What a course actually is
Most course-building tools are document editors with a linear structure. You add a video, a reading, a quiz, a certificate. The output is a sequence that learners move through from left to right. This model treats a course as a content delivery pipeline, which is a reasonable description of what most online courses are. It is not a reasonable description of what learning is. Learning is not linear. It has prerequisites that must be activated, misconceptions that must be surfaced and corrected, and outcomes that can only be measured over time. A document editor cannot model this. A system representation can.
The skema structure
A skema in Skemax is a structured representation of a course as a learning system. It contains a set of learning objectives with explicit prerequisite relationships, a sequence of content and practice organised around those objectives, assessment checkpoints mapped to each objective, and expected mastery thresholds that determine when a learner is ready to progress. When an educator builds a course in Skemax, they are authoring a skema — defining not just what content exists but how the content relates to outcomes, what prior knowledge it assumes, and how success will be measured.
What a skema encodes
- Learning objectives — explicit, measurable, with prerequisite graph
- Content sequence — mapped to objectives, with adaptive branching points
- Assessment checkpoints — per objective, with mastery thresholds
- Prior knowledge map — what the learner is assumed to already know
- Misconception register — known error patterns and targeted corrections
What the structure enables
The skema representation enables capabilities that are impossible in document-based course tools. Talos can analyse a skema before a course goes live to identify prerequisite gaps, potential misconception points, and objectives that lack adequate assessment coverage. During delivery, Skemax can adapt the sequence for individual learners based on their mastery signals. After delivery, educators see analytics organised around objectives rather than content — not "learners spent 4 minutes on module 3" but "62% of learners have not yet reached mastery on the second objective." The skema is what makes the difference between a course platform and a learning system.