Systems and methods for providing content and enabling users to add or modify content and content styles associated with a distributed learning system are provided. A server stores content objects developed by one or more authors, and a permissions module regulates access to the content objects based upon stored permission settings. The methods comprise receiving a request from a user to add or modify content or a content style, retrieving permissions information associated with the request, and providing or not providing access to the requested content or content style, based upon the retrieved permissions information. In some embodiments, methods are provided by which content objects can be dynamically rendered by various organizations to generate courses tailored to each organizations themes and visual styles.