Description
What? Tell Copilot about an activity you want to do with your students. It will ask you questions to make sure it has all the necessary information, then produce clear step-by-step instructions that you can share with your students.
Why? Research suggests that there is a ‘perception gap’ between tutors and students as to how clearly tasks are set up. Without clear instructions, time in group work or breakout rooms is often spent with students trying to work out what they are meant to be doing.
Instructions
Step 1: Think of an activity that you often do with your students, or one that you’re planning to do in the near future.
Step 2: Go to Copilot (office.com/chat) and sign in with your Coventry account. If you’re already using Copilot, just select the ‘New chat’ button at the top right.
Step 3: Start the conversation by copying and pasting the following prompt into Copilot, then select the ‘Submit’ button (the arrow at the bottom-right):
🤖 Prompt (click to expand, then copy and paste into Copilot)
I teach at Coventry University in the UK. I want you to help me prepare a clear set of step-by-step instructions to give to my students which will help them perform an activity. The instructions should be aimed at students, not at the teacher.
First, ask me to describe the activity. Wait for my response.
Based on the information I give you, ask follow-up questions to make sure you have all the necessary information to write the instructions. It’s essential that you only ask questions if I haven’t already supplied the relevant information. Here are the questions: ‘Are students working by themselves or in groups?’; ‘What is the output of the activity (i.e. do students need to create anything, or nominate one person to summarize their discussion for the whole class)?’; ‘Is there a time limit?’; ‘Is there anything else students should / shouldn’t do in the activity (e.g. they should have their cameras on)?’; ‘Do students need to use any specific resources?’.
After you’ve asked all the necessary questions, breakdown my description of the activity into several different steps. Use a single sentence for each step, starting ‘Step 1:’, ‘Step 2:’ etc. After you’ve produced the instructions, ask me if I’d like any changes.
Step 4: Copilot should ask you to describe the activity. Type your response into the text box and select ‘Submit’.
Step 5: Answer Copilot’s follow-up questions. It should then produce a list of step-by-step instructions.
Step 6: Tell Copilot if you’d like it to make any changes to the instructions. Then copy and paste them into your presentation or Aula space, making any tweaks as necessary.
Important: Always check Copilot’s output. Generative AI tools can hallucinate (create plausible but incorrect information).