How to Use ChatGPT

A Guide for
Instructional Designers
Table of
CONTENTS

Introduction 3

Unit 1: Understanding 5
Content

Unit 2: Generating Content 11

Unit 3: Reviewing Content 30

Unit 4: Getting to Know 36

ChatGPT Better

Conclusion 43

2
Introduction
Hello! First of all, congratulations on all the
amazing instructional materials you’ve created so
far. And kudos to your will to learn and keep up
with the pace of changing technology to augment
your productivity.

Your job involves a lot more than storyboarding,

selecting relevant visual elements, and framing
assessments. Isn’t it? Instructional designers strive
to design and develop impactful training materials
keeping the best interests of stakeholders,
including subject matter experts, learners, and
managers, in mind.

With such an integral role to play, you can greatly

benefit from leveraging modern tools and
technology. One of them, the talk of the town, is
ChatGPT. It is an AI-based language model
developed by OpenAI.

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And in this eBook, we’ll explore in detail how you
can use ChatGPT for various instructional design
tasks and enhance your output to deliver
immersive, learner-centric eLearning courses.

From simple topics to complex ones, ChatGPT can

assist you in the best way possible! Remember, it is
a tool for assistance, not a master to do it all on its
own. So you need to let it know what you require.
And that’s where PROMPTS come in handy!
(Yes, we’ve got you covered.)

Are you ready to explore and embrace technology?

Because here’s an interesting one for starters.

ChatGPT can help you understand content.

Let’s see how.

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 UNIT 1
Understanding
Content

5
UNIT 1: Understanding Content
Getting to Know Your Content

With ChatGPT, you can easily understand the content

of your eLearning course, even if it’s from a domain
totally new to you. You can use ChatGPT to identify
the key topics, related information, summarize it, and
much more. Amazing, isn’t it?

All you need to do is add a piece of text or a document

into the input box and prompt ChatGPT to provide
insights on various aspects of the content. Voila!
ChatGPT will then generate a response based on its
understanding of the input text.

PROMPT TIME

As promised, here are some prompts along with the

steps to help you get familiar on how to use ChatGPT
for understanding content:

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UNIT 1: Understanding Content
Getting to Know Your Content

PROMPT 1 ‘Help me understand the text

labeled “c1” in simple terms’

Step 1: Input the content into ChatGPT.

Step 2: Use the prompt ‘Store the following content as

the label “c1”:’
This enables you to quickly retrieve the content when
needed or use it as a reference to a set of content.

Step 3: Use the prompt ‘Help me understand the text

labeled “c1” in simple terms.’
If you want the meaning of difficult words in the text, use
the prompt ‘Clarify the meaning of difficult terms in “c1”.’

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UNIT 1: Understanding Content
Getting to Know Your Content

Some other useful prompts:

PROMPT 2 ‘Clarify the meaning of this

sentence / phrase / word.’

PROMPT 3 ‘Provide more information

about this topic.’

PROMPT 4 ‘Generate a list of key points

or takeaways from this text.’

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UNIT 1: Understanding Content
Summarizing Content

Did you know that ChatGPT uses natural language

processing techniques to understand queries and offer
human-like responses?
Well, the process includes word embeddings, sentiment
analysis, named entity recognition, and more. Using
these techniques, ChatGPT can identify key phrases and
sentences and condense them into a short summary,
maintaining the original meaning and context.

PROMPT TIME

Here are some prompts along with the steps to help you:

Step 1: Input the content into ChatGPT as you did before.

Step 2: Use the prompt ‘Store the following content as the

label “c2”.’ [Here, ‘c2’ refers to the stored content].

Step 3: Use any of the prompts mentioned below as per

your requirement.

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UNIT 1: Understanding Content
Summarizing Content

PROMPT 1 ‘Summarize the text labeled

as “c2” in 100 words.’

‘Summarize the text labeled

PROMPT 2 as “c2” in 50 words and
boldface the important terms.’

‘Summarize the text labeled as

PROMPT 3 “c2” in 50 words in bullet points
and boldface the important terms.’

Interesting! Right?

Let’s move on to the next section.

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 UNIT 2
Generating Content

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UNIT 2: Generating Content
Importance of Generating the Right Content

If you wish to design effective eLearning courses,

this section deserves your attention! That’s right.
Generating right, relevant content is an important step
to capture the interest and attention of your learners
and even motivate them to complete the training
program – whether eLearning, microlearning, or other
online formats.
Content can be in the form of images, multimedia,
videos, stories, and more. Remember, the information
you provide to your learners via instructional material
acts as the foundation upon which they build their
understanding, skills, and even confidence. Therefore,
with the right content and tools at your disposal, you
can make the eLearning magic happen!

Excited?

Let’s begin!

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UNIT 2: Generating Content
Framing Learning Objectives

The importance of setting clear and SMART learning

objectives in corporate training can never be stressed
enough. They guide your way to success as they enable
you to structure the learning journey as per the
desired results and stay focused on delivering the
best quality training material. In fact, it is the learning
objectives that enable you to select the relevant
instructional design strategy, assessment type,
and more.

