After creating a simple “design system” using UCalgary’s Brand resources, I uploaded a blog post, 2 ppt files, and a word doc with some links to Claude’s new “Claude Design” tool, and prompted:
I want to build an interactive online module (as a web page “learning object”) about Digital Transformation based on these files. The module will be self-directed, guiding people through an introduction to Digital Transformation and helping them to identify ways to approach it in their work.
There. In 2026, I just invoked “learning object” unironically. The future really is weird.
AI-Generated Content via Claude Design
Claude then asked me a few questions. I selected options for various items, and then said Go!
Then, more questions!
AI-Generated Content via Claude Design
I have enough context now. Let me ask focused questions before building the learning module.
Before I design this, I have some important questions. Your source material is rich — a 32-page framework document, a blog post, two decks — so we need to decide what the module focuses on, how long it is, and how interactive it feels.
Claude has some questions →
Some important questions, even.
Questions answered:
- audience: Mixed higher-ed audience (broadest)
- length: Short (~10–15 min) — a single session
- structure: Hub-and-spoke — dashboard you return to between sections -
- sections: Opening reflection (a moment where Dx showed up in your work), Definitions: digitization vs. digitalization vs. Dx, Frameworks (Martin & Xie 7 areas, Jisc, EDUCAUSE, etc.), Institutional case studies (ASU, GSU, UOC, etc.), Canadian context (eCampusOntario, BCcampus), Cross-cutting themes (people over tech, equity, culture), ‘Where does Dx show up in YOUR work?’ self-audit, Commit to one thing — action/pledge step, References & further reading
- interactivity: Rich — scenario branching, drag-drop, scored diagnostics, downloadable artifact at the end
- saving: Yes — saved in-browser (localStorage), exportable as a PDF / text file at the end
- visual_direction: Bold editorial — big type, red/gold blocks, photography-led (matches UCalgary marketing)
- imagery: Decide for me - variations: Build one strong v1 we can iterate on
- branding: UCalgary institutional (full red + gold, ‘Start something’ energy)
The “sections” were pulled from the uploaded documents with no guidance from me during this session.
It chewed for about 20 minutes, burning through a BUNCH of tokens - A WEEK’S WORTH of tokens! - and produced a web page with the content. Which didn’t work until I pointed out what was broken1, and then it recreated the file:
Digital Transformation online module
I'd have (have already) said 'is a teaching and learning opportunity', but didn't do a revision to fix that…
Image by D'Arcy Norman
Is it good? Nope! Articulate would have done a better job (with a $1,400USD/year license). Is it surprisingly complete-looking? Yes. Especially given that I didn’t revise the draft content after it eventually produced a working product (because I’d blown through my token allowance…). If I had tokens and time to go through some iterations, it might actually be a good interactive online module. And as a preview of a feature that hasn’t been fully rolled out yet, this approach will only get smoother going forward.
I’m going to keep each version of this online module available as I revise it2 - it could be easily improved with some simple iterations and review.
I figured out that it wasn’t able to host the .js and .css files separately because its hosting security model prevented them from loading, so I told it to figure out how to actually host the stuff it creates and it just created a single 1MB .html file with everything inline ↩︎
maybe this becomes my version of Ethan Mollick’s otter test or Simon Willison’s pelican test… ↩︎