Prompting Has Changed, Have You?
If you’ve used AI tools for a while, you probably feel comfortable prompting. You know how to ask questions, refine responses, and get something useful back.
But a shift has happened….
Prompting isn’t just about asking anymore.
You’re not bad at prompting - but the bar has moved
As AI models improve, they respond differently to instructions. Newer models are better at following structure, interpreting roles, and maintaining consistency — if you tell them what you want.
Users who understand where or how to adapt their prompting style will get far better results.
Not all prompting is the same
Most people rely on conversational prompting: “Can you help me rewrite this?”
or “Give me some ideas for a lesson.”
This approach is intuitive and useful — especially for exploration.
Others may have taken things up a notch by applying structured prompting.
Structured prompts intentionally include elements like:
a role (e.g. act as an assessor, curriculum designer, or editor)
a task (what you want done)
constraints (format, length, audience, context)
This isn’t about being rigid — it’s about being clear. Structured prompting produces more reliable, repeatable outputs.
When taken a step further, structured prompting may go beyond basic context-setting to involve:
setting boundaries around what the AI should and shouldn’t do
establishing tone, priorities, and decision rules
anticipating how the AI should behave across multiple interactions
This is the kind of prompting used to create system prompts — the instructions that sit behind AI tools, workflows, or agents that perform a role consistently over time, rather than responding to a single request.
Why stick to one approach?
The strongest users know when to switch or combine conversational and structured prompting - or jump in to co-create!
Experienced users:
work with the AI tool - drafting, reviewing, and refining together - using conversational prompts to explore ideas.
use structured prompts to lock in quality and consistency.
jump in at different points to directly edit or co-create. Features like Copilot Pages or ChatGPT Canvas support this approach, allowing humans and AI to directly edit or co-create side‑by‑side.
Are you doing extra work?
If you keep repeating preferences (tone, level, format), you’re doing unnecessary work.
Experienced users:
personalise their AI tools
save and reuse effective prompts
organise prompts by task or project
on the next level - build agents!
Efficiency compounds quickly.
If you already use AI regularly, you’re not starting from scratch, but….
the next level of prompting isn’t about typing better questions — it’s about designing interactions that consistently deliver what you need.
The TAKE Team have extensive knowledge in this area as well as experience running prompting workshops. Get in touch if you’d like to know more about how our Team might be able to support your school.