My nation is advanced, for it manages to incorporate AI capabilities into our online student learning platform. If you are keen to know the types of features, you can read my blog.

However, it isn’t a case of happily ever after because teachers need to set aside time out of their packed schedules to type the right prompt that will generate what they want. Since I was tasked to conduct a workshop for my colleagues, I spent a tremendous amount of time trying to derive the secret sauce - a prompt that would stand the test of varying demands. The prompt that would generate what my colleagues need to design for their students without effortful thinking on their part. Ideally, the prompt should be idiot-proof. Copy, paste and ta-da! you get what you need.

It took me some time to sift out the limitations of the AI capabilities. For instance, when explicitly asked to refer to uploaded materials as a Knowledge Base, it failed to churn out relevant questions. Instead, it yielded irrelevant ones about learning outcomes in education or even general knowledge. Also, it came up with multiple-answer questions when I needed single-answer options.

Nonetheless, I was undaunted and kept trying. Finally, I came out with a secret sauce that my colleagues could just use and tweak for their needs. Basically, depending on whether I wanted to upload existing questions or get AI to generate novel ones, I could type my prompt in different fields to facilitate the output I needed.

The workshop ended quite successfully, though I could have done better in hindsight. But I definitely did the best I could. Moving forward, I wish to hone my prompt engineering skills by pairing AI with problem formulation in my area of expertise. I could also anthropomorphise AI and leverage it as an intellectual sparring partner.