We have been promoting Dan Fitzpatick’s PREP framework as an effective way for teachers to engineer AI prompts to effectively create lesson plans, rubrics, handouts, or other educational materials. Based on the latest research Dan has recently extended his framework from PREP to PREPARE by adding confidence, clarification questions, and emotional phrases to your AI prompts.
Prompt
Prompting is the first step when framing your request. By providing the prompt, you are setting the scene and creating a foundation for the rest of the instructions. It’s vital to provide a clear and concise command. Avoid using vague or ambiguous language that could confuse.
Role
When you assign it a role, you help build context for the AI so that it can achieve what you want it to accomplish. It helps it know how to approach the question and provide an accurate and relevant response. You are essentially telling it what hat to wear for the task at hand.
Explicit
Be clear and specific about what you want it to do or what information you’re looking for. Don’t assume that it knows what you’re thinking or what you need. By giving explicit instructions, you ensure it is on the same page as you.
Use your existing expertise to instruct it on:
- The pedagogical approach you want
- The subject knowledge you want it to focus on
Parameters
Setting clear parameters means defining the scope and boundaries of the answer, which helps it understand what you’re looking for while enabling it to provide a more accurate response. The aim is to be in control of the response, and without clear parameters, the AI tool will take control.
- Parameters to consider include:
- Tone of voice
- Language
- Word length
- Number of paragraphs
- Length of sentences
- Sentiment
- Format
- Reading age
Ask
NEW: Ask it to ask you questions that will help it provide you with a more thorough and quality response. Instruct it to do this in bullet points, so it’s easier for you to read.
Rate
NEW: Ask it to rate the quality of the response it is giving you and to give evidence for this rating. This will help you understand its thought process, so you can ask it to improve or adjust your prompt to get better results.
Emotions
NEW: Appeal to its emotional side (strange, right?). Emphasise the importance of getting this right.
An example
I have broken the prompt down into the different elements so that you can easily see how it is constructed. Afterwards, I combined them into a single paragraph that can be easily copied and pasted into ChatGPT, Bing or similar. Replace the elements in bold with a task, subject, and level applicable to you.
Create a rubric for this task: Create a presentation on Physical literacy.
Act as a knowledgeable HND sports teacher, who is an expert in pedagogy and Sports science.
The task is for an HNC sports class. The rubric should focus on demonstrating knowledge through SOLO taxonomy and include separate levels for the quality of the presentation.
The rubric should be presented in a table and written at the reading level of level 6 learners.
After you have provided me with a draft rubric, ask me some follow-up questions, in bullet points, so that you can provide a more thorough and quality response.
Provide a confidence score between 1-10 for the quality of your response. Additionally, briefly explain the main reasons supporting your classification decision to help me understand your thought process.
This task is vital to my career and will help my students develop their understanding. I greatly appreciate your work.
Copy and paste this into Copilot or ChatGPT etc..
Create a rubric for this task: Write an essay on Physical Literacy. Act as a knowledgeable HND sports teacher, who is an expert in pedagogy and Sports science. The task is for an HNC sports class. The rubric should focus on demonstrating knowledge through SOLO taxonomy and include separate levels for the quality of the presentation. The rubric should be presented in a table and written at the reading level of level 6 learners. After you have provided me with a draft rubric, ask me some follow-up questions, in bullet points, so that you can provide a more thorough and quality response. Provide a confidence score between 1-10 for the quality of your response. Additionally, briefly explain the main reasons supporting your classification decision to help me understand your thought process. This task is vital to my career and will help my students develop their understanding. I greatly appreciate your work.
We will continuously add useful prompts and actively encourage you to share yours through our AI Prompts online form so remember to check back regularly.
Further Reading
Dan Fitzpatrick’s newsletter with his full article can be found at a new prompt for BETTER results (mailerlite.io)
Read more about the SOLO taxonomy on the Structural Learning website
Help and Support
As always contact the Digital Learning Team to find out more information, guidance, and support.