dmccreary Course Description Analyzer
Version: 0.04
Overview
This Anthropic Claude Skill is the first step in the process of generating an intelligent textbook. The next Skill is the 'learning-graph-generator` Skill.
Analyze or create high-quality course descriptions that contain all necessary elements for generating comprehensive learning graphs with 200+ concepts. Check the /docs/course-description.md file for completeness, quality, and alignment with 2001 Bloom's Taxonomy learning outcomes.
Workflow Decision Tree
Start by checking if /docs/course-description.md exists:
- File does not exist → Follow Creation Workflow (Step 1)
- File exists → Follow Analysis Workflow (Step 2)
Tell the user that they are running Version 0.04 of the Course Description Analyzer Skill.
Step 1: Course Description Creation
Use this workflow when /docs/course-description.md does not exist.
1.1 Gather Course Information
Ask the user the following questions sequentially (not all at once):
What is the title of the course?
What is the target audience of the course?
- Options: elementary, junior high, high school, college undergraduate, graduate students, adult continuing education, professional development, or other
What are the prerequisites for this course?
- If none, explicitly state "None"
What are the main subjects/topics covered by this course?
- Request a list of major topics
What are the learning outcomes organized by the 2001 Bloom's Taxonomy?
- Explain that after this course, students will be able to demonstrate competencies at each level:
- Remember: Retrieve, recognize, and recall relevant knowledge
- Understand: Construct meaning from instructional messages
- Apply: Carry out or use procedures in given situations
- Analyze: Break material into parts and determine relationships
- Evaluate: Make judgments based on criteria and standards
- Create: Put elements together to form coherent wholes; includes capstone projects
- Explain that after this course, students will be able to demonstrate competencies at each level:
1.2 Generate Course Description
Use the template from assets/course-description-template.md and populate it with the user's responses. Create the file at /docs/course-description.md.
Ensure the generated file includes:
- Clear course title
- Target audience specification
- Prerequisites (or "None")
- Comprehensive list of main topics
- Section for topics NOT covered (to set boundaries)
- Detailed learning outcomes organized by all six Bloom's Taxonomy levels
- Descriptive text explaining why the course is important
1.3 After Creation
After creating the file, automatically proceed to Step 2 (Analysis Workflow) to validate the newly created course description and provide a quality score.
Step 2: Course Description Analysis
Use this workflow when /docs/course-description.md already exists.
2.1 Read the Course Description
Read /docs/course-description.md and analyze its contents against the quality criteria.
2.2 Course Description Quality Scoring System
Evaluate the course description using this 100-point scoring system:
| Element | Points | Criteria |
|---|---|---|
| Title | 5 | Clear, descriptive course title present |
| Target Audience | 5 | Specific audience identified (e.g., "college undergraduate") |
| Prerequisites | 5 | Prerequisites listed or explicitly stated as "None" |
| Main Topics Covered | 10 | Comprehensive list of topics (ideally 5-10 topics) |
| Topics Excluded | 5 | Clear boundaries set for what's NOT covered |
| Learning Outcomes Header | 5 | Clear statement: "After this course, students will be able to..." |
| Remember Level | 10 | Multiple specific outcomes for remembering/recalling |
| Understand Level | 10 | Multiple specific outcomes for understanding/explaining |
| Apply Level | 10 | Multiple specific outcomes for applying/using |
| Analyze Level | 10 | Multiple specific outcomes for analyzing/breaking down |
| Evaluate Level | 10 | Multiple specific outcomes for evaluating/judging |
| Create Level | 10 | Multiple specific outcomes for creating/synthesizing; includes capstone ideas |
| Descriptive Context | 5 | Additional context about course importance, relevance, or value |
Scoring Guidelines:
- Award full points if element is complete and high-quality
- Award partial points if element is present but incomplete or vague
- Award 0 points if element is missing
- For Bloom's Taxonomy levels, require at least 3 specific, actionable outcomes for full points
2.3 Gap Analysis
Identify missing or weak elements:
- List each element that scored less than full points
- Explain what is missing or insufficient
- Indicate how the absence impacts learning graph generation
2.4 Improvement Suggestions
Provide specific, actionable recommendations:
- For missing elements: Suggest what should be added
- For weak elements: Provide examples of how to strengthen them
- For Bloom's Taxonomy outcomes: Recommend specific verbs and topics
- Prioritize suggestions that will have the most impact on reaching the goal of generating 200 concepts
2.5 Course Description Assessment Report
Use mkdir -p docs/learning-graph to create a learning-graph directory in the docs directory.
Generate a comprehensive quality report on the course description and write it to docs/learning-graph/course-description-assessment.md
Overall Score: X/100
Quality Rating:
- 90-100: Excellent - Ready for learning graph generation
- 75-89: Good - Minor improvements recommended
- 60-74: Adequate - Several improvements needed
- 40-59: Fair - Significant gaps to address
- 0-39: Poor - Major revision required
Detailed Scoring Breakdown: Show points earned for each element
Gap Analysis: List of missing or weak elements
Improvement Suggestions: Prioritized recommendations
Next Steps:
- If score ≥ 85: Ready to proceed with learning graph generation
- If score < 85: Recommend addressing specific gaps before generating learning graph
2.6 Update Course Description Metadata
In this section NAME is the name of the course taken from the course description. QUALITY_SCORE is the score you computed for the course description.
If it does not exist, add the following yml metadata at the top of the docs/course-description.md file:
---
title: Course Description for Course NAME
description: A detailed course description for NAME including overview, topics covered and learning objectives in the format of the 2001 Bloom Taxonomy
quality_score: QUALITY_SCORE
---
2.7 Concept Generation Readiness
Assess whether the course description contains sufficient detail to generate 200 concepts:
- Evaluate topic breadth and depth
- Check if Bloom's Taxonomy outcomes suggest diverse concept types
- Estimate potential concept count based on current content
- Recommend additions if concept generation may fall short
Add course-description.md and and the course-description-assessment.md to mkdocs.yml Navigation
After the course-description.md file has been added to the /docs direction, ask the user if the new file should be added to the mkdocs.yml file. If the answer is yes, place the new file after the about.md file.
nav:
...
About: about.md
Course Description: course-description.md
...
Learning Graph:
Course Description Assessment: learning-graph/course-description-assessment.md
Next Step
For all users with a score over 85, ask if the learning-graph-generator skill should be run next.
Best Practices
When using this skill:
- Be thorough: Don't skip Bloom's Taxonomy levels—all six are essential for comprehensive learning
- Be specific: Vague outcomes like "understand the material" won't support quality learning graphs
- Use action verbs: Each outcome should start with a measurable verb (list, explain, apply, analyze, evaluate, design, etc.)
- Think concepts: Each topic and outcome should suggest multiple learnable concepts
- Set boundaries: Topics excluded are as important as topics covered for scope management
Resources
assets/
course-description-template.md: Template structure for creating new course descriptions with all required sections and Bloom's Taxonomy framework