Unlocking the Power of AI through Improved Prompts
By the Educational Developers Generative AI team: Dave Blanchard (St. Cloud State University), Janet Tilstra (St. Cloud State University), Jocelyn Crist (South Central College), Emily Koehler (Ridgewater College), Wade McDonald (Ridgewater College), Kent Dahlman (Minnesota West Community & Technical College), Miki Huntington (Minneapolis College), Karen Qualey (Minnesota State University Moorhead)
Drafted by Co-Pilot and edited, revised by humans
Have you ever entered a prompt into AI and gotten imprecise, irrelevant, or just weird results? Add clarity to your AI prompts and increase the effectiveness of the AI output you generate. This month, we introduce you to one of many prompting frameworks – RAFT.
AI prompt engineering is a rapidly evolving field with frameworks designed to enhance the interaction between humans and AI. Some notable frameworks include Google’s Prompt Engineering Best Practices, the SCOPE Framework for strategic planning, and the TRACE Framework for task breakdown. Each framework offers unique strategies to optimize AI performance and reliability. Among these, the RAFT framework stands out for its simplicity and effectiveness. By clearly defining the Role, Audience, Format, and Topic, RAFT ensures that prompts are well-structured and purposeful, leading to more accurate and relevant AI responses.
RAFT Prompt Elements
Role: Define the intended role (yourself as instructor, a student, or someone else). For example, you might say “you are an instructor in a sophomore level computer science class on ….”
Audience: Consider your audience. Are you creating content for a specific audience (e.g. “undergraduate computer science students in a regional comprehensive university who love Harry Potter.”) Your audience might be fellow faculty members, colleagues in your academic discipline, decision-makers at your institutions, student leaders. Understanding your audience helps tailor your prompt more effectively.
Format: What is the preferred content of the output. For example, identify if you want a bulleted list of 10 ideas; a blog post explaining a complex topic with conversational language; or a transcript for a video using teaching resources. Sometimes format is not a product. You may be using AI as a thought partner and want to dialogue with AI to think through a challenging teaching situation. If your AI interaction is more thinking through a process or challenge, your format could be having AI ask clarifying questions, share relevant examples, and refrain from giving you direct advice. Specifying the format lets your AI partner know your desired structure and style.
Topic: What is the subject of your writing? Be as specific as you can about the core idea or theme you are addressing. For example, instead of a general prompt like “how to be more productive” specify “how to use electronic resources to maintain and manage multiple tasks at once.”
Improve your prompts using RAFT
Below we list several examples of ambiguous prompts followed by a revised RAFT prompt.
Example 1
Ambiguous Prompt:
“Help me design a class activity.”
RAFT Prompt:
- Role: You are a communication studies professor.
- Audience: Undergraduate students in a 200-level interpersonal communication course.
- Format: A 30-minute in-class activity with clear instructions and discussion questions.
- Topic: Active listening and nonverbal communication.
Revised Prompt:
“Design a 30-minute in-class activity for undergraduate students in a 200-level interpersonal communication course that helps them practice active listening and nonverbal communication. Include clear instructions and follow-up discussion questions.”
Example 2
Ambiguous Prompt:
“What should I say in my syllabus?”
RAFT Prompt:
- Role: You are an instructor preparing a syllabus for a general education psychology course.
- Audience: First-year college students.
- Format: A paragraph of welcoming syllabus language.
- Topic: Setting expectations for respectful classroom discussion.
Revised Prompt:
“Write a welcoming paragraph for a syllabus in a general education psychology course that sets expectations for respectful classroom discussion, aimed at first-year college students.”
Example 3
Ambiguous Prompt:
“What should I do about a student who’s struggling?”
RAFT Prompt:
- Role: You are a faculty member seeking guidance.
- Audience: AI as a thought partner.
- Format: A reflective dialogue where AI asks clarifying questions and shares examples.
- Topic: Supporting a student who is disengaged and missing assignments.
Revised Prompt:
“Act as a thought partner to help me think through how to support a student who is disengaged and missing assignments. Ask clarifying questions, share relevant examples, and avoid giving direct advice.”
Bonus
Remember, you can always ask AI “How can I improve this prompt?” if you’re feeling stuck on how to proceed. By leveraging the RAFT framework, you can create engaging and impactful AI prompts that enhance learning experiences and foster deeper understanding among your students.
Happy prompting!
Lesser-known features found in Copilot
By Scott Wojtanowski, System Director for Educational Technology and Development, Minnesota State
By now, I’m sure you’ve become accustomed to Microsoft rebranding. Just when you’ve gotten used to a product name, it changes. Again. And again. You may remember OneDrive used to be called SkyDrive. And if the pandemic wasn’t already a confusing time, in April 2020, Microsoft rebranded Office 365 to Microsoft 365. Although ChatGPT has become the “Kleenex” of AI tools, Microsoft has been doing its best to present its AI tool, Copilot Chat (Formerly Bing Chat) everywhere it can. (Microsoft has started to remind me of Meredith Grey, “Pick me, choose me, love me.”)
In this month’s Pedagogy in Practice story, readers are introduced to the AI prompt framework, RAFT. As you try this framework out in Copilot Chat, you might explore some newer (at least to me) features that are available.
Here are a few interesting ones.
Document Summarization & Analysis
Upload files (Word, PDF, etc.) for instant summaries, key points, and action items.
- Open Copilot Chat in your Microsoft 365 app (Word, Excel, Outlook, or the web version).
- In the chat input area, look for the paperclip icon or “+” (plus) icon.
- Click the icon and select “Upload”.
- Use the file picker to choose a file from your device or cloud storage (e.g., OneDrive, SharePoint).
- Once uploaded, the file appears as an attachment in the chat.
- Type a prompt like:
- “Summarize this document.”
- “What are the key takeaways from this PDF?”
- “Analyze the chart on page 3.”
Temporary chat in Copilot Chat
“Temporary chat” mode within Copilot Chat is designed for conversations with the AI that you do not want to be saved in your conversations . This is ideal for sensitive queries, quick tasks, or brainstorming where you prefer a private, unsaved record. This should allow you to explore topics without affecting your long-term Copilot memory.
Here is a helpful video summary.
Introducing Temporary Chat in Copilot Chat! (00:42)
Don’t sleep on some of these features you’ll find when using Microsoft’s Copilot Chat.
Try using AI to generate alt text
When using AI to generate alternative text for photos, consider using Microsoft Copilot. When signed into Copilot with your school credentials, Minnesota State employees have commercial data protection.
Try uploading your image and asking for a detailed long description or shorter alt text. Any AI output needs to be reviewed for best practices.
Read more tips about providing meaningful alt text to images.
View more digital accessibility tips.
Build Your RAFT: AI Prompt Engineering for Educators
By Megan Babel, Communications Coordinator, Minnesota State
Learn more about how AI prompt engineering can enhance teaching and learning at the upcoming webinar Build Your RAFT: AI Prompt Engineering for Educators. Craft more effective prompts, understand what AI agents are (and aren’t) good for, and explore how to use them as thought partners in curriculum development, feedback generation, student support, and beyond. Register for this webinar, happening on October 22 from 2:00 – 2:30 p.m.
Want to learn more about AI and equitable teaching? In the webinar Teaching with AI: Show and Tell Series you’ll see a real example in action and hear how it supports student learning, equity, and accessibility. Register for this webinar, happening on October 22 from 11:00 – 11:30 a.m.
Email the Network for Educational Development
View past editions of the Educational Development Digest.
Visit the NED Events Calendar to view upcoming educational development opportunities. Visit the NED Resource Site for recordings of previous webinars and additional resources.
