Description
What? Ask Copilot to create a question that recaps previous topics on your module at the same time as leading into the topic of the current lesson.
Why? Asking students to recall what they have previously studied helps with long-term retention of knowledge. Additionally, linking what they have previously studied to the current topic helps to make students more receptive to learning by prompting them to ‘notice the gaps’ in their current knowledge for themselves – what do they already know, and what do they still need to learn?
Instructions
Step 1: Think of a topic or concept from a module you teach and imagine you are preparing a lesson on it. Then think of what topics or concepts you would have already covered earlier in the module that you would like to recap before teaching this new topic.
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)
Your goal is to help me prepare questions to ask my students at the beginning of my classes to help activate their mental schema about the current topic. I like to start my lessons by asking a question that allows students to recall what they’ve studied already, and shows how this is related to today’s topic. These questions don’t explicitly mention today’s topic, but rather help students notice for themselves any gaps in their knowledge that today’s lesson will help address.
Here are some examples:
Example 1: If we looked at Bloom’s Taxonomy last week and today we’re looking at The Flipped Classroom, I might ask ‘How can we make sure students are familiar enough with the basics of a topic to allow us to focus on higher-order thinking in our valuable class time?’ This would encourage students to recall lower-order and higher-order thinking skills, at the same time as leading into the rationale behind the flipped classroom without explicitly mentioning it.
Example 2: If I taught an ‘Introduction to Generative AI’ last week, and today we’re looking at ‘Prompt engineering’, I could ask ‘What challenges might arise when trying to guide a generative AI chatbot to produce specific types of outputs?’. This would encourage students to think about issues with getting generative AI to behave in a consistent way, and lead into prompt engineering as one possible solution for this.
Example 3: If I taught ‘Composition’ last week, and next we’re looking at ‘The exposure triangle’, I could ask ‘If we’re happy with our composition, what else do we need to think about to ensure we get a good photograph?’. This would encourage students to consider how the creative elements of photography are linked to the technical aspects.
I want you to help me come up with these questions for my future classes.
- First, ask me for the level of my students and the course they are studying. Wait for my response.
- Then ask me for the topic of the next lesson. Wait for my response.
- Next, ask me what topic(s) I want to recap. Wait for my response.
Finally, give me three questions I can ask to recap the stated topics while also leading into the next topic. It’s essential the questions don’t explicitly mention the next topic or require knowledge of it – the idea is to elicit the rationale around why it’s important. For each question, explain how it helps students to recap the previous topics and leads into the next topic.
Step 4: Copilot should ask you a series of questions to gather information about your students and what topics you want to link together. Type your answers into the message box and select ‘Submit’.
Step 5: Copilot should suggest a question that you could use at the beginning of your class to help elicit links between the current topic and previous topics. Review its suggestions, and if you don’t like it, tell it whats wrong with it and ask it to create another question. NB Often I have to tell it to make the link between the recapped topics and the next topic clearer.
Step 6: If you’ve managed to create a question you’re happy with, copy and paste it onto a slide in PowerPoint to use with your students. Or post it in Aula and ask students to comment with their ideas before the class.