diff --git a/app/models/course.rb b/app/models/course.rb
index a26e2828..a829760d 100644
--- a/app/models/course.rb
+++ b/app/models/course.rb
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@ class Course < ActiveRecord::Base
 
   before_create :set_access_code
 
+  default_scope -> { order(:created_at) }
+
   def self.find_by_identifier!(identifier)
     where('access_code = ? OR uuid = ?', identifier, identifier).first!
   end
diff --git a/db/migrate/20150310175830_add_index_on_created_at_to_courses.rb b/db/migrate/20150310175830_add_index_on_created_at_to_courses.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a7ad1fb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/migrate/20150310175830_add_index_on_created_at_to_courses.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+class AddIndexOnCreatedAtToCourses < ActiveRecord::Migration
+  def change
+    add_index :courses, :created_at
+  end
+end
diff --git a/db/schema.rb b/db/schema.rb
index 6044feca..9df3a055 100644
--- a/db/schema.rb
+++ b/db/schema.rb
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 #
 # It's strongly recommended that you check this file into your version control system.
 
-ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20150305150214) do
+ActiveRecord::Schema.define(version: 20150310175830) do
 
   # These are extensions that must be enabled in order to support this database
   enable_extension "plpgsql"
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@
     t.string   "access_code"
   end
 
+  add_index "courses", ["created_at"], name: "index_courses_on_created_at", using: :btree
   add_index "courses", ["organization_id"], name: "index_courses_on_organization_id", using: :btree
   add_index "courses", ["teacher_id"], name: "index_courses_on_teacher_id", using: :btree
   add_index "courses", ["uuid"], name: "index_courses_on_uuid", unique: true, using: :btree