7 Useful Prompts for Instructional Designers

Setting aside all of the hype for how AI will completely revolutionize and/or destroy instructional design (depending on who you ask), I have found a number of small ways to use AI in my work. None of these are major shifts in how I work, but they are useful. These are prompts that save me time and make my work easier. When I spend less time on certain tasks, that means I can spend more time on more important and valuable work. I’m aiming to share “useful prompts” here to improve your productivity, without claiming anything extravagant.

You’ll note that none of these prompts are for things like “write a whole course.” That’s deliberate; I don’t use AI that way. I’ll keep experimenting, but I haven’t been happy with the results for any of those sorts of automatic generation. I find AI a lot more useful in small tasks and with more back and forth than I do for generating large amounts of content from a single prompt.

I generated this image in Flux. I mostly use Midjourney for image generation, but Flux does better better with text accuracy.

1. Generate alt text

You’ll need to verify that these results are appropriate for the purpose of the image. You may want to tweak this prompt to note the purpose or anything specific you want to emphasize. I usually just edit the AI-generated draft though, rather than trying to prompt for it.

Generate alt text for this image, describing the key elements. Transcribe all text in the image so a screen reader user can read it.

2. Convert closed caption format

Sometimes I run into issues where I have closed captions in one format but I need it in a different one for another tool or platform. This works with VTT, SRT, and SBV format.

Please convert these captions from VTT to SRT format.

[Insert text of the captions or attach the file. Paste the results in Notepad and save as the file type you want.]

3. Describe an image style

As I work with Midjourney and other image generation tools, I find that I don’t always have the right language to describe specific visual styles and elements. Fortunately, AI can help with that so I can learn better language for prompting.

How would you describe this style of illustration? I need help writing a prompt for image generation with a description of this style.

4. Explain JavaScript code

I admit, I really don’t understand JavaScript. I do understand programming logic though, even if I don’t understand the syntax. I find the pseudo code helpful in understanding what’s happening. If that doesn’t help you, adjust this prompt to ask for just a plain text explanation instead.

Explain this JavaScript code to me. Translate it to pseudo code so I can follow the logic. Then, give me a plain text summary in bullet points of what this script does.

<code>
[Insert code here]

You can do something similar with Excel formulas too–just paste the formula into the chat and ask the LLM to explain it to you.

5. Icon or image ideas

Sometimes, I have trouble figuring out how to visually represent something in training.

Brainstorm 5 ideas for icons or images I can use to represent the following concepts.

[Insert list of concepts or topics]

6. Brainstorm activity ideas

I get into a rut sometimes with activities. I have a couple of go-to activities, and I tend to use them repeatedly. It’s helpful to mix it up sometimes. I use Claude as a brainstorming partner to come up with other ideas for activities. Most of the time, I don’t use any of Claude’s ideas exactly, but it helps spark a broader range of ideas.

Brainstorm 5 ideas for self-paced online activities for understanding and practicing the concept of [concept].

I have also used a longer version of this prompt with more details. The shorter prompt works fine for general skills and publicly available content. This longer version works better when I need to provide specific content for Claude to draw from.

You're an expert in teaching [topic] to [audience]. You're going to help me develop an online activity for [skill].

<Description of the skill>
[Insert description]

<Example questions related to the skill>

<Task instructions>
Brainstorm 5 ideas for a self-paced online activity to practice the skill [skill name]. The activity should take 5 minutes or less. For other skills in this course, I have created activities such as [examples of activities].

7. Rewrite sentences

Do you ever get stuck on a sentence in your writing? Sometimes I look at a particular sentence for so long that I can’t figure out what to do with it. I can tell it’s clunky, but nothing sounds right.

Rewrite this sentence so it flows better and is less clunky. Give me 5 options.

Bonus prompt: I’ve had some success getting it to write part of a sentence too. Sometimes the start of a sentence is fine, but it falls apart in the middle. (Does that happen to you? No, just me? OK, then ignore this next prompt.)

Give me 5 variations to end this sentence.

Working with LLMs like ChatGPT and Claude

I use Claude as my primary LLM (large language model). I think Claude does a better job with writing tasks, particularly with matching the writing style to samples. Claude also doesn’t train its AI on your prompts and the content you provide, so it has better privacy than some other AI tools.

I’ve used all of these prompts with Claude, but they should also work with ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, or other LLMs.

In some of the prompts above, I structure the prompt with headings for sections in <angle brackets>. You can use #number signs# around your headings like markup too.

As always with AI tools, you need to check the output before using it. These tools hallucinate or confabulate content–they make things up. It’s easy to just accept the default, especially since most things LLMs generate sound at least superficially plausible. You can save time with these prompts, but that doesn’t mean your input and review isn’t needed.

Bonus tip: Use Poe to access multiple tools for one price

I use Claude through the Poe interface. Poe is a “model aggregator”; it lets you use multiple different AI tools in a single location. Poe has some limitations, but I appreciate that it lets me use and experiment with multiple tools while only paying $20 per month. Poe includes the paid models for Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini. It also gives you access to image generation tools like DALL-E, Ideogram, Flux, and Recraft plus video generation tools like Runway, Pika, and Kling.

As a bonus, Poe recently added Elevenlabs as one of its models. It only includes a small selection of the full library of the Elevenlabs voices, but I find it’s enough for narration for some projects.

You use credits for each prompt, and some tools are more expensive than others. Since most of my work in Poe is related to moderate amounts of text, I never come close to my credit limit.

Bonus tip #2: Save your useful prompts

I’m not using anything fancy, but I record my useful prompts in a Google document with headings. You could save them in a spreadsheet or database too. It’s helpful to have a place to look for these prompts to use them again. I also save prompts from other people in my document so it’s easier to find later.

Your useful prompts?

Do you have any useful prompts like these that save you time or make your work easier? I’d love to hear about other ideas for these sorts of small productivity improvements.