Prompt Design Intermediate

A student at a computer learning effective GenAI prompt design If you have any questions or get stuck as you work through this in-class GenAI exercise, please ask the instructor for assistance. Have fun!

The CRAFT Framework

While it is easy to get started using Generative AI tools, it takes time and practice to get the best results out of Generative AI tools. Each element of the CRAFT framework below contributes to the overall effectiveness of your prompt, making sure that the outputs are clear, relevant, and well-structured:

  • Context: Set the stage by providing background information. Include key details like the purpose of the task, audience, or tone.
  • Role: Specify the perspective or role the AI should take on.
  • Action: Clearly describe the specific action or outcome you want.
  • Format: State the structure or format of the response (e.g., list, essay, dialogue).
  • Targe Audience: Identify who the output is intended for, which can affect tone and style.

More Advanced Prompt Design Tips & Tricks

Please practice each of the following tips by trying out the “poor” and “better” prompts to compare the outputs. If you have time take inspiration from each of the “better” prompts and modify them to use questions for topics that you are interested in, or know a lot about so that you can more easily check the responses for accuracy. Feel free to try modifying the prompts for topics or places that interest you.

  1. Clicking the New Topics button in your GenAI tool when you are asking a diffrent question that does not build on any previous questions you’ve asked Copilot will generally give you better results:
    An image of Copilot's New Topic button
  2. Set the Tone of the response you would like (e.g., formal, informal, humorous):
    • Poor: Weather in Paris.
    • Better: Give me a lighthearted weather update for Paris, France, with a humorous twist.
    • Use your own prompt now and experiment with varying the tone you request.
  3. Incorporate examples or analogies to clarify complex concepts:
    • Poor: Explain cyclones.
    • Better: Explain how cyclones form, using the example of Cyclone Nisarga. Please provide sources.
    • Use your own prompt now and experiment with requesting the GenAI use an example or analogy.
  4. Limit Scope to focus on a specific topic or task to prevent overly broad responses:
    • Poor: Tell me everything about weather.
    • Better: Provide an overview of the factors that influence the formation of thunderstorms.
    • Use your own prompt now and experiment with limiting the scope of your request.
  5. Test and Iterate by experimenting with different variations of your prompt to see which yields the best results:
    • Initial: Weather in London.
    • Refined: What is the weather forecast for London, UK, for the upcoming weekend, including any weather warnings? Provide sources.
    • Use your own prompt now and experiment with iterating or refining your request.
  6. Prompt Chaining by using the output of one prompt as the input for another to build on responses or refine results (much like a conversation):
    • First Prompt: What are the key factors that affect local weather conditions?
    • Second Prompt (following the first response): Considering those factors, what is the likely weather forecast for San Francisco next week? Provide sources.
    • Use your own prompt now and experiment with prompt chaining.
  7. Leverage Precedents by incorporating elements of successful prompts you’ve used in the past:
    A GenAI created picture of a student learning about the weather
    • Previous Successful Prompt: Explain the concept of EL NIÑO and its impact on global weather patterns.
    • New Prompt (leveraging precedent): Explain the concept of LA NIÑA and its impact on global weather patterns. Provide sources.
  8. Assign a role to the GenAI to the tool in order to provide additional context for the result: You are the head of a creative department for a leading advertising agency...
  9. Create an Image in Meta.ai or Copilot (the free version of Perplexity.ai does not allow you to generate images). The image to the right was created by Copilot using the prompt below. Be sure to take a close look at the child’s left hand, and notice the extra finger that Copilot has accidentally included. GenAI image generators will sometimes do weird things. (Note: The free version ChatGPT as of January 2025 does not allow users to generate images):
    • Successful prompt: Create an image of a grade 2 student learning about the weather.
    • Use your own prompt now and experiment with creating your own images.

      NOTE: If you’d like to earn a workshop badge, please take a picture or screenshot of the prompt and output for the image you created using your own prompt (and not the one provided) as this is one of the criteria to earn a workshop badge.

Let’s Practice More Advanced Prompt Design skills!

  1. Let’s use the topic of Global Warming to practice using some advanced prompt design techniques. Type or copy and paste the prompts below into your GenAI tool and then let’s look at the results:
    • Initial prompt:
      What is global warming and what are its causes? Provide sources.
    • Scope:
      Limit the text to 300 words in the language that a grade 4 student can understand.
    • Tone:
      Reword it using the humorous tone and language of a Dr. Seuss book.
    • Image generation using Meta.ai or Copilot:
      Create an image of a grade 4 student learning about the global warming.
      A GenAI created picture of a student learning about the global warming
    • Image modification:
      Have the image use the look and feel of drawings from a Dr. Seuss book.
    • Start a “New topic” by pressing the blue button on the bottom left of the screen, and then paste in the following text and press enter:
      I am a teacher teaching grade 4 students about the weather. Please generate a lesson plan for a one-hour lesson about weather including a 30-minute activity to help students remember what they learned in the instruction portion of the lesson.
    • Now look through the lesson plan and look at the “Activity” section. Let’s ask Copilot to give us more details by asking the following:
      Please provide additional and detailed step-by-step student instructions for the activity portion of the lesson plan at a grade 4 language level.
  2. Reflection time:
    • How useful is the lesson plan your GenAI tool created?
    • Do you have enough background knowledge in global warming and teaching to critically evaluate the quality of your GenAI tool’s response?
    • How useful are the detailed activity instructions that your GenAI tool created?
    • Do you know enough to evaluate them? If not where would you find information to help you critically evaluate them?

Go further

There are many excellent resources on the internet with tips and tricks for prompt design, to please feel free to go deeper with articles like this if you’d like to improve your prompt design skill set.

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