An Introduction to Basic Prompt Engineering using ChatGPT
In Summer 2023 Arizona State University offered one of the first for-credit undergraduate courses in the US on basic prompt engineering using ChatGPT.
The course was designed to provide anyone who took it a basic skill set in using ChatGPT and other AI chatbots in professional settings — irrespective of their background and areas of study — and ensure this was reflected on their transcript. It also provided a critical understanding of the limitations of the tool, and how to use it responsibly.
These resources represent most of the materials and exercises used in the course.
Overview
The introduction below was prepared specifically for the ASU’s undergraduate course on prompt engineering using ChatGPT, but it also serves as a brief introduction to the following resources.
Resources and exercises:
The ASU Basic Introduction to Prompt Engineering course is built around a series of exercises — most of which use ChatGPT. The philosophy here is simple — platform familiarity and skill development emerge much faster and much more comprehensively through guided practice than through lectures and readings.
Most of these exercises are included in the links below — along with supporting material.
This is a course that is designed to systematically build understanding and skills as you work through the exercises. However, these are also exercises that can be dipped into if there are specific aspects of using ChatGPT you are interested in exploring.
It’s also worth noting that a critical part of the course is modeling effective prompt engineering through the prompts that are used in the exercises — as such, the prompts we use become an essential part of the learning toolbox.
It’s also worth adding that these exercises were updated and expanded between the first time we offered the course in July 2023, and the second offering in October 2023 — this is such a fast-moving field that the goal posts keep changing!
I hope the materials are useful, and please do get in touch if you have any questions
Andrew Maynard