course-development

Files (2)

• SKILL.md
• reference-course.md · references/

SKILL.md (first lines)

# Develop a Technical Course

Build a course learners can understand, execute, and finish. Use [documentation-site](../documentation-site/SKILL.md) as the default course publisher; an existing course repository owns its platform, page schema, and task names. Use [quality-assurance](../quality-assurance/SKILL.md) for a broader test campaign.

## Workflow

1. **Define the learner**: prerequisites, target capability, time, delivery format, and accessibility needs; keep only content that advances the outcome.
1. **Make outcomes observable**: give each lesson a primary capability and a completion signal; introduce terms before using them.
1. **Ground examples**: derive code and counts from shipped source or generated evidence; explain the reason beside a command and distinguish captured output from illustration.
1. **Record terminal examples when useful**: follow the [VHS workflow](../fmind-visuals/references/recording.md) for reproducible demos with synthetic inputs; retain the command transcript and a static equivalent for accessibility.
1. **Make practice executable**: state the goal, starting state, a prediction, ordered work, verification, and what remains afterward; label temporary changes and external access/cost.
1. **Validate progressively**: run the changed lesson's checks and examples, then the repository's learner gate from a clean environment; record unexercised platforms or live services.
1. **Prepare acceptance**: connect outcomes to evidence, known limitations, and a correction path; publication follows the user's authorized scope.

## Gotchas

- **Define prerequisites by state**: state the required machine or knowledge state, not merely a previous chapter number.
- **Never break published routes**: preserve URLs or provide tested redirects/aliases when changing them.
- **Prefer local exercises**: use meaningful local work by default; live models, cloud resources, and destructive cleanup need their declared authority and limits.

## Documentation

- Companion skills: [mermaid](../diagrams-as-code/references/mermaid.md) (technical diagrams), [svg](../diagrams-as-code/references/svg/GUIDE.md) (concept illustrations), [playwright](../playwright/SKILL.md) (browser checks), [quality-assurance](../quality-assurance/SKILL.md) (test campaign), [production-readiness](../production-readiness/SKILL.md) (proof ladder).

From fmind/dot, MIT.

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