Case study, Academy of Art University
The Course Development Coach: one pattern, three applications
An AI-assisted course development system I conceived and built at Academy of Art University. It works as a structured instructional design coach, not a content generator, and it has grown into a reusable platform pattern.
- Role
- Conceived and built
- Context
- Academy of Art University
- Approach
- Claude with retrieval
- Status
- Expanded pilot
The idea
Subject matter experts know their fields deeply, but turning that expertise into a well-structured course is its own discipline. The Course Development Coach guides that process through conversation. It uses Claude with retrieval over a curated institutional knowledge base, so its guidance reflects how the institution actually builds courses.
The distinction that matters: it is a coach, not a generator. It asks structured questions and helps an expert think, then produces outcome-aligned, template-ready module drafts rather than content to copy and paste. It replaces an unstructured authoring process with a repeatable one, and a person stays in the loop: editorial review sits at the end of every flow.
The pattern
How the coach works
- 1
SME conversation
A subject matter expert starts a guided chat, in their own words.
- 2
Structured interview
The coach asks focused questions that surface goals, scope, and gaps.
- 3
Institutional knowledge
Retrieval over a curated knowledge base grounds every response.
- 4
Formatted output
The conversation becomes a structured, usable artifact, ready for authoring.
- 5
Editorial review
A person reviews and refines before anything moves forward.
Human in the loop
A platform pattern, not a single tool
The same architecture applies to several points in the course development process: institutional knowledge applied through retrieval, structured and outcome-aligned output, and editorial review at the end. Two of the applications coach an expert through a structured interview; the third draws on institutional templates and examples to generate rubrics. That shared foundation is what makes it a platform. The first application is in expanded pilot, moving toward use across the institution's 300+ annual course builds; two more are in active development.
- In expanded pilot
Course Development Coach
A structured instructional design coach for subject matter experts. It is moving from initial pilot to access across all subject matter experts.
- In development
Course outline coach
Helps subject matter experts structure a full course arc before authoring begins, so the shape of a course is sound from the start.
- In development
Assignment rubric generator
Draws on institutional templates, guidelines, and examples to generate course assignment rubrics aligned to course learning outcomes, keeping assessment connected to intended outcomes.
Anonymized views of the coach in conversation. Names and course details shown are illustrative, not real course content.
Why it works
- Grounded in institutional knowledge through retrieval, so guidance is specific rather than generic.
- Built as a coach that asks structured questions, which keeps subject matter experts in authorship rather than outsourcing it.
- Editorial review at the end of every flow keeps quality and judgment with people.
- One reusable architecture, so new applications extend the pattern instead of starting over.
Takeaway
The Course Development Coach shows how I turn an institutional problem into a durable AI platform: a clear pattern, grounded in real knowledge, with people kept firmly in the loop.
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