Build a Course Syllabus

Turn a bare topic list or reading list into a teachable syllabus: a course description, a sequenced weekly schedule, measurable objectives, an assessment scheme with a rubric, the boilerplate policies every syllabus needs, and a week→lecture work-list you can feed straight into /create-lecture. The instructor owns the academic judgment; this skill structures it.

When to use

• You have a pile of topics or papers and need them ordered into a term.
• You are converting last year's syllabus to a new length, level, or modality.
• You want the schedule's weeks pre-mapped to lecture decks before you start building slides.

Not for building the slides themselves (/create-lecture), reviewing a deck's pedagogy (/pedagogy-review), or assembling the reading list from scratch (/lit-review).

Phase 0: Intake (elicit before drafting)

A syllabus is shaped almost entirely by three parameters. Resolve them first — from flags, then by asking. Do not start sequencing until all three are pinned.

1. Level + audience — --level (phd / grad / undergrad). For economics, name the sequence (first-year metrics, micro theory, macro, field course, undergrad intermediate). Level sets reading depth, proof-vs-application balance, and assessment type.
2. Length + cadence — --weeks (default 14) and --sessions-per-week (default 2). A reading seminar and a problem-set course at the same length need very different schedules.
3. Material — the topic list or reading list ($ARGUMENTS, a file path, or a .bib). If the user points at a .bib or a folder of PDFs, Glob/Read to inventory it; if topics are bare, ask for 1-2 anchor texts per topic.

Echo a short Intake Report (level, weeks, cadence, N topics / N readings, any gaps) and get confirmation before Phase 1.

Phase 1: Sequence topics into weeks

1. Order by dependency, not by the reading list's order. Build a prerequisite chain — foundational tools before the topics that use them (e.g., asymptotics → GMM → applications; consumer theory → GE → welfare). Front-load what later weeks assume.
2. Allocate readings to weeks. Distribute material so each week's load is realistic for the level (a PhD field week carries 2-4 papers; an undergrad week, 1 chapter + 1 application). Flag any week that is overloaded or thin.
3. Place deliverables on the calendar. Problem sets after the tools they exercise; the midterm at a natural conceptual break; referee report / replication / paper proposal milestones spaced so they don't collide. Mark reading-break and no-class weeks.
4. Emit the schedule table (topic → readings → deliverable per week) and get sign-off before writing objectives — re-sequencing is cheap now, expensive later.

Phase 2: Objectives + assessment

1. Write measurable learning objectives. One course-level set plus per-unit objectives, each using an observable verb (derive, estimate, replicate, critique, prove) — not "understand" or "be familiar with". Tie each objective to the week(s) that deliver it.
2. Design the assessment scheme. Pick instruments that fit the level (problem sets + final for a methods course; referee report + replication + paper for a field/PhD course; exams + project for undergrad). State weights summing to 100%, and check every objective is assessed by something.
3. Write one rubric for the highest-stakes deliverable (the paper, project, or referee report) — criteria × levels, with point bands. Keep it short and concrete.

Phase 3: Emit the syllabus + the lecture work-list

1. Assemble the syllabus document in the Output format below (skip policies if --no-policies).
2. Generate the per-week /create-lecture work-list — one row per teaching week mapping it to a deck name, its objective(s), and its anchor reading, so the instructor can hand each row to /create-lecture in order. This is the bridge from syllabus to slides.

Output format

Write to syllabus.md (or a user-specified path):

markdown
# [Course title] — [Term, Year]
[Level · meeting cadence · units]

## Course description
[2-4 sentences: what the course is, what students leave able to do.]

## Prerequisites
[Courses / skills assumed. Be specific — "first-year metrics or equivalent".]

## Learning objectives
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- [observable verb] … (Weeks N-M)

## Weekly schedule
| Week | Topic | Readings | Deliverable |
|------|-------|----------|-------------|
| 1 | … | … | — |

## Assessment
| Component | Weight | Maps to objectives |
|-----------|-------:|--------------------|
| … | …% | … |

### Rubric — [highest-stakes deliverable]
| Criterion | Excellent | Adequate | Weak |
|-----------|-----------|----------|------|

## Policies
Late work · AI / LLM use · academic integrity · accessibility / accommodations · attendance.

## Week → lecture work-list (hand to `/create-lecture`)
| Week | Deck name | Objective(s) | Anchor reading |
|------|-----------|--------------|----------------|

End the chat message (not the file) with a gap summary: weeks with no reading, objectives not assessed, deliverable collisions, or topics dropped for lack of time — the instructor decides how to resolve each.

Flags

• --weeks — term length in teaching weeks (default 14).
• --level — phd / grad / undergrad; sets reading depth and assessment type.
• --sessions-per-week — meetings per week (default 2); affects per-week load.
• --no-policies — omit the boilerplate Policies section (use when an institutional template supplies it).

Exit behavior

• Phase 0 halts until level, length, and material are all resolved — a forked or unattended run never guesses these. If the material is empty, ask for a topic/reading list and stop.
• Each phase gates on user sign-off (schedule before objectives, objectives before policies); re-ordering is offered cheaply at Phase 1.
• The deliverable is the syllabus file plus the work-list; the chat message always carries the gap summary, even when empty (No gaps — every week has a reading and every objective is assessed.).
• This skill is text-only; it never compiles, renders, or builds slides.

Cross-references

• /create-lecture (.claude/skills/create-lecture/SKILL.md) — the natural next step; feed it the work-list rows one week at a time.
• /lit-review (.claude/skills/lit-review/SKILL.md) — build or extend the reading list before sequencing.
• /interview-me (.claude/skills/interview-me/SKILL.md) — if the course goals are still fuzzy, formalize them first.
• /pedagogy-review (.claude/skills/pedagogy-review/SKILL.md) — review narrative/pacing once decks exist; the syllabus arc is the input it checks against.
• Authoring conventions: templates/skill-template.md.

What this skill does NOT do

• Does not write slide content or scaffold .tex/.qmd decks — that is /create-lecture.
• Does not search for or vet readings — pair with /lit-review.
• Does not grade, generate problem sets, or build answer keys.
• Does not assert institutional policy as binding — the Policies section is editable boilerplate the instructor must reconcile with their department's rules.
• Does not invent citations; every reading in the schedule comes from the material the user supplied.