AI PROMPTING
Quick Start Guide
AI platforms, such as ChatGPT and Bing, are also known as “chatbots”. The human contributions to the “chat” are called “prompts”.Note: one prompt is often not sufficient to produce a good quality response — it can take a series of prompts before you have useful output.
POP Prompt Method [1]
Persona – give the chatbot a role
- “you are a 2nd year college biology instructor”
Objective – provide a clear goal/task
- “give me a lesson plan for [course/level/topic]”
Parameters – provide specific directions
- directions: include/exclude/number/steps/etc.
- format: paragraphs/bulleted list/table/etc.
Example
[Persona] You are a first-year college academic writing instructor.
[Objective] You are going to help me create an assignment for the students to write a persuasive academic research paper. [Parameters] The students must use persuasive writing techniques and demonstrate rhetorical parallelism. Include learning outcomes and stages for the assignment that will demonstrate the students’ research and writing process. Include headings for the different elements of the assignment. Details under the headings can be in bullet points.
Personas, objectives, and parameters
Here are some examples of personas, objectives, and parameters that may improve the quality of your output.[2]
- Instructor (e.g. 1st year Chemistry instructor)
- Learning Designer
- Researcher (type/subject)
- Project Manager (of…)
- Committee Chair (of…)
- Facilitator (of…)
- Presenter (to…)
- Author (genre, level, etc.)
- Lesson plan (level, course)
- Summary (how detailed)
- Blog draft
- Book outline
- Proposal (for…)
- Video script
- Letter (e.g. referral, reference, complaint…)
- Include
- Exclude
- Number
- Length
- Steps (can specify number)
- Level (be specific)
- Tone
- Inclusive
- Paragraph(s)
- Bulleted list
- Concept map
- Table
- Spreadsheet
- Graph
- Slides
- Code
Experiment with…
- Tell the bot to ask you questions to elicit the details it needs to formulate a response.
- Conversational elements: For example, does it help to talk to the bot like a person (e.g. add “please” and “thank you” to prompts)or do you get better results with direct commands (e.g. “Your task is…”; “You MUST…”)?
- Tell the bot to “answer my questions with a natural, human-like response”.
- Include guiding phrases such as “think step by step” and “make sure that your answer is free from bias and stereotypes”.
There are privacy concerns with AI platforms. We recommend using caution when inputting – or having your students input – private, personal, or sensitive information (e.g. resumes or other identifying data).Contact edtech@langara.ca for more information.
