Prompt engineering
Prompt Engineering simply means asking good questions to the AI. A prompt is your input with your question or request.
Prompt engineering means we come up with targeted questions and instructions to help chatbots provide the right answers during chats. With better prompts, you get better results.
Together with the specifications of the chosen model, this is decisive for the quality of the answer.
Elements of a Prompt (Question)
To get better results, you should consider the following points:
- Objective: what exactly do you want from the language model?
- Role: what role does the language model have?
- Context: background information about the request
- Style: what style do you want to use?
- Output: what format do you want? Are you writing an article, email, or letter?
The Objective
Precisely describing the objective of your question is essential and cannot be omitted.
What do you want to know?
- Fact questions are possible, but be aware of the limitations (for example, current knowledge is missing)
- Just like in Google, you won't get exactly the same answer if you ask the question multiple times
- The advantage is the "chat" function so you can ask follow-up questions
Example prompt with a clear objective:
Provide a description of the main challenges of remote teaching
Remote teaching brings various challenges. Some key challenges are:
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Technological barriers: Not all students have access to the required technology, such as a computer, internet connection, or necessary software. This can result in unequal access to learning materials and communication, causing some students to fall behind.
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Student motivation and engagement: In remote education, it is difficult to maintain students' attention and engagement. They can be distracted by other activities or be slower to respond due to the lack of direct interaction with the teacher. It is essential to motivate students and increase engagement to achieve effective results.
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Social interaction and collaboration: Remote education provides less room for social interaction and collaboration between students. The lack of face-to-face interaction can hinder learning, especially in activities where collaboration is essential. Teachers must find alternative ways for students to communicate and collaborate virtually.
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Assessment and feedback: Assessing progress and providing effective feedback to students can be challenging in remote education. Teachers must find creative and reliable ways to evaluate students and provide feedback on their work without the possibility of direct observation.
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Technical problems and connection issues: Remote education depends on technology and can be affected by technical problems such as software bugs, slow internet connections, or server overload. These technical problems can disrupt lesson continuity and cause frustration for both teachers and students.
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Pedagogical adaptation: Remote teaching often requires adjusting the pedagogical approach. Teachers must learn new methods and strategies to effectively convey the course material and support students, taking into account the specific characteristics of remote education.
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Workload and balance: Remote education can lead to an increased workload for teachers, as they must spend extra time and effort adapting their course materials and managing virtual learning environments. It is important to find a good balance between work and private life to prevent burnout.
Adding Role and Context
Adding a role and context ensures better and more specific answers.
Example of the same question but with role and context:
As a secondary education teacher, provide a description of the main challenges of remote teaching for third-year HAVO students
Remote teaching for third-year HAVO students brings various challenges for teachers. Some of the main challenges are:
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Limited interaction: The lack of physical presence makes direct interaction between the teacher and students difficult. It is harder to ask questions, have discussions, and provide feedback. The teacher must find creative ways to use digital platforms to stimulate interaction.
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Technological obstacles: Not all students have the same access to technology or internet connections. Some students may have problems participating in online lessons or submitting assignments. Teachers must find ways to overcome these barriers and ensure that all students can participate in remote teaching.
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Self-discipline and motivation: Remote teaching requires students to have self-discipline and motivation to work independently. The absence of a physical classroom environment can lead to distractions and reduced motivation. Teachers must find ways to increase student engagement and stimulate them to remain motivated.
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Differentiation and individual guidance: It is more difficult to provide differentiation and individual guidance in remote teaching. Teachers must find ways to support students individually and ensure they receive sufficient attention to grow and learn.
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Assessment and feedback: Assessment and providing feedback can be more challenging in remote teaching. It is important to use different assessment methods suitable for online learning while providing effective feedback to students to support their learning process.
In short, remote teaching for third-year HAVO students requires creativity, flexibility, and perseverance from teachers to address the various challenges and ensure that all students can continue to learn and develop.
Techniques
We describe below several techniques you can use for more advanced prompts.
Technique 1 - Providing Examples
To ensure that the language model uses the same style as you want, provide one or two examples.
The method is called "one & few-shot prompting"
Write a letter to parents about mobile phone use in the classroom. Use our policy for writing the letter. (insert the text from the policy). Use this letter that the management recently wrote to parents as an example, but do not use any information from this letter: (insert the text from the letter)
The full prompt is as follows:
Phone policy during the lesson •All students put their phone in the phone bag upon entering the classroom. The teacher does not need to point this out to you. •Phones in the phone bag may only be taken out if the teacher gives prior permission. •If your phone is visible without the teacher's prior permission, it will be confiscated. •You can collect your phone from the reception at the end of the day at 16:15. •The school is not liable for theft or damage to phones stored in the phone bag or confiscated. When using the phone bag, phones are therefore explicitly not entrusted to the school. •Use your phone only during the lesson when asked by the teacher and look forward to the breaks to maintain all your social contacts (online and offline)!
Use the style of this letter that the management recently wrote to parents, but do not use any information from this letter. Dear parent/guardian,
On Wednesday, August 30, the information evening as the start of the new school year is scheduled. The evening is about getting to know the mentor and of course important general matters will be shared. Important topics will be discussed and we sincerely hope you can attend.
The program is as follows:
18:45 Arrival with coffee/tea
19:00 Start of program
20:45 End of program
This evening is not intended for students!
Kind regards,
Mr. L. Hopeful and Ms. P. de Zwart
Department Heads
Below is the answer from the language model on the extended prompt with examples
Dear parent/guardian,
We hope you had a pleasant summer vacation and that your children are ready for a new school year. We would like to inform you about our policy regarding mobile phone use in the classroom.
To create an optimal learning environment, we have decided to implement a phone policy. This policy means that all students must place their phone in the phone bag upon entering the classroom. It is the students' responsibility to do this independently, without the teacher having to point it out.
Phones in the phone bag may only be used when the teacher has given prior permission. It is therefore important that students only take out their phone when explicitly allowed. If a phone is visible without the teacher's permission, it will be confiscated. Confiscated phones can be collected from the reception at the end of the day, at 16:15.
It is important to emphasize that the school is not liable for theft or damage to phones stored in the phone bag or confiscated. The phone bag serves merely as a means to store phones safely during the lesson. Phones are explicitly not entrusted to the school.
We want to encourage students to only use their phone during the lesson when necessary and when the teacher requests it. Social contacts can be maintained during breaks, both online and offline. We want students to focus on their schoolwork and create an optimal learning environment in which they can fully concentrate.
We hope that you as a parent/guardian understand our phone policy and will discuss it with your child. Together we can ensure that students can get the best out of themselves.
If you have any questions, you can always contact the school.
Kind regards,
Mr. L. Hopeful and Ms. P. de Zwart Department Heads
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