Plan Course

Plan Course

Plan the top-level structure of a Canvas course: the module sequence across the year (or semester / trimester / term), each module's outcomes, and optionally the foundational pages that orient students to the course. Drafts only — no publishing.

This skill never publishes anything. Modules are created in Canvas's default unpublished state. Pages land as drafts. The teacher reviews and publishes manually.

When to use

A teacher is setting up a fresh Canvas course or restructuring an existing one at the course level. Common phrasings:

• "Plan the structure for DSGN 9 for next year"
• "Set up the modules for FSV 117 — 4 modules across the year"
• "I need to scaffold this course — Modules 1-5 covering [topic]"
• "Outline a course on AI for high schoolers"

When NOT to use

• Single module — that's plan-module. plan-course creates a SEQUENCE of modules; if you only need one, use plan-module directly.
• Adding a module to an existing course's existing structure — also plan-module.
• Lessons or assessments within an already-scaffolded course — plan-lesson (UbD) / post-lesson-page / plan-assessment.
• Creating the actual Canvas course itself — courses are usually provisioned by your school's Canvas account admin / SIS sync. This skill assumes the course shell already exists.

Prerequisites

• canvas-mcp v0.3.16 or later (needs create_module from v0.3.12 + get_school_info and title_format exposure on list_page_templates from v0.3.16).
• An existing Canvas course shell (this skill doesn't create courses, only their contents).
• A school config (Franklin: bundled by default). The skill reads academicCalendar.weeksPerYear if present, to inform module sizing.

Workflow

1. Capture the course context

Get these pieces from the teacher's initial request; ask only for what's missing:

• Canvas course — code or numeric id. Confirm by calling get_course_details(course_identifier). Show the teacher the course name + code you found so they can catch a typo.
• Subject / discipline — what the course is about (e.g., "Design 9", "AI for Designers", "Entrepreneurship"). Often inferable from the course name.
• Grade level — if not already obvious from the course code/name.
• Term type — year-long / semester / trimester / quarter. For Franklin, year-long is most common (35 weeks).
• Number of modules to plan — see "Default module count" below. The teacher tells you, or you propose.

If the school config has academicCalendar.weeksPerYear, that's the default duration. Otherwise ask.

Default module count

Based on duration:

• 4–8 weeks (one term/quarter): 1–2 modules
• 12–16 weeks (semester): 3–4 modules
• 24–35 weeks (year): 4–6 modules

Modules don't have to be equal length — most courses have a longer arc with a few shorter focused modules. Confirm with the teacher.

2. Read the academic calendar from school config

Call get_school_info once. Use:

• academic_calendar.weeks_per_year to scope module week ranges. Franklin's 35-week year typically splits as 5–8 modules spanning weeks 1–7, 8–14, 15–21, 22–28, 29–35 (or some similar split — depends on the course).
• academic_calendar.year_start and current_week for context if the teacher mentions specific dates or "starting after fall break."

If the school config doesn't expose calendar info (older config, or get_school_info returns configured: false), ask the teacher: "What's the week numbering convention for this course? (e.g., Weeks 1-35, or numbered per-term)"

3. Identify course-level competencies + transfer goals

3a. Competency mapping

Call list_competencies. For a year-long course, the typical expectation is that students will encounter and develop all of the configured competencies over the year — not just a subset like in a single module or lesson. Different modules emphasize different competencies; together they cover the full framework.

In the preview (step 7), surface this: "Across the year this course should touch all [N] [framework name] competencies. Different modules will emphasize different ones — I'll suggest the primary 2–4 competencies for each module below."

If no framework is configured, skip the competency mapping.

3b. Transfer goals (UbD course-level)

Beyond competencies, ask the teacher about transfer goals — what students should be able to do by the end of the entire course, in contexts beyond the classroom. Transfer goals are broader than module-level objectives and longer-lasting than any single unit.

For each course, identify 2–5 transfer goals. Examples:

• "Apply user research methods to understand a real audience's needs and design accordingly." (a design course)
• "Use scientific reasoning to evaluate claims about energy systems in everyday life." (a physics course)
• "Build a sustained creative practice and reflect on one's own process." (an arts course)

Each transfer goal should:

• Start with an action verb
• Describe something students can do in life, not just on a test
• Be ambitious but achievable across the year
• Inform multiple modules' work (not just one)

Show in the preview. Most teachers haven't articulated transfer goals explicitly even if they have them implicitly — this step helps surface them. Don't push if the teacher resists; some courses are happy without an explicit course-level transfer frame.

