Sequoia Con is a unique conference model that is 100% by K12 educators for K12 educators. Join to hear from people using AI to save themselves time, to improve their instructional approach, deal with ...

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## **SequoiaCon, AI Conference for Educators** Last week, I had the privilege of attending a virtual AI conference for educators, SequoiaCon. I took a _ton_ of notes, and I still haven’t watched every session that interests me. I wanted to share one of the sessions with you today, though, because I have a feeling a lot of my readers would find it useful. ## _**Gen AI Is Your PBL Design Coach**_ This session was hosted by David Ross who, among many other accomplishments, is the former Senior Director of the Buck Institute for Education (now known as PBL Works). Project Based Learning is something that I’ve been a passionate supporter of for many years, so I was immediately drawn to attend David’s session as soon as I saw the title. This was not a “sage on the stage” kind of presentation. We had a working session as David guided us through the steps of using AI to help us develop PBL projects customized to each of our situations. I focused on 4th grade math standards for my own project, and was thrilled when one of the “entry events” (basically the hook at the beginning of a project to get students interested) suggested by ChatGPT was to invite a local food truck to campus that students could tour. This would kick off a project in which students would need to use knowledge of geometry and financial expertise to maximize the interior space for all of the supplies needed by the truck. I was equally energized by the projects other room participants shared throughout the session. As I worked through each step of David’s prompt template, I immediately knew this was something I needed to share with followers of this website. Many of you are looking for ways to go above and beyond standardized, scripted lessons, and this is one way to do it. ## **The PBL Prompt Template** David kindly gave us permission to share his prompt template. I made a copy and added a few clarifications to my own version here. In my version, I made minor changes such as adding some more delineations between prompt wording to be copied and portions where you should insert your own numbers/words. The instructions are on the template. I also added a final prompt on mine in order to elicit a PDF from the AI tool that can be downloaded and used as your planning document. (While this last task is only available in paid version of ChatGPT, you can still ask the free version to summarize the unit so that you can copy and paste it.) Anyone who has designed PBL units will recognize how valuable this AI/Teacher collaboration is. Many people don’t even bother trying because the planning can be quite daunting. But this is like having a partner (who isn’t exhausted from teaching all day or stressed by the latest campus drama) who can give you an endless supply of ideas while you still have the ultimate control over the final product. ## **Other PBL Resources from David Ross** David also has two Custom GPT’s that you can access: Rubric Generator and PBL Design Companion. Custom GPT’s are created to perform specific tasks, but their functionality can be limited if you are on the free plan for ChatGPT. They also may have issues when OpenAI updates its models. The above templates can easily be used without those concerns. You can find many other great resources on David’s landing page, including: a PBL Chatbot he’s developed in partnership with Curiously, his books, and his videos. ## **An Invitation to Contribute Your Own Ideas** I know that many followers on this site teach gifted students. I’d love to hear from you about ways this prompt template could be tweaked to included Depth and Complexity or the Depth of Knowledge framework. Maybe you have a thought about incorporating the higher levels of Blooms. I’d also love to know how this might compare to some of the other AI tools that are out there that include PBL planning as I haven’t had a chance to test them. Let me know in the comments below! ## **P.S.** **Don’t Forget My Upcoming Webinar!** My first FREE AI Webinar is coming up on April 23, 2025. It’s called, “ChatGPT for Real Life Simple, Practical Ways to Use AI (Even if You’re Not Techy)”, and you can find all of the details including the registration link on my new _AI Made Simple_ page. If this one doesn’t seem to be a good fit for you, but you want news about any other offerings, feel free to sign up below. AI Webinar Notification Δ ### ### Sign Up to Get Notified! Your information will not be sold. 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