Open Educational Resources
Document Type
Tutorial
Publication Date
Spring 3-25-2025
Abstract
This tutorial is a practical guide for instructors interested in helping students design their own custom educational bots using large language models (LLMs). No programming is required—just critical thinking, creativity, and curiosity.
While adaptable across disciplines, it is especially geared toward teacher education courses, supporting future teachers in critically engaging with AI in the classroom. Students build bots in roles such as tutor, motivational coach, philosopher, and more—reflecting on design, purpose, and ethics.
The toolkit includes templates, sample bots, and a recommended semester timeline to support AI literacy, hands-on experimentation, and ethical reflection. It also links to a student-facing implementation guide and explores emerging tools like voice and video avatars.
Table of Contents
I. What is a custom educational bot?
II. Why have students build bots?
III. How can I try it out with my students?
IV. What is the future of custom educational bots?
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
This classroom material was created for the 2024-25 CUNY Building Bridges of
Knowledge program funded by the Lumina Foundation to support students to use
generative AI ethically and responsibly.