4. Propose the module sequence + throughlines

Generate a list of modules. For each module, include:

• Number (sequential — Module 1, Module 2, …)
• Short title (the marketing name; e.g., "User Research")
• Subtitle (elaboration; e.g., "Discovering and Understanding Your Audience")
• Week range (e.g., Weeks 1–7)
• Primary competencies (2–4 from the framework)
• 1-sentence topic / scope summary
• Transfer goal alignment (which of the course transfer goals from step 3b this module advances — usually 1–2 per module)

Identify throughlines (UbD course-level)

After proposing the module sequence, identify the throughlines — concepts, skills, or essential questions that recur across multiple modules and build progressively. These are what makes a course feel cohesive rather than like 5 disconnected units.

Examples:

• A recurring essential question ("How do designers turn empathy into product?" — visits in Module 1's research lens, Module 3's prototyping, Module 5's showcase)
• A skill that builds progressively (sketching → wireframing → high-fidelity prototyping → user-testing across modules)
• A concept that deepens over time (the design process gets richer with each module's tools)

Surface 2–4 throughlines and show which modules they thread through. Like transfer goals, don't push if the teacher doesn't see them — but most courses have them implicit and surfacing them makes the course design stronger.

Use the Franklin module naming convention for each:

Module {N}: {Short Title}: {Subtitle} (Weeks {start}-{end})

Example proposal (with transfer goals + throughlines):

Course structure proposal — DSGN 9 (Design 9)
Year-long course, Weeks 1-35

## Transfer Goals
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
1. Apply user research methods to understand a real audience's needs and design accordingly
2. Build a sustained creative practice and reflect on their own process
3. Communicate design decisions clearly to varied audiences

## Module Sequence

Module 1: User Research: Discovering and Understanding Your Audience (Weeks 1-7)
  • Primary competencies: Empathy/Perspective Taking, Collaboration, Reflexivity
  • Transfer goals: 1, 2
  • Scope: Interview techniques, observation methods, synthesis, persona-building

Module 2: Ideation & Sketching: Generating Solutions (Weeks 8-14)
  • Primary competencies: Adaptability, Futures Thinking, Storytelling/Communication
  • Transfer goals: 2, 3
  • Scope: Divergent thinking, structured ideation, rapid sketching, concept selection

Module 3: Prototyping: Making Ideas Tangible (Weeks 15-21)
  • Primary competencies: Knowledge-Based Reasoning, Adaptability, Agency
  • Transfer goals: 1, 2
  • Scope: Paper prototypes, digital wireframes, physical mockups, testing protocols

Module 4: User Testing & Iteration: Refining the Solution (Weeks 22-28)
  • Primary competencies: Empathy/Perspective Taking, Reflexivity, Systems Thinking
  • Transfer goals: 1, 2
  • Scope: Test design, observation, feedback synthesis, iteration cycles

Module 5: Communication & Showcase: Presenting Your Work (Weeks 29-35)
  • Primary competencies: Storytelling/Communication, Agency, Reflexivity
  • Transfer goals: 3, 2
  • Scope: Process documentation, presentation design, final showcase

## Throughlines (concepts/skills that recur)
1. The design process — visits in every module, gets richer each time
2. Reflective practice — students journal/reflect at the end of every module
3. Essential question: "How do designers turn empathy into product?" — recurs across Modules 1, 3, 4, 5

Across the year all 9 Transdisciplinary Competencies are encountered (mapped above).

Sound right? Adjust titles, swap modules, change week ranges, or change competency / transfer-goal emphasis before I draft outcomes.

Iterate with the teacher until the sequence is locked. Don't move on until they say "looks good" or equivalent.

5. Draft outcomes for each module

For each module in the sequence, draft 4–8 outcome statements following the same standard as plan-module:

• Start with an action verb (Design, Build, Evaluate, Analyze, Apply, …)
• Be observable / measurable
• Map to the module's primary competencies
• Reflect the scope of the WHOLE module, not one lesson
• When transfer goals are defined (step 3b), ensure each module's outcomes contribute to advancing at least one transfer goal — surface that alignment in the preview

This step takes a moment — 5 modules × 6 outcomes = ~30 outcome statements. Power through; the teacher will review them all in the preview.

When the teacher later runs plan-module on each module, they can choose the UbD path within that skill to develop the module further (enduring understandings, essential questions, formative + summative assessment plan). The transfer goals and throughlines you identified here give them the bigger-picture frame to work within.

6. Identify foundational pages (optional)

Ask the teacher whether they want the skill to also draft these two foundational pages:

• Start Here — welcome message, course overview, how-to-navigate, contact info, expectations
• More Resources — external links, reading lists, office hours, references

These are referenced by the nav strip in the school's lesson/assessment templates, so they should exist. If they already exist in the course, skip them. To check: call list_pages and look for start-here and more-resources slugs.

