If art and design teachers wish to use AI, here is a simple guide providing a basic understanding of how prompts work.
Reflection points
- Can AI support an art teacher’s professional work?
- How can art and design teachers make best use of AI?
- Will AI provide a professionally useful, accurate and informed response with well crafted prompts?
Prompt engineering
There are various formats for writing AI prompts. This one is simple to understand and experiment with. The better the prompt, the more useful the response is likely to be. It is always necessary to act as an editor, to critique and use your judgement to create your personal response. AI should not be used to generate just one single final response. It is an aid, not an answer.
The evolution of AI has, and continues to be, extraordinarily rapid. The ever changing capability of programmes will mean that prompts will also change in response. New systems with permanent memory will redefine how people interact with technology by 2025. These systems will retain and build upon past interactions, creating highly personalized experiences tailored to individual preferences and contexts. Nevertheless, understanding the principles which underline prompt engineering, will lead to better and more targeted responses to AI enquiries.
This guidance was entered in December 2024.
Effective Prompts
The elements of a prompt described below may not need to be used for every prompt. Furthermore, it is often the case that a better response will be given if a prompt is modified and re-entered several times. In such circumstances it is likely that the AI programme will remember some of these elements so they may not need to be repeated each time. It is a good idea to enter the prompt into several AI tools for a more rounded and balanced response.
An effective prompt is (currently) likely to contain the following five elements:
Role:
Assign a role for the AI programme to adopt when responding.
This defines the dataset that the AI programme draws on when responding. It narrows the data used in the response to that most likely to come from those with the experience and expertise to best answer the enquiry.
Teacher prompts can define roles such as ‘a professor of art education in a UK university’ or ‘an experienced headteacher in a large UK secondary school judged outstanding by Ofsted’. However, interesting alternative responses will be gained by specifying unusual roles instead. Roles such as: ‘a senior military officer who has been a leader in active service’, ‘a 17 year old student in a good inner city school in the UK, an actor’, a student teacher’ for instance..
“You are an experienced art and design subject leader in an outstanding English secondary school.” Or “Please adopt the role of a 17yr old student of art and design in an inner city school in England”
Context:
Indicate the context of the enquiry, the circumstances and responsibilities of the person making the enquiry.
This defines the context of the enquiry and explicitly helps shape the AI programme’s response. It is likely to help the AI programme dismiss responses which are not relevant and focus on responses which are more appropriate to the circumstances of the enquirer and the enquiry.
“I am an inexperienced subject leader for art in a small UK suburban secondary school placed in special measures by Ofsted.”
Reason:
Explain the reason for the enquiry and the desired outcome.
This defines the context of the enquiry and, therefore, is likely to help shape the AI programme’s response. It is also likely to help the AI programme dismiss responses which are not relevant. And consequently focus on responses which are more appropriate to the circumstances of the enquirer and the enquiry.
“I have been asked to prepare my art department for an Ofsted inspection. Please give a list of the actions I must take…”
Format:
It is helpful to define how the response should be presented.
This helps the AI programme to shape the response more appropriately to your circumstances and needs. It will also direct the programme to give a response which is explicitly shaped to your needs. Therefore, the more clear information you provide here will lead to a markedly better result. This will consequently address your needs, save time and reduce the incidence of irrelevance or errors (called hallucinations).
“outline the pros and cons of introducing new technologies into the art curriculum. Your response for each item should be detailed and at least 900 words long”
Style:
It will be helpful to provide relevant information about the intended audience for the response.
Teacher’s may be creating a response to be read by children, students or professional colleagues. Therefore, it will be helpful to direct the AI programme to use a style and vocabulary appropriate to the audience. Remember AI programmes are more likely to match responses to a USA context. Consequently it will be helpful to be explicit about the country, age and educational status of – the audience.
“Your response should be appropriate for a 17 year old student studying art at ‘A’ level, s who is applying for a foundation course at an English art school.”.
Resources
Click here to download a simple writing-frame for teachers to help write better prompts.
Click here to download a simple writing-frame for students to support research using AI generative images.
Click here to download an example of a student prompt to support their research in art and design.
Click here to go to an earlier site about AI and art education which contains links to actual AI prompts and responses which informed my thinking.
further reading