‘How do I get ChatGPT to do what I want?’

The last two years have seen AI become ubiquitous in our workplace. Teachers are using it to plan lessons and assessments, and students are increasingly asking AI to try to write their personal statements for them. 

However, it is important to remember that ChatGPT and other generative-AI tools are tools like any other – only as effective as the person who wields them. 

In my role at school, I am often approached by people with the same question: “How do I get ChatGPT to do what I want?”

I respond in the same way: “Just tell it what you want.” But the question has been repeated often enough that I began to think that my advice wasn’t as helpful as I’d thought. So I tried to create a universal, easy-to-remember guide for using AI. 

This resulted in the Three Cons Method, which I will explain below. 

The Three Cons Method of using AI

For the best results, any good AI prompt should contain the following sections.

Context

Before saying what you want, it is useful to explain why you need it. The AI will need to tailor its output according to who you are and who your target audience is. I will give some sample prompts further down, but you might include your job title or the ages of your students. 

I often find that mentioning to AI that I am a teacher in an international school gives me something more relevant to the needs of my students.

Content

After stating your context, you can now focus on content – what do you actually want to make? Are you making a flowchart explaining the application process for Ucas? Or maybe a guide to how to choose the best university based on your hobbies and interests? Be thorough and explain exactly what content you want to appear.

Constraints 

This is often the most underappreciated of the Three Cons, and is the reason that most people are disappointed with what ChatGPT comes up with. Once you have explained the content, you should set some limits on what it will make. Examples of good constraints include:

• Word count: for example, keep it between 800 and 1,000 words
• Format: for example, produce a downloadable PDF file or produce this as a table with the following columns
• Language requirements: for example, produce an English and Chinese version or produce a simplified version so my students who speak English as an additional language can understand

Sample prompts

Below, I have included some brief sample prompts to show the Three Cons in action. Feel free to take these and adapt them to your needs. The format for these is as follows:

• Two sentences of context
• Two sentences of content
• One sentence of constraint

Sample prompt 1

“I am a university counsellor at an international school in China. I am planning a 20-minute session for my students on how to begin searching for a university that will suit them. Can you produce a presentation that explains to students how to understand the different university ranking systems? You should also explain how to research other aspects of university life, including student culture and extracurricular activities and societies. Produce this as a downloadable PowerPoint file, and keep it under 10 slides long.”

Sample prompt 2

“I am a computer-science teacher at a secondary school in the UK. I have been asked to prepare my students for their university applications by conducting 20-minute mock interviews. Can you generate 10 interview questions for me to ask them? There should be a mix of technical and personal questions, to get a full picture of the students’ suitability for the course. Produce this as a downloadable Word document, along with a guide of the key things I should be looking for in their responses to each question.”

The secret Fourth Con

Although the emergence of AI in our schools seems sudden, the reality is that people have been working alongside AI for decades, often without realising it. The main mantra of using AI still holds true: good data in = good data out. By learning how to tailor your inputs to large language models such as ChatGPT, you will be amazed at what it can produce for you. 

If you followed the Three Cons Method and still aren’t getting the results you want, then try the Fourth Con: Constructive Criticism. Tell the AI what it got wrong, and it is likely to do much better second time around. 

Keep experimenting, and don’t forget to share your best prompts with your fellow counsellors and educators.