A method tracks course materials in a computing environment for online courses. The method includes creating a set of course materials for an educational course. The set of course materials are stored in an educational management system. The set of course materials are posted for users to download through a network connection. The set of course materials are associated with a particular online course. The set of course materials are distributed from the educational management system to a user's computer through the network connection. The use of the set of course materials by a user is tracked to provide tracking information. The tracking information is recorded in the educational management system.