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AI prompts

Prompt engineering is about asking the right clear and concise structured questions in order to obtain a clear focussed relevant response.

Prompts for learning

There are many different approaches you can take to learn something new. GenAI can create resources or a scenario which facilitates different approaches to creating understanding and building knowledge.

Test your knowledge on a topic. Have a discussion on new concepts to improve your understanding. Explore other perspectives of a current issue. Develop your ideas from other ideas. With learning prompts, GenAI can take the role of a study buddy for you.

Build your understanding

The following types of GenAI prompts can help you build your initial understanding on a topic.

A language-based generative AI, such as ChatGPT, can enhance your learning by linking new concepts with your existing knowledge. It does this by providing contextually relevant responses, understanding input text, and considering the conversation context. Through repeated interactions, the tool helps you make connections, fostering a more comprehensive understanding of the subject.

Example prompts

  • You are a Master of Cybersecurity student about to attend a lecture on encryption. Explain how encryption relates to the cybersecurity framework. Provide a summary in paragraphs and in each section compare and contrast the two concepts. Check out this example in ChatGPT.
  • You are studying <DEGREE> at a postgraduate level. Explain the connection between <NEW CONCEPT> and <PREVIOUSLY LEARNED CONCEPT> in an essay form. Provide the response in paragraphs and highlight key concepts. Write with academic style writing.
  • You are studying <DEGREE> at ACU. Outline the key similarities and differences between <PREVIOUSLY LEARNED CONCEPT> and <NEW CONCEPT>. Provide the response in a table. Write in short dot points, be concise.

These prompts instruct the AI, acting as a student, to draw connections between new concepts and prior knowledge on specified topics. The guidance includes instructions on how to structure and present the information.

This process is valuable for pre-lecture preparation and similar situations where understanding the relationship between new and existing knowledge is crucial. If more clarification is needed, follow-up prompts can be used to gather additional information in the ongoing conversation.

In education, analogies function as a valuable tool, helping you to comprehend complex ideas by linking them to familiar concepts. This approach is beneficial for lecture preparation and understanding how new ideas relate to existing knowledge. Generative AI has the capability to create relevant and insightful analogies, contributing to an enhanced understanding and promote active learning.

Example prompts

  • You are a computer science student about to attend a lecture on sorting techniques. Explain how sorting techniques relates to searching techniques using analogies. Provide a summary in paragraphs and in each section compare and contrast the two concepts.
  • You are a computer science tutor with years of experience. Your task is to help me understand bubble sort and selection sort using an analogy. Use the same analogy to compare the two techniques.
  • You are a professor in business school with 15 years of teaching experience. You are an expert in your field. Come up with 3 creative analogies to explain the interplay between analysis techniques and performance of a project. Keep the tone academic. Check out this example in ChatGPT.

This prompt instructs the AI to act as a student connecting new concepts with prior knowledge using creative analogies. For clarification or more information, follow-up prompts can seek elaboration on specific aspects or delve into related subtopics. It's crucial to note that the analogies generated may be vague or overly broad, so consider them as a starting point for deeper understanding rather than relying solely on them.

Specific generative AI tools can enhance your content augmentation by accessing the live internet, generating perspectives and connections related to current events. They also facilitate connecting theoretical concepts to real-world examples, enabling practical application and insights.

The prompt below is specifically for the use of internet-connected generative AI models that access real-time information and data from the internet.

Example prompt

  • Imagine you are a technology researcher. Provide a brief analysis of the potential impact of 5G technology implementation in Sydney, considering its implications for various sectors such as healthcare, transportation, and communication. Explore this prompt in action by looking at this ChatGPT link. Notice how the prompts iterate further in conversation with ChatGPT.

This prompt instructs the AI to access real-time internet information for generating responses, a capability found in select generative AI tools. This connectivity allows the AI to provide information fresher than its training data cut-off, making it particularly useful for scenarios like in-class discussions that require up-to-date information. Just as students benefit from linking lecture content to real-world updates, internet-connected AI tools offer users the latest insights, news, developments, and trends.

Some generative AI tools can search the literature and summarise it for you. Tools that do this reliably have access to current academic sources. You should also be aware when using generative AI tools to summarise the literature that you may be required to acknowledge this in your final work.

