MS ePortfolio - Prompt Engineering for K-12 Educators

This project was designed and developed as a cross-project between the Artificial Intelligence and Multimedia Production with Emerging Instructional Technologies (ETEC 6550) and the E-learning Technology and Media (ETEC 6740) courses. The idea for the project stemmed from my interest in prompt engineering, intersected with the self-reported lack of AI literacy among the credential students I advise at my workplace.

The practical course, divided into 3 main modules, aims to cover effective prompting, prompt refinement, and encourages educators to develop their own prompt library for their professional use. It is meant to be asynchronous and self-paced.

You can experience the course here.

The Process

After talking with some students struggling to understand how to use AI as future educators effectively, I decided to design a just-in-time training using the ADDIE model.

🎯 ANALYSIS
Both students and faculty were asked to complete surveys to gauge their interest and struggles when interfacing with AI.

📝 DESIGN
Practical learning objectives were laid out, and then reprocessed through an AI bot (Course Mapper by Professor Laura Otero) aimed at assisting instructional designers in creating course maps using backward design and UDL principles.

🎬 DEVELOPMENT
The best phase for AI experimentation. I researched, tested, and chose AI-powered and AI-centered tools to develop the content of the course. Generative AI was used sparsely, as I wanted to push the limits of what free(mium) AI tools can offer to a beginner instructional designer. (See below for a detailed breakdown)

📈 IMPLEMENTATION
Currently in progress

📊 EVALUATION
Spring 2026

The tools

As the application and implementation of AI in instructional design is one of the main focuses of the ETEC 6550 course, I am reporting below all the AI tools and applications I have used for the creation of this project, along with a brief commentary.

💻 Notion

Learning Management System of choice

Simple, all-encompassing tool that allows content to be organized quickly and professionally. Limited design options allow a more cohesive look and accessibility, while embedding content makes it rich and diverse.

😅Course Mapper

Chat GPT Bot for Design Phase

Created by Prof. Laura Otero, this tool assisted in creating measurable learning outcomes in alignment with Bloom's Taxonomy and brainstorming assessment and learning activities. It incorporated backward design and UDL principles in the design process.

📈 ChatGPT

Used for Analysis and Evaluation Phases

Used extensively to test out limitations. With the newest version (GPT 5.1), hallucinations were limited, and the conversation stayed on track, producing satisfactory material. Human intervention and adaptations were numerous and thorough, although it certainly sped up the designing, brainstorming, and iterations.

🥺 Gamma

Development: AI-enhanced slides and presentation tool

Despite my best efforts to tailor the prompt and the input, this tool proved useful only for quick, on-the-go presentations. Post-output customization was lengthy and clunky and ultimately required more time than PowerPoint.

🔥Genially

Development: Interactive slides and presentation tool

Excellent tool to make slides interactive and content more layered. Students can explore content at their own pace, but time-consuming to create. AI integration allowed only for image creation, voiceover, and interactive questions.

😎 Canva

Development: Design and presentation tool with AI integration

Excellent tool for designing captivating images and visual elements. Easy to use for beginners, it presents significant differences between the free and the paid versions. The AI integration suffers from severe hallucinations after few iterations.

🤒CapCut

Development: AI-enhanced for video material

AI Video Maker that has the options to generate scripts, voice-over avatars, and AI-generated visuals. Seemingly cutting video production times, the phenomenon of the Uncanny Valley made the product not preferable to use.

😐Google Vids

Development: AI-enhanced for video slide/presentations

Alternative video generator through Google Suite. AI integration seems fantastic for business subscribers; however, for the purpose of this course creation, the limitations of the free version made this tool unhelpful.

👌Goblin Tools

AI Tool for content tone and refinement

A collection of small, simple, single-task AI tools mostly designed to help neurodivergent people. Professor and Formalizer were primarily used for either simplifying or further explaining complex concepts or enhancing paragraphs.

What I learned

AI tools can be extraordinarily powerful and save lots of time
AI tools can also make you waste a lot of time
There is no size-fits-all. Even for a small-scale project like this, every module's materials required tailored AI tools (and prompts!)
Active, hands-on learning not only increases learner motivation and engagement, but effortlessly bridges theory and practice
Performance-based assessment is definitely my preferred way of learning evaluation

Next Steps

Developing missing content
Test the course with a small batch of participants, then proceed with the implementation phase
Complete the first round of summative evaluation and continue to refine

⬅️ Previous Project

🏠︎ Back to Design

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