A course is a path along which something moves.

There may be a physical path, as through a golf course or round a race course.    The word originates from running round a track.    Or the path may be more an idea than a reality, as with a course of treatment, or a course of instruction.

But both imply moving along a predefined route.    And they imply inevitability, part of the natural order of things, the "course of events".    Indeed, if we want to acknowledge something as inevitable or obvious, we often just say "of course".

So what makes a course a path?    It needs to have a beginning, a middle and an end;   to get from A to B.    And it has to start somewhere;   there is always an A.

A is defined in terms of levels of knowledge and skill:   what the learner knows and can do.    These abilities may be checked, or imposed as entry requirements.    They may not.    They may not even be explicitly stated.    But they are always there.

Similarly, there is always an end point, a B:   a level of knowledge and skill which the learner could have acquired on successful completion of the course.    But not everyone will achieve that.    Partial completion of courses in this sense is the norm rather than the exception.    And a course may last an hour, or it may last five years.

According to the ODL QC Standards:

"A course is a structured learning opportunity, offered to a learner by a provider.    It may be of any length.    It may be in any subject.    It may be theoretical, practical, experiential, or any combination of these.    It may be offered face-to-face, on paper, on screen, or in any combination.

The word course comes originally from the Latin currere, to run.    So do many other words.    Curriculum comes from the same root, as does current and currency, cursor and cursory, discourse and recourse and intercourse, concur incur occur and recur, precursor and succour and excursion.    All imply movement of some kind, though occasionally it is circulation rather than progression.