Guide · Agent skill
How to use the Understanding by Design Planner agent skill
Updated · written with AI from the project's own documentation and checked against our catalogue data
The understanding-by-design skill tells an AI agent to plan an OpenMAIC classroom or course series using Understanding by Design, a method that starts from the ideas students should keep rather than a list of facts. It is written for teachers and course designers who want each slide, quiz, interactive and project page to serve a guiding question. After this guide you will know what the skill changes, how to install it, how to ask for it in plain language, and where it stops.
Understanding by Design PlannerTHU-MAIC/OpenMAIC · MIT Download the skill Quick start
- 1Download the ZIP. Get the understanding-by-design ZIP from this page.
- 2Unzip into a skills folder. Extract it to ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use, or to .claude/skills/ inside a project.
- 3Or upload in the Claude apps. In the Claude apps, go to Settings → Capabilities → Skills and upload the skill.
- 4Confirm your OpenMAIC setup. Make sure your environment includes the stage-design, pro-editing, pbl, quiz and interactive page types.
- 5Make a natural request. Describe the concept, audience and whether it is one lesson or a series, and mention UbD, backward design or GRASPS if you want the method applied.
- 6Approve the blueprint. For a series, review the unit big idea, essential question and performance task before lessons are drafted.
What is an agent skill, and what does this one make the agent do?
An agent skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file that gives an AI agent specific instructions for one kind of task. This skill, named understanding-by-design, applies to planning OpenMAIC classrooms. When it is installed and triggered, the agent works in three stages: it first states enduring understandings and essential questions, then defines how students will show understanding through a GRASPS performance task, and only then designs the lesson pages using WHERETO learning experiences.
The skill is a planning and content guide for OpenMAIC. It does not create files on its own. For saving a new classroom it defers to the stage-design rules, and for editing a classroom that already exists it points to the pro-editing workflow.
Install the understanding-by-design skill
Download the ZIP for this skill from this page. Unzip it so that the folder containing SKILL.md sits in your skills directory. For a personal install, use ~/.claude/skills/. For a single project, use the .claude/skills/ folder inside that project.
If you use the Claude apps, you can instead upload the skill under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
- Personal install: ~/.claude/skills/
- Project install: .claude/skills/ inside your project folder
- Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload
Check the requirements before you start
The skill needs an OpenMAIC environment that includes its stage-design, pro-editing, pbl, quiz and interactive page types. It also refers to other skills (style, teacher-style and pptx-import) for requests it excludes, so those should be available if you rely on them.
The skill does not run scripts and does not use the network.
- OpenMAIC with stage-design, pro-editing, pbl, quiz and interactive page types
- Referenced skills style, teacher-style and pptx-import for excluded requests
- No scripts are run by this skill
- No network use by this skill
How to trigger the skill with natural requests
Describe the lesson or unit and mention the design method you want. The skill's description lists trigger terms such as backward design, enduring understandings, essential questions, GRASPS performance evidence, WHERETO learning experiences and concept-centered lesson. You do not need to use all of them.
If your request is clear about one lesson or a series, the agent will follow the matching scope. If it is unclear, the skill tells the agent to ask you to confirm the scope.
- Plan one OpenMAIC lesson on photosynthesis as a concept-centered lesson with an essential question.
- Design a three-lesson unit on fractions using backward design, with a shared blueprint I can approve first.
- Build a GRASPS performance task and quiz for a lesson on supply and demand.
- Use WHERETO to plan a lesson on river erosion around a real, conflicting situation.
Examples of what the output looks like
For a single lesson, expect the agent to declare the enduring understanding and one or two essential questions, define a performance task, and then propose a page sequence. The source suggests a rhythm that opens with a slide built on a real situation, moves to a slide that builds the concept, adds an interactive where students do the core idea, uses a quiz or interactive in a new situation, ends with a pbl performance task, and closes with a quiz and a summary slide that returns to the essential question.
For a series, the agent should first propose a unit blueprint with the big idea, unit essential question, unit performance task, and sub-understandings for each lesson. It should wait for your approval before drafting individual lessons.
Tips for better results
Name the concept and the grade or audience. The skill asks for each page to answer which understanding or essential question it serves, so a precise topic gives it something to test against.
Approve the unit blueprint before asking for lessons in a series. The skill is designed to avoid batch-generating lessons without an overall design.
For an existing classroom, ask for a local edit rather than a rebuild. The skill tells the agent to use pro-editing for pages that already exist.
Do not ask for brand style, a specific teacher's presenting style, or a direct PowerPoint import through this skill. Use the separate style, teacher-style or pptx-import flows.
What people use it for
- Planning a single OpenMAIC lesson on a concept such as ecosystems, with an essential question opening the first page.
- Drafting a multi-lesson unit blueprint that every later lesson can refer back to.
- Designing a GRASPS project page and a quiz that tests whether students can apply the idea in a new situation.
- Checking an existing plan against WHERETO to see whether each activity has a clear purpose.
Frequently asked questions
Is the understanding-by-design skill free?
The source gives the licence as MIT. It does not list prices, so check the project's repository for licence terms before you rely on it.
What do I need to use the understanding-by-design skill?
You need an OpenMAIC environment with stage-design, pro-editing, pbl, quiz and interactive page types. The skill also references style, teacher-style and pptx-import for requests it excludes. It runs no scripts and uses no network.
Where do I install the skill?
Unzip the downloaded ZIP into ~/.claude/skills/ for personal use or into a project's .claude/skills/ folder. In the Claude apps, you can upload it under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.
Does this skill create OpenMAIC files by itself?
No. It is a planning and content guide. Saving a new classroom follows the stage-design rules, and editing an existing classroom goes through pro-editing.
Can it copy a brand style or a teacher's presenting style?
No. The skill excludes visual style cloning, teacher-style imitation and direct PowerPoint import. Those requests belong to the style, teacher-style and pptx-import skills.
How is this different from a normal lesson plan prompt?
This skill starts from enduring understandings and a performance task, then designs pages around an essential question. It asks for each page to serve a specific understanding and removes pages that cannot justify their place.
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Our verdict
Use this skill if you are building an OpenMAIC lesson or unit around transferable ideas and want quizzes and project tasks that test transfer rather than recall. Pick something else if you need a brand style copied, a specific teacher's presenting style, a direct PowerPoint import, or changes to a classroom that already exists, since the skill excludes those.
Download the skill