In this project you will design a complete e-learning course outline using prompts — learning outcomes, modules, lessons, assessments, and a launch-ready syllabus. The deliverable is a Markdown document a course platform like Teachable, Thinkific, or your own LMS could ingest directly.
Most online courses are written from the inside out: someone records a few lessons, slaps a title on top, and hopes a structure emerges. The result is a course full of "interesting content" that students never finish. A good course is designed from the outside in: outcomes first, then the smallest set of modules that delivers those outcomes, then lessons inside each module, then assessments that prove the outcomes were reached.
This project shows that outside-in design as a prompt chain. We will build the course for a fictional topic: "Confident SQL for Analysts", a four-week beginner-to-intermediate course.
The chain mirrors instructional design's "backward design" model. Five focused prompts feed into one syllabus.
Forward design
Give me an outline for a SQL course.You get a chapter list: "SELECT, WHERE, JOIN, GROUP BY, subqueries, window functions". It looks like a textbook table of contents and treats topics as the goal. Students complete every module and still cannot answer the only question that matters: "Can you now write a query to answer a real business question?"
Step 1 — Outcomes prompt
You are an experienced instructional designer.
Course title: "Confident SQL for Analysts"
Audience: business analysts and product managers with zero SQL
experience but comfort using Excel formulas.
Duration: 4 weeks, ~3 hours per week.
Constraint: by the end, learners should be able to answer real
business questions using a real database, not memorise syntax.
Write 6 learning outcomes for this course.
Rules:
- Each outcome starts with a verb (Bloom's: apply, analyse,
evaluate, create — not "understand" or "know").
- Each outcome is concrete enough to test.
- No two outcomes overlap.
- Cover from beginner to intermediate; do not include advanced
topics like CTEs unless they support a beginner outcome.Sample outcomes: "O1: Write SELECT queries that filter, sort, and limit rows to answer a specific business question. O2: Combine data from two related tables using INNER and LEFT JOIN. O3: Aggregate rows with GROUP BY to compute KPIs (totals, averages, ratios). O4: Diagnose why a query returns the wrong number of rows…"
Step 2 — Modules prompt
Map the 6 outcomes above into 4 modules (one per week).
For each module:
- module title (states the outcome in plain English, not jargon)
- which outcome(s) this module is responsible for
- one "real business question" the learner will be able to answer
by the end of the module
- 2–3 misconceptions the module must address
- a rough total minutes count (target ~3 hours per module)
Return as a Markdown table.Step 3 — Lessons prompt
Expand Module 2 ("Joining tables to combine data") into 5 lessons.
For each lesson return:
- lesson title (action-oriented, not topic-oriented)
- estimated runtime (8–15 min)
- type: video / reading / interactive / quiz
- learning objective (one sentence, starts with a verb)
- key concepts (≤3 bullets)
- example to walk through (a real-sounding business scenario)
- common student mistake to address explicitly
- transition: how this lesson sets up the next
Voice for lesson titles: friendly and direct.
Forbidden words in titles: "Introduction to", "Understanding",
"Basics of".
Output as Markdown.Sample lesson: "Lesson 2.3 — When two LEFT JOINs disagree. 12 min · video. Objective: diagnose a query whose row count doubles after a second join. Common mistake: assuming joins multiply rows independently…" Notice how this title reads — it is a problem to solve, not a topic to memorise.
Step 4 — Assessments prompt
Design assessments that prove the 6 outcomes were achieved.
For each outcome:
- one formative quiz question (multiple choice or short answer)
used inside a lesson
- one summative task (a small SQL exercise on a real-feeling
dataset) used at the end of the relevant module
- one capstone task at the end of the course that combines this
outcome with at least one other
Rules:
- Tasks must require applying the skill, not recalling syntax.
- Provide one realistic sample dataset description per task
(no actual data needed yet).
- For each task, write a 3-line marking rubric (excellent / okay /
not yet) so a TA could grade consistently.Step 5 — Syllabus prompt
Compose the final course syllabus as a single Markdown document.
Order:
1) Course title + one-paragraph promise (what the learner will be
able to do after 4 weeks)
2) Who this course is for / not for
3) Pre-requisites (be honest)
4) The 6 learning outcomes
5) Week-by-week breakdown using the module + lesson data
6) Assessments + final capstone description
7) Tools and access required (e.g. "a free PostgreSQL playground")
8) Estimated total time commitment
Voice: warm, practical, slight British understatement.
Forbidden: "transform your career", "in just 4 weeks", "industry-
leading", any hype. Use plain language.The output is a launch-ready syllabus you could paste into a course platform, send to a co-instructor, or publish as the course landing page's "What you will learn" section. Save it as course-syllabus.md.
Tip: After step 3, sanity-check the lesson count against the time budget. A 4-week course at 3 hours per week is roughly 12 hours; if your lessons add up to 18 hours, cut something now — not after recording starts.
Pick a topic you know well enough to teach. Run the outcomes prompt. Count how many outcomes start with "understand" or "know". Force yourself to rewrite each one using a Bloom verb. The course changes shape with the verbs.
Take your modules and run a "real business question" test: for each module, write the question the learner will be able to answer by the end. If you cannot write that question, the module is not focused enough — redesign it.
Generate a capstone-only prompt for an existing course you have taken. What single project would prove the course's outcomes were achieved? Often the answer reveals exactly what was missing from the course.
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