diff --git a/src/main/java/org/owasp/webgoat/plugins/Plugin.java b/src/main/java/org/owasp/webgoat/plugins/Plugin.java
index 7018d697e..18aa5ff75 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/owasp/webgoat/plugins/Plugin.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/owasp/webgoat/plugins/Plugin.java
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 package org.owasp.webgoat.plugins;
 
+import com.google.common.base.Optional;
 import org.owasp.webgoat.lessons.AbstractLesson;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
@@ -61,7 +62,7 @@ public class Plugin {
 
     private void loadClass(String name, byte[] classFile) {
         ClassLoader contextClassLoader = Thread.currentThread().getContextClassLoader();
-        PluginClassLoader pluginClassLoader = new PluginClassLoader(contextClassLoader, classFile);
+        PluginClassLoader pluginClassLoader = new PluginClassLoader(contextClassLoader, name, classFile);
         try {
             String realClassName = name.replaceFirst("/", "").replaceAll("/", ".").replaceAll(".class", "");
             Class clazz = pluginClassLoader.loadClass(realClassName);
@@ -123,17 +124,24 @@ public class Plugin {
         }
     }
 
+    public AbstractLesson getLesson() {
+        try {
+            return lesson.newInstance();
+        } catch (IllegalAccessException | InstantiationException e) {
+            throw new PluginLoadingFailure("Unable to instantiate the lesson " + lesson.getName(), e);
+        }
+    }
 
-    public Class<AbstractLesson> getLesson() {
-        return lesson;
+    public Optional<File> getLessonSolution(String language) {
+        return Optional.fromNullable(this.solutionLanguageFiles.get(language));
     }
 
     public Map<String, File> getLessonSolutions() {
         return this.solutionLanguageFiles;
     }
 
-    public File getLessonSource() {
-        return lessonSourceFile;
+    public Optional<File> getLessonSource() {
+        return Optional.fromNullable(lessonSourceFile);
     }
 
     public Map<String, File> getLessonPlans() {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/owasp/webgoat/plugins/PluginClassLoader.java b/src/main/java/org/owasp/webgoat/plugins/PluginClassLoader.java
index 98b101b8b..6af81a6d3 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/owasp/webgoat/plugins/PluginClassLoader.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/owasp/webgoat/plugins/PluginClassLoader.java
@@ -1,15 +1,21 @@
 package org.owasp.webgoat.plugins;
 
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
 public class PluginClassLoader extends ClassLoader {
 
+    private final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(Plugin.class);
     private final byte[] classFile;
 
-    public PluginClassLoader(ClassLoader parent, byte[] classFile) {
+    public PluginClassLoader(ClassLoader parent, String nameOfClass, byte[] classFile) {
         super(parent);
+        logger.debug("Creating class loader for {}", nameOfClass);
         this.classFile = classFile;
     }
 
     public Class findClass(String name) {
+        logger.debug("Finding class " + name);
         return defineClass(name, classFile, 0, classFile.length);
     }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/owasp/webgoat/session/Course.java b/src/main/java/org/owasp/webgoat/session/Course.java
index 0b792b866..b5644ac7b 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/owasp/webgoat/session/Course.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/owasp/webgoat/session/Course.java
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.LinkedList;
 import java.util.List;
-import java.util.Map
+import java.util.Map;
 import javax.servlet.ServletContext;
 
 import org.owasp.webgoat.HammerHead;
@@ -304,12 +304,8 @@ public class Course {
         List<Plugin> plugins = new PluginsLoader(Paths.get(pluginPath), Paths.get(targetPath)).loadPlugins(true);
         for (Plugin plugin : plugins) {
             try {
-                Class<AbstractLesson> c = plugin.getLesson();
-                Object o = c.newInstance();
-
-                AbstractLesson lesson = (AbstractLesson) o;
+                AbstractLesson lesson = plugin.getLesson();
                 lesson.setWebgoatContext(webgoatContext);
-
                 lesson.update(properties);
 
                 if (!lesson.getHidden()) {
@@ -318,8 +314,12 @@ public class Course {
                 for(Map.Entry<String, File> lessonPlan : plugin.getLessonPlans().entrySet()) {
                     lesson.setLessonPlanFileName(lessonPlan.getKey(), lessonPlan.getValue().toString());
                 }
-                lesson.setLessonSolutionFileName(plugin.getLessonSolutions().get("en").toString());
-                lesson.setSourceFileName(plugin.getLessonSource().toString());
+                if (plugin.getLessonSolution("en").isPresent()) {
+                    lesson.setLessonSolutionFileName(plugin.getLessonSolution("en").toString());
+                }
+                if (plugin.getLessonSource().isPresent()) {
+                    lesson.setSourceFileName(plugin.getLessonSource().get().toString());
+                }
             } catch (Exception e) {
                 logger.error("Error in loadLessons: ", e);
             }