Elicit.com and Scite.ai are two tools which, when prompted, respond with a summary of a topic including references and links to academic sources. Both can be prompted with general statements, as in the first example below, or with questions, as in the second example:

  • AI-supported learning and its impact on adult education
  • What is the impact of AI-supported learning on adult education?

ChatGPT is an example of a tool that should not be relied on for summaries as its access to academic literature is more not real-time nor comprehensive. However, it will also respond to the above prompts as well as scenario-based ones, and may be a useful starting point if its limitations are kept in mind:

  • You are an expert in <FIELD> and preparing to write a paper on <TOPIC>. List reliable sources you can use and summarize the main ideas of the paper. Include links to the sources. Check out this example in ChatGPT.

Example prompt

With further prompting it may also be possible for generative AI to highlight influential thinkers or creators, and their work, within the mind map. As with the above 'key experts' prompt, it is important to consider how this is represented and what (or who) might be missing. This will allow you to critically engage better with any inherent biases in what is generated.

Expand your learning

Click on the plus (+) icons to reveal information about tasks GenAI can do to help you learn, including brainstorming, offering alternate perspectives, structuring a draft and suggesting relevant resources.
 

Activity overview

This interactive image hotspot provides information on different ways to learn something new. Each hotspot reveals information about tasks GenAI can do to help you learn. Hotspots are displayed as plus (+) icons that can be clicked to present the information.

Hotspot 1: Idea generation or brainstorming

Generative AI can help with brainstorming and identification of areas for focus in your work. Use prompts like the one below and follow up with further prompts to narrow to areas of interest.

Example prompt:

Hotspot 2: Alternative perspectives

This prompt is designed to use AI in presenting you with alternative perspectives on a given topic. Through a debate with the AI, you can thoroughly examine different viewpoints and considerations associated with the topic, fostering critical thinking and enabling a comprehensive analysis of the subject matter from diverse angles.

Example prompts:

  • You are an expert in . List opposing viewpoints or criticisms of and provide thorough reasoning. Include multiple viewpoints and explanation of each in a table form. Check out this example in ChatGPT.
  • You are an expert in . Suggest counterarguments of and provide explanation for each point. Include multiple examples and list them in order of strongest argument first.
  • You are a/an in . Come up with opposing arguments for . Provide multiple points and list them in a table form in which one column is the explanation of each viewpoint. Be prepared to provide more explanation.

These prompts assign the AI the role of an expert, instructing it to list alternative perspectives while providing guidance on how to structure and write the completion. With further prompting you can ask generative AI to explain in more depth, provide more examples or expand on ideas.

The purpose is to showcase varied viewpoints on a given statement, offering explanations for each perspective. This is beneficial for exploring different angles and situations where a nuanced understanding of alternative sides of an argument is essential. If additional clarification is needed, subsequent prompts can be used to seek more information.

Hotspot 3: Structuring

While generative AI can suggest a structure and starting point for your work, it is usually far preferable to start with your own ideas and understanding, making use of generative AI to help elicit detail and provide you with a draft structure. The following example prompt sets off this process, requiring interaction and answers from you along the way. It aims to draw out knowledge you already have and help you see how it can be structured. Further follow-up questions to the generative AI about the structure can help you refine what it suggests and improve your work as a result.

Example prompt:

  • Act as an expert writing tutor. I need to write an analysis of how technology has impacted higher education. Ask me questions to help me write something insightful. Ask one question at a time, wait for my response, and ask me the next question. After I have answered your questions, produce a potential structure for an analytical report for me.

Hotspot 4: Suggesting key experts or important source materials

GenAI tools can be used to focus your attention on experts or key material in an area. Prompting the tool to generate information about who and what to read, look at, or listen to, can be a useful way to cover important aspects of a concept.

Example prompts:

  • Who are some key researchers in on the topic of ? Check out this example in ChatGPT.
  • You are a tertiary level student in and preparing to write a literature review on for unit. Suggest reliable resources you can use and write a short summary for each. Include links to the resources.

It is important to remember that biases in artificial intelligence may reflect existing social power structures. As a result, you may need to do further work to find voices, views and artefacts from underrepresented groups. Other limitations of generative AI should always be kept in mind when reviewing results.