Plan AQ: AI Course Design

Goal analysis → outline → lesson plan → exercises & assessment → iterate

Time
2-3 days
Cost
Low
Difficulty
Advanced

Best for

For instructors, knowledge-commerce authors and internal training teams designing a complete course from objectives to delivery.

Steps

Analyze goals

1-2 hours

ChatGPT / you

Define who the learners are, their current level, and what measurable outcome they should achieve after the course, then break that into module goals. Have the model surface prerequisite skills learners probably lack but you didn't think of.

💡Write goals as verb sentences — 'by the end you can independently do X' — never vague words like 'understand' or 'be familiar with'.

Outline

2-4 hours

ChatGPT / Gamma

Have the model draft an outline from easy to hard, learn-then-use: modules, sessions, per-session objectives and deliverables. Lay it out as a visual outline in Gamma and show it to peers or a trial learner before finalizing.

💡Ask the model to mark each session's pedagogical reason — why not teach this later — so the outline isn't just a list of topics.

Lesson plan

4-8 hours

ChatGPT / Claude

Write a lesson plan for each session: opening case, teaching points, demonstration, interactive questions, in-class exercise, summary. Have the model pair every point with a real example and a common misconception to raise teaching density.

💡Open every session with a 3-minute icebreaker case — learner attention is most valuable in the first five minutes.

Exercises & assessment

2-3 hours

ChatGPT

Generate in-class drills, homework and stage quizzes mapped to learning objectives, with difficulty tags. Have the model provide grading rubrics and a capstone project that strings multiple modules together for the final assessment.

💡Ask the model to include answers and explanations with every quiz item, so learners can self-check and you can grade faster.

Review & iterate

1-2 hours per cohort

Notion / Canva Magic Studio

Log learner feedback, homework accuracy and completion rates in Notion to find weak spots; rebuild slide visuals quickly with Canva Magic Studio and cut trial-lecture videos with 剪映 (CapCut). Revise lesson plans before the next cohort.

💡Track which quiz items have the highest error rate — the topics they cluster on are what you must re-teach next time.

Tools involved

ChatGPTGammaNotionCanva Magic Studio剪映 (CapCut)

Pitfalls to avoid

A rich outline with unfocused goals

Piling up topics is pointless if learners can't say what they can do afterward; fix measurable goals first, then design backward.

Lesson plans detached from the outline

Plans that don't map to module goals drift as you teach; state the target goal at the top of every plan.

Teaching without practice

Without exercises and assessment, learners get it in class and blank on it in practice; every module needs at least one exercise.

Perfecting everything before launch

Ship an 80-point first version and iterate on real feedback — steadier than hoarding a 100-point release.

Related Workflows

Plan I: AI Presentations (Slides)

Topic & audience → outline & storyline → per-slide generation → visual consistency → speaker notes → rehearsal

Time：
30-60 min / deck
Cost：
Low
Difficulty：
Beginner

Plan J: AI Data Analysis / Research Report

Define the question → clean data → exploratory analysis → deep modeling → visualize & narrate → conclusions

Time：
2-6 hours / report
Cost：
Low-Medium
Difficulty：
Advanced

Plan K: AI Meeting Notes Workflow

Record & transcribe → AI summary → extract action items → archive & distribute → follow up & review

Time：
15-30 min / session
Cost：
Low
Difficulty：
Beginner