CHARLES DARWIN UNIVERSITY · AI WORKSHOP · COPILOT STUDY AND LEARN
Be a Champion Prompt Critic
Fifteen everyday prompts from around the university are about to be sent to Copilot: five from students at midnight, five from lecturers between classes, five from the library and Access and Inclusion desks. Every one of them has a problem. Your job: call it out before the send button gets pressed.
In the student rounds you are the lecturer: what do you want this student to do instead? Shout your answers. Space advances.
HOLD IT RIGHT THERE
Your turn, Prompt Critics
Answers in the room
ROUNDS
Jump to any round, in any order
The time-saved tally keeps counting whichever order you play.
TAKE THIS WITH YOU
The Prompt Critic's Checklist
Know which agent you are in. Check the dropdown before you type; the study agent coaches, the chat agent answers, and both are one click apart on a CDU account.
Paste your notes, not the question. Study and Learn can only study what it is given; a question pasted whole gets a submission, not a student who learned anything.
Test your assessment against the agent that answers. Your students may never meet the restrained one.
The posture is a prompt, not a property. Teach students the habit for the stuck moment, not a belief in the safe tool.
Ask for feedback on the reasoning, not a verdict. "Which step would you question first?" teaches; "is this right?" does not.
Name the gap. "I do not know what a critical reflection is" gets better help than "write my reflection".
Give it who, what, when, where. Unit, date, channel, audience; anything Copilot could not have guessed on its own.
Set the audience. First-years at orientation, many working in a second or third language, need plain English and three things to do.
Supply real sources, then ask. Copilot cannot search the catalogue; references come from the databases, and Copilot explains them afterwards.
Describe the adjustment, never the person. Short sentences and headings are a request; a diagnosis is a disclosure.
Never send your worst mood. Copilot will write it if you ask; vent to a colleague and prompt when you are calm.
Student work stays out of prompts. Ask for reusable wording; the submissions stay where they belong.
Hand students one prompt that works on their own material. Three options, one choice, the first time they open it.
Proofread every draft, even from a perfect prompt. A citation is a claim; check the output against the source.
De-identify before you prompt. No name, no number, no diagnosis; the plan is the source and the reasons are private.
Total estimated time saved by today's critics: 0 minutes.
Time savings are for celebration purposes only and would not survive an audit.