How Lesson Types Work

Lessons & Scheduling131 linked articles

Lesson types define the duration and billing rate of lessons. The type attached to a student's or group's setup is the default used when lessons are created or generated. For an ordinary one off lesson, you can instead c

What a Lesson Type Does

A lesson type is the setup that tells Octavia what kind of lesson you are teaching.

In practice, a lesson type controls:

The duration of the lesson
The rate used for billing
Whether the lesson type is for individual lessons or group lessons

This means lesson types affect both scheduling and billing. Octavia normally uses the type already assigned to the student or group, with a lesson-only choice available for ordinary one-off lessons.

Where You Set a Lesson Type

Lesson types themselves are created and edited in School Settings. New users are prompted to set up lesson types during onboarding, so you will usually already have at least some lesson types in place before you start adding students and lessons.

You can return to School Settings at any time if you want to review, add, or edit your lesson types. For the full setup flow, see Lesson Types and Pricing.

For an individual student, the lesson type is set in the student's Lesson Time & Schedule area.

For a group, the lesson type is set in the group's lesson setup.

In most cases, you set the lesson type before creating any lessons. Once it is in place, Octavia can use it when you add one-off lessons or generate a recurring series.

How Lesson Types Affect Scheduling

One-off lessons

When you add an ordinary one-off individual lesson, the lesson type attached to the student's enrolment is selected by default. You can keep it or choose another individual lesson type from your school.

When you add an ordinary one-off group lesson, the lesson type attached to the group's enrolment is selected by default. You can keep it or choose another group lesson type from your school.

The selected type determines the duration automatically. Choosing another type affects only the lesson you are creating: it does not update the enrolment or change the type used for future recurring generation.

Makeup lessons are different. When scheduling a makeup, the lesson type stays fixed to the type attached to the student's enrolment and cannot be replaced with another type.

Recurring lesson generation

When you generate a recurring series, Octavia again uses the lesson type already set on the student or group.

This is why the scheduler needs the lesson setup in place first. If no lesson type has been selected yet, lessons cannot be generated properly.

Individual and Group Lesson Types

Individual lesson types and group lesson types are separate.

An individual student uses an individual lesson type.

A group uses a group lesson type.

The app keeps these categories separate in the relevant places, so a group lesson type is not used for an individual student, and an individual lesson type is not used for a group.

If No Lesson Type Is Set

If a student or group does not yet have a lesson type:

You may not be able to create lessons yet
You may not be able to generate a recurring series
The app will prompt you to complete the lesson setup first

If this happens, go back to the student's or group's lesson setup and select the correct lesson type before continuing.

Changing a Lesson Type

You can change a lesson type later if the student's or group's lesson arrangement changes.

In general, changing the type in the student's or group's lesson setup affects scheduling going forward. Future recurring lessons use the updated type. Lessons that have already been created keep the details they were created with unless you change them through a separate workflow.

Selecting another type while adding an ordinary one-off lesson is not the same as changing the lesson setup. That selection applies only to the new lesson, whether the lesson is individual or group.

Lesson Types and Pricing

Lesson types also carry the billing rate used for invoicing. For calendar-based billing, a one-off lesson booked with another same-category type uses that selected type's rate rather than the enrolment's usual type. That is why lesson types appear in both scheduling and billing documentation.

This article focuses on the scheduling side. For the setup and pricing side, see Lesson Types and Pricing. For calendar invoicing, see How Your Lessons Are Counted.

Next: Creating an Individual Lesson

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