI speaks in a course it is labeled as AI: the AI teaching assistant on a lecture, the AI character in a simulation, the AI mentor coach in a coaching session.
Who replies on the discussion board?
An AI in a stated role, such as teaching assistant or simulation partner, and classmates. Every post gets a considered reply.
Who grades?
Your choice per assignment: AI-graded and human-confirmed, fully by people, or fully by AI. Feedback quotes the person’s own words and names what is missing. The grading page has the detail.
A course runs in the LMS you already have, in dozens of languages.
Which LMS does it run in?
Any LTI-compliant LMS, or Alma’s own, or from a link. Alma’s learning engineers do the setup with your LMS administrator. The 3 options are on LMS integration.
Do students need a new login?
No. They log in to their LMS as they do now, and the course opens there.
Which languages?
Dozens of languages, spoken as well as written.
Is it accessible?
Not against a standard, yet. Our service has not undergone formal accessibility testing against recognized standards, and the accessibility statement says so. What we do instead: tell us the guidance your institution or company follows and we build to it, and your team can check a course with its own tools before launch. If your review requires a formal audit, tell us at the start and we plan for it together.
What happens to our material and our students' or employees' work?
It stays on Alma’s platform and is never used to train a model. Only your own staff and the few Alma people building your course can see it. We go through the details with your security team, and the principles are on the security page.
How long is the contract?
It follows your preference. There is no typical length.
Who is this not for?
A team that wants a tool to make lessons itself this afternoon, or one that wants an off-the-shelf content library. Alma is a service: every course is built with your people, and that takes weeks.
Where to read the detail.
How we work
The steps in full, with who does what at each and what you approve.
See the process
LMS integration
The 3 places a course can run, and who does the setup.
See where it runs
Rubrics and grading options
How each assignment is graded, and who stands behind the grade.
See grading options
Contact
For a question this page does not answer, or for your security team.
Get in touch
Ask us the question that is not here.
Book a demo and pick a time in the scheduler, or write to us by email. We build an example from your own material, at no cost, before you decide.