If the teacher wants them created:

• Ask for any specific content they want included (e.g., for Start Here: "what should students do first?", "what are your office hours?")
• Default Start Here content includes: a welcome paragraph, a "how to navigate this course" section pointing at modules + syllabus, and an "expectations" section
• Default More Resources content is mostly empty — the teacher fills it in over time

Use template: "default" for these (or template: "none" if no default template is configured) — they don't fit the lesson or assessment shape.

7. Preview the full course plan

Before any tool calls touch Canvas, show the teacher the complete plan:

Course Structure Plan — DSGN 9 (course id 60366)
Year-long, Weeks 1-35
All 9 TD Competencies covered across modules

[5 Canvas Modules]
  1. Module 1: User Research: Discovering and Understanding Your Audience (Weeks 1-7)
     Outcomes: 6 items, competency-aligned (Empathy, Collaboration, Reflexivity)
  2. Module 2: Ideation & Sketching: Generating Solutions (Weeks 8-14)
     Outcomes: 5 items (Adaptability, Futures Thinking, Storytelling)
  ... (5 total)

[5 Module Outcomes pages]
  • One per module, with the outcomes listed above
  • All use template: "module_outcomes"

[2 Foundational pages] (if requested)
  • Start Here — welcome, navigation, expectations
  • More Resources — empty placeholder for the teacher to fill in

Status of everything: UNPUBLISHED (teacher publishes manually)

NOT included in this plan:
  • Lesson pages within each module — run /plan-module per module to draft those
  • Assessment pages — same, drafted within each module's plan-module run
  • Canvas syllabus_body — edit directly in Canvas (or use update_course tool if available)

Ready to create?

Get explicit approval. If the teacher wants changes, iterate.

8. Create everything as drafts

In this order, calling MCP tools:

8a. Foundational pages (if requested)

Create them BEFORE the modules so the nav-strip links in the module pages have somewhere to point.

create_page(
  course_identifier: <course>,
  title: "Start Here",
  template: "default",
  body: "<h2>Welcome to DSGN 9</h2><p>...</p>..."
)

Same for More Resources. Capture the URL slugs.

8b. For each module, in order: create the Canvas Module, create the Outcomes page, add Outcomes to module

For Module 1:

// Create the module container
const m = await create_module(
  course_identifier: <course>,
  name: "Module 1: User Research: Discovering and Understanding Your Audience (Weeks 1-7)"
);
// m.module.id is the new module id

// Draft the Outcomes page
const outcomesPage = await create_page(
  course_identifier: <course>,
  title: "Module 1: User Research - Outcomes",
  template: "module_outcomes",
  slots: {
    outcomes: "<li>Design and conduct user interviews using semi-structured protocols</li><li>...</li>..."
  }
);

// Add the Outcomes page as the first item in the module
await add_module_item(
  course_identifier: <course>,
  module_id: m.module.id,
  type: "Page",
  title: "Module 1: User Research - Outcomes",
  content_id: outcomesPage.url   // for Page items, content_id is the slug
);

Repeat for each module. 5 modules = 15 tool calls in this step (3 per module). Just power through; you'll summarize at the end.

9. Confirm to the teacher

Surface the result:

Drafted the structure for DSGN 9 — 5 Canvas Modules with their Outcomes pages, all saved as drafts. Plus 2 foundational pages (Start Here, More Resources) if you asked for those.

What's NOT done yet (suggested next steps):

• Develop lessons + assessments inside each module — run /plan-module per module
• Edit the Canvas syllabus content (the page accessed via the nav-strip Syllabus link) — do this in Canvas directly, or ask me to add it
• Publish the modules + pages when you're ready (manually in Canvas)

Module URLs:

• Module 1:
• Module 2:
• ...

Common mistakes to avoid

• Never tell the teacher anything is "published." Modules + every page are drafts. Use "drafted" or "created as drafts."
• Don't improvise the module naming convention. Each module: Module N: Short: Subtitle (Weeks X-Y). Each Outcomes page: Module N: Short - Outcomes. Numbers must be sequential.
• Don't make up the Canvas course. If get_course_details says the course doesn't exist or the teacher doesn't have access, stop and surface that — don't try to "plan around" a missing course.
• Don't try to map every module to ALL competencies. Each module emphasizes 2–4. Together the modules cover the framework.
• Don't draft lessons or assessments in this skill. That's plan-module's job, per module. Suggest it in the wrap-up.
• Don't create foundational pages without asking. They might already exist (list_pages to check first), or the teacher might have their own version.
• Don't add an <ol> wrapper in the outcomes slot. The module_outcomes template provides the <ol id="kl_objective_list">; the slot is just <li> items.
• Don't make up Canvas URLs. Use the url / html_url fields returned by the tools.
• Don't create a course that already has these modules. Run list_modules first if there's any chance the structure already exists — duplicate Module 1s will be confusing.