/matlab-generate-course

name: matlab-generate-course
description: Interview an instructor and generate a complete MATLAB and Simulink enabled course in IMS Common Cartridge format. Use when the user asks to create a MATLAB course, Simulink course, MATLAB and Simulink curriculum, MATLAB Course Designer-ready course shell, Common Cartridge course package, .imscc export, MATLAB Exercises with validated .m files, or Simulink Exercises with starter and solution model files. Coordinates IDStack, MATLAB Agentic Toolkit, Simulink Agentic Toolkit, matlab-create-course-activity, simulink-create-course-activity, and the existing matlab-generate-grader-assessments skill.
license: https://www.mathworks.com/content/dam/mathworks/license/pmrl/license.md
metadata:
  author: MathWorks
  version: "1.0"

MATLAB Course Designer

Create a complete MATLAB and Simulink enabled course package through an instructor interview. The final deliverable is an IMS Common Cartridge `.imscc` file plus reviewable source artifacts for the instructor.

The generated course must conform to the MATLAB Course Designer organization model: one course contains one or more ordered modules, and each module contains one or more ordered learning activities. Preserve this hierarchy in all intermediate artifacts so future API work can create MATLAB Course Designer course instances directly. Use the public MATLAB Course Designer documentation as the source for this hierarchy: <https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab-and-simulink-online-courses/matlab-course-designer.html>.

Do not hand-roll workflows that already exist in prerequisite skills:

• Use IDStack for instructional design pipeline work and Common Cartridge export.
• Use the MATLAB Agentic Toolkit for MATLAB activity, code, data, validation, and

live-script-ready guidance.

• Use the `matlab-create-course-activity` skill to create Course Designer-ready MATLAB

Exercise folders by wrapping `matlab-generate-grader-assessments` output and validating generated `.m` files with MATLAB MCP Server tool calls.

• Use the Simulink Agentic Toolkit for Simulink model activity design, model

validation, and testing guidance.

• Use the `simulink-create-course-activity` skill to create Course Designer-ready

Simulink Exercise folders with starter and solution `.slx` files.

• Use the existing `matlab-generate-grader-assessments` skill as the first authoring step for MATLAB

Exercise component parts, because MATLAB Course Designer MATLAB Exercises are structurally close to MATLAB Grader assessment items.

Input

The user may have provided course context in their request. If it is missing or too vague, collect the minimum instructor context in Step 1 before generating anything.

Reference Files

Read these references from the `references/` directory alongside this skill as needed:

• `references/interview-guide.md` — instructor interview questions and defaults
• `references/instructional-design-research.md` — MATLAB/Simulink-specific

research rules for objectives, module sequencing, and learning activities

• `references/course-artifact-rules.md` — Course Designer hierarchy, output

structure, and required files

• `references/matlab-simulink-activity-rules.md` — activity design rules
• `references/common-cartridge-export.md` — export and review rules

Read `references/interview-guide.md`, `references/instructional-design-research.md`, and `references/course-artifact-rules.md` before starting the instructor interview.

Pipeline Overview

Step 1: Interview the instructor and capture course constraints
Step 2: Confirm prerequisites and output directory
Step 3: Run or prepare the IDStack design pipeline
Step 4: Add MATLAB and Simulink activity specifications and model artifacts
Step 5: Generate validated MATLAB Exercise artifacts through matlab-create-course-activity
Step 6: Verify native Course Designer activity types and assessment placement
Step 7: Export Common Cartridge through IDStack course-export
Step 8: Write instructor review checklist and final review summary

Step 1: Instructor Interview

Use `references/interview-guide.md`.

Collect only missing information. If the user already supplied a syllabus, course title, module list, or learning goals, infer what you can and ask targeted follow-ups.

Required inputs:

• Course title and one-sentence course purpose
• Learner audience and prerequisite knowledge
• Duration, pacing, and module count
• Delivery mode: in person, online, hybrid, self-paced, or lab-supported
• Target persistence format, defaulting to Common Cartridge for MATLAB Course

Designer review

• MATLAB scope: programming, data analysis, numerical methods, apps, hardware,

AI, signal processing, controls, or other domain

• Simulink scope: modeling, simulation, control design, physical modeling,

code generation, verification, or other domain

• Assessment plan: native MATLAB Exercises, Simulink Exercises, readings, and

videos; Course Designer does not support generic assignments or discussions

• Required products and toolboxes, if known
• Accessibility, academic integrity, and institutional constraints
• Output directory, defaulting to the current working directory

If the course includes MATLAB Exercises, state that `matlab-create-course-activity` will wrap the `matlab-generate-grader-assessments` skill, validate generated `.m` files with MATLAB MCP tool calls, split `description.txt` into copy/paste-ready `background.m` and `task.m` files, then enrich the activity with MATLAB Course Designer authoring fields such as module placement.

Step 2: Prerequisite Check

Before generating the course, verify or ask the user to confirm that these skills/toolkits are available:

• IDStack skills, especially `needs-analysis`, `learning-objectives`,

`assessment-design`, `course-builder`, `course-quality-review`, `accessibility-review`, `red-team`, and `course-export`. IDStack is a third-party open-source project (MIT licensed), available at <https://idstack.org/>