Teaching with Technology

Prompting 101

Prompting is the process of giving clear, specific instructions to an AI tool to generate useful and relevant output. The quality of what you get depends directly on how well you structure your prompt. Strong prompts save time, improve accuracy, and produce results that are more aligned with your teaching or work needs.

Effective prompting is not about getting the perfect answer on the first try. It is an iterative process. You may need to refine your instructions, adjust the level of detail, or ask the AI to revise its response. Over time, developing this skill allows you to use AI as a productive thinking partner rather than just a content generator.

When used intentionally, prompting can support course design, feedback, communication, and administrative tasks. The goal is not to replace your expertise, but to extend it by helping you generate ideas, analyze information, and streamline routine work.

A Simple Prompt Framework

Strong prompts typically include several key elements:

  • Role: Who the AI should act as
  • Task: What you want it to do
  • Context: Background information or purpose
  • Audience: Who the output is for
  • Format: How the response should be structured

 

Example: Act as an instructional designer. Create three discussion questions for an undergraduate psychology course on motivation. Questions should promote critical thinking and application rather than recall. The audience is first-year college students. Present the questions as a numbered list.

Prompting by Task

Instead of thinking about prompts as one-off examples, it is more useful to think in terms of what you are trying to accomplish.

Create (Generate New Content)

Use when you need ideas, drafts, or starting points.

  • Create three learning objectives aligned with Bloom’s Taxonomy for a lesson on climate change.
  • Generate a case study for a business ethics course involving a leadership dilemma.
  • Draft a rubric for evaluating student presentations.

Analyze (Make Sense of Content)

Use when you want insight or interpretation.

  • Analyze this student response and identify strengths and areas for improvement.
  • Review this syllabus and identify gaps in alignment between objectives and assessments.
  • Summarize key themes from this discussion board.

Evaluate (Judge Quality)

Use when you want critique or improvement suggestions.

  • Evaluate this assignment for clarity and rigor and suggest improvements.
  • Review these quiz questions and identify any that are too easy or unclear.
  • Assess whether these learning objectives are measurable.

Transform (Adapt or Convert)

Use when you want to repurpose or revise content.

  • Convert this lecture into an interactive class activity.
  • Turn this syllabus into a student-friendly checklist.
  • Rewrite this content at a first-year college reading level.

Support Student Learning

Use when you want AI to guide learning rather than provide answers.

  • Ask me guiding questions to help me understand this concept instead of giving the answer.
  • Explain this concept using a real-world example relevant to college students.
  • Quiz me on this material one question at a time and provide feedback.

Staff Productivity

Use when working on communication, planning, or administrative tasks.

  • Draft a professional response to a student concern about grading.
  • Summarize this meeting transcript into key decisions and action items.
  • Create an agenda for a 60-minute departmental meeting.

Improving Your Prompts

Small changes in wording can significantly improve results.

Basic prompt: Create a quiz
Improved prompt: Create a five-question multiple-choice quiz on photosynthesis for an introductory biology course. Include plausible distractors and identify the correct answer.

Basic prompt: Explain this topic
Improved prompt: Explain this concept in simple terms for a first-year college student and include one real-world example.

Being more specific about audience, format, and expectations leads to more useful output.

Tips for Better Results

  • Be specific about the audience and level
  • Ask for a clear format such as a list, rubric, or table
  • Request examples or models when helpful
  • Refine responses by asking the AI to revise or improve
  • Review and verify all outputs before using them

Important Considerations

AI tools can produce incorrect or incomplete information. Always review and verify outputs before using them in teaching or professional contexts. Be mindful of potential bias in generated content, and avoid entering sensitive or protected information into AI systems.

Used thoughtfully, prompting can help you work more efficiently while maintaining control over the quality and integrity of your work.

Prompt Builder Template

You can use this template to structure your own prompts:

Act as a [role].
I am working on [context].
Your task is to [task].
The audience is [audience].
Please format the response as [format].
Constraints: [tone, length, requirements].

Explore Additional Prompt Libraries

If you are looking for more examples and inspiration, these prompt libraries from other institutions provide practical use cases across teaching, research, and administrative work.

Final Thought

You’re still the expert - AI is just a helpful assistant. Prompting helps you work faster, not lower your standards. Use it to support your creativity, not replace it.

If you have questions or want to explore prompts in your discipline, reach out to the Instructional Design & Technology team or browse the Teaching with Technology Generative AI Hub.

Daniel Wooddell
Sr. Instructional Technologist
Teaching with Technology Site Designer