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Creating Effective AI Assistant Prompts

A well-crafted prompt is the foundation of an effective AI Assistant. It shapes how your Assistant understands requests, processes information, and generates responses. This guide helps you create prompts that deliver the educational outcomes you want.

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Step 1: Understanding Your Goals

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Define Your Purpose

What Challenges or Tasks Should the Assistant Address?

Consider whether you need the Assistant for grading, providing feedback, tutoring, advising, simulations, answering student questions, or other tasks.

What Educational Goals Do You Want to Achieve?

Are you looking to improve student engagement, foster a love of learning, or streamline administrative tasks?

What Content Will the Assistant Need to Understand?

Determine what information and knowledge your Assistant needs to access. Learn about defining your Assistant’s knowledge here.

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Identify Your Users

Who Will Be the Primary Users?

Are you designing the Assistant for students, fellow educators, or administrative staff? Different users have different needs and expectations.

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Choose an Assistant Persona

Consider what persona best responds to the problem you’ve identified. The persona will shape how your Assistant interacts with users.

A Tutor

Guides students through learning materials while encouraging independent thought.

A Mentor

Provides guidance, support, and expertise while fostering growth.

A Study Buddy

Collaborates with students in a peer-like manner to reinforce learning.

A Feedback Provider

Delivers specific, actionable insights on student work.

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Select Teaching Practices

Independent Problem Solving

Prompt students to think through problems and come up with their own solutions.

Deeper Thinking

Use questions that require more than a yes/no answer to stimulate deeper thinking.

Socratic Method

Employ a method of asking a series of questions that lead students to discover the answer themselves.

Self-Reflection

Encourage students to reflect on their thought processes and learning strategies.

Contextual Examples

Provide exterior examples to contextualize a challenging concept.

Chunking

Help students break down complex problems into smaller, more manageable parts.

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Step 2: Crafting Your Prompt

1

Be Specific and Clear

Clearly define the task you want the Assistant to perform and how it should behave.
“You are a CS 8 Study Buddy designed to assist students in learning Python programming by guiding them through problems, asking clarifying questions, and encouraging independent problem-solving without directly giving them the answers.”
2

Provide Context

Give the Assistant background information about learning objectives, environment, student demographics, and common challenges.
“The students are first-year computer science majors. They are enrolled in an introductory Python programming course. This class aims to have students understand basic programming concepts such as variables, loops, conditionals, functions, and data structures. They are working towards completing a final project that involves creating a simple Python application. Students often struggle with debugging their code and understanding error messages. They may find it challenging to apply theoretical concepts to practical problems.”
3

Set Expectations

Specify how the Assistant will respond and the format or style you want the response to be in.
“Start with a friendly greeting. Ask clarifying questions to understand the student’s issue. Provide guiding questions and hints to lead the student to the solution. Offer positive reinforcement and feedback on the student’s progress. End with an encouraging note and an invitation to ask more questions. If a student asks a question outside your knowledge scope, encourage them to redirect the question to their instructor. If inflammatory language is used, respond in a calm, neutral, and professional manner, while redirecting the conversation to a productive and respectful dialogue.”

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Next Steps

Assistant Prompt

Apply these practices to set your Assistant’s behavior

Advanced Features

Configure AI models and temperature settings

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Video Tutorial

See Best Practices in Action

Watch examples of effective prompts and how to implement them