GenAI prompts

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 Deakin. 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

Another way that generative AI can help your learning is by generating a mind map of a topic. This can give you an overview of a topic, including central and sub-concepts, and demonstrate the relationship between them. It’s important to know that ChatGPT and other text-based generative AI cannot create a visual mind map but can create text-based representations that you can convert into a visual representation using other tools.
 

Example prompt

• Create a mind map on the topic of <TOPIC>. List the central idea(s), main branches and any sub-branches.
  Check out this example in ChatGPT
   

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.