diff --git a/courseware/capa/capa_problem.py b/courseware/capa/capa_problem.py
index 2ed579d224..73ef168cf0 100644
--- a/courseware/capa/capa_problem.py
+++ b/courseware/capa/capa_problem.py
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ class LoncapaProblem(object):
             self.seed=struct.unpack('i', os.urandom(4))[0]
 
         ## Parse XML file
-        log.debug(u"LoncapaProblem() opening file {0}".format(filename))
+        #log.debug(u"LoncapaProblem() opening file {0}".format(filename))
         file_text = open(filename).read()
         # Convert startouttext and endouttext to proper <text></text>
         # TODO: Do with XML operations
diff --git a/courseware/management/__init__.py b/courseware/management/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/courseware/management/commands/__init__.py b/courseware/management/commands/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
diff --git a/courseware/management/commands/check_course.py b/courseware/management/commands/check_course.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e335b13bb8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/courseware/management/commands/check_course.py
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+import os.path
+
+from lxml import etree
+
+from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.contrib.auth.models import User
+
+from mitx.courseware.content_parser import course_file
+import mitx.courseware.module_render
+
+class Command(BaseCommand):
+    help = "Does basic validity tests on course.xml."
+    def handle(self, *args, **options):
+        check = True
+        sample_user = User.objects.all()[0]
+        print "Attempting to load courseware"
+        course = course_file(sample_user)
+        print "Confirming all problems have alphanumeric names"
+        for problem in course.xpath('//problem'):
+            filename = problem.get('filename')
+            if not filename.isalnum():
+                print "==============> Invalid (non-alphanumeric) filename", filename
+                check = False
+        print "Confirming all modules render. Nothing should print during this step. "
+        for module in course.xpath('//problem|//html|//video'):
+            module_class=mitx.courseware.module_render.modx_modules[module.tag]
+            # TODO: Abstract this out in render_module.py
+            try: 
+                instance=module_class(etree.tostring(module), 
+                                      module.get('id'), 
+                                      ajax_url='',
+                                      state=None, 
+                                      track_function = lambda x,y,z:None, 
+                                      render_function = lambda x: {'content':'','destroy_js':'','init_js':'','type':'video'})
+            except:
+                print "==============> Error in ", etree.tostring(module)
+                check = False
+        print "Module render check finished"
+        sections_dir = settings.DATA_DIR+"sections"
+        if os.path.exists(sections_dir):
+            print "Checking all section includes are valid XML"
+            for f in os.listdir(sections_dir):
+                etree.parse(sections_dir+'/'+f)
+        else:
+            print "Skipping check of include files -- no section includes dir ("+sections_dir+")"
+        if check:
+            print 'Courseware passes all checks!'
+        else: 
+            print "Courseware fails some checks"
diff --git a/courseware/modules/capa_module.py b/courseware/modules/capa_module.py
index 78e9586462..cd740d7dea 100644
--- a/courseware/modules/capa_module.py
+++ b/courseware/modules/capa_module.py
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ class LoncapaModule(XModule):
         display_due_date_string=content_parser.item(dom2.xpath('/problem/@due'))
         if len(display_due_date_string)>0:
             self.display_due_date=dateutil.parser.parse(display_due_date_string)
-            log.debug("Parsed " + display_due_date_string + " to " + str(self.display_due_date))
+            #log.debug("Parsed " + display_due_date_string + " to " + str(self.display_due_date))
         else:
             self.display_due_date=None
         
@@ -140,7 +140,7 @@ class LoncapaModule(XModule):
         if len(grace_period_string)>0 and self.display_due_date:
             self.grace_period = content_parser.parse_timedelta(grace_period_string)
             self.close_date = self.display_due_date + self.grace_period
-            log.debug("Then parsed " + grace_period_string + " to closing date" + str(self.close_date))
+            #log.debug("Then parsed " + grace_period_string + " to closing date" + str(self.close_date))
         else:
             self.grace_period = None
             self.close_date = self.display_due_date