ChatGPT can help you by providing a starting

point to frame learning objectives that are specific
and measurable.

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UNIT 2: Generating Content
Framing Learning Objectives

PROMPT TIME

‘Write a learning objective for a _____ course

PROMPT 1
at the _______ level of Bloom’s Taxonomy’.

Develop a SMART learning objective for

PROMPT 2
a [type of course] on [topic].

Develop clear, measurable learning objectives

PROMPT 3
for [topic] that align with [learning standards].

Example
Prompt: Write a learning objective for a Diversity,
Equity, and Inclusion at the Workplace course at the
Understanding level of Bloom’s Taxonomy

You can easily update the generated learning

objective to be more specific to your requirements.
Note

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UNIT 2: Generating Content
Suggesting Images & Icons

Want to create engaging and visually appealing

eLearning content? Adding images and icons is a
great way to do so. It helps you break monotony
and capture the attention of your learners in an
effective manner.

With that said, finding relevant, high-quality images

and icons can be a daunting task.

Fret not, fellow instructional designers!

Because ChatGPT can help you out. It can suggest

relevant images and icons that enhance your
eLearning courses.

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UNIT 2: Generating Content
Suggesting Images & Icons

PROMPT TIME

‘Suggest an image to visualize the

PROMPT 1
following content:’

‘Suggest icons to visualize the

PROMPT 2
following content:’

‘Suggest images relevant to

PROMPT 3
[training/course name]’

You can input the content as you did in

previous units and customize these prompts
Note according to your needs.

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UNIT 2: Generating Content
Generating Mnemonics

Before you jump right into generating mnemonics,

let’s first understand what mnemonics are.
Well, it is a learning technique that helps learners
organize, remember, and retain information
effectively. A very basic and the one we’ve all most
likely heard is “My Very Eager Mother Just Served Us
Noodles” – to denote the names of the planets in our
solar system in order.

Leveraging mnemonics in eLearning is a smart and

effective tool to ensure an immersive and engaging
learning experience. Whether you’re providing
compliance training, safety training, or a training on
Prevention Of Sexual Harassment (POSH),
incorporating mnemonics can definitely help in
knowledge acquisition and better retention.

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UNIT 2: Generating Content
Generating Mnemonics

But here’s the catch, having mnemonics handy on

each and every topic that you design eLearning
courses on is practically not feasible. And that’s
where ChatGPT comes to the rescue. It can generate
mnemonics, such as acronyms or memory aids, that
help your learners remember key information and
concepts and apply them efficiently.

PROMPT TIME

‘Generate an easy-to-remember mnemonic

PROMPT 1 based on the following content.’ (If you have
the content ready with you)

Generate _ mnemonics relevant to

PROMPT 2
[training/course name]

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UNIT 2: Generating Content
Generating Mnemonics

Example
PROMPT: Generate 1 mnemonic relevant to
onboarding training.

Output

STAR
Simplify: Simplify the onboarding process.
Train: Provide comprehensive training materials
and resources.

Assign: Assign a mentor or buddy to help new

hires navigate their roles.

Review: Regularly review and evaluate the

onboarding process for improvements.

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UNIT 2: Generating Content
Creating Video Scripts

Did you know that the viewers retain 95% of the

message when it is conveyed to them in the form of a
video in contrast to the traditional text format where
they only remember 10% of the message. That’s quite a
difference! Isn’t it. So leveraging videos in online
learning is a preferred strategy to facilitate impactful
training. To create videos, you need to draft video
scripts. And how do you do that?

Well, you can do the hard work all by yourself or you

can seek help from ChatGPT. It can generate video
scripts for you that are both engaging and informative.
Then you can easily create videos that are effective,
immersive, and memorable for learners. You can
mention all your specifications about the video –
duration, title, whether it should have a call-to-action
message, specific keywords it should include.

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UNIT 2: Generating Content
Creating Video Scripts

PROMPT TIME

‘Generate a script for a video on the

PROMPT 1 [topic name]’

Generate a script for a video based on

PROMPT 2
the following parameters:
Video duration in minutes =
Title of the video =
Do I need a call-to-action message? = Yes / No

Example
Generate a script for a video with visual ideas based
on the following parameters:
Video duration in minutes = 2
Title of the video = 5 Best Practices to Ensure Cyber
Security at the Workplace
Do I need a call-to-action message? = Yes

Remember: You can always add or remove

parameters as per your requirements.

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UNIT 2: Generating Content
Generating Stories

A good story is like food for your learner’s soul. And

incorporating storytelling in your instructional design
works wonders at both intellectual and emotional levels.
Stories have a way to connect with the learners. They
enable you to facilitate a more creative, immersive, and
engaging learning environment.

But writing stories is not easy! Trust us, writer’s block is

a real thing. With that said, compromising with the
quality or delaying the project is also not really an
option. To save yourself in such situations, you can
definitely seek help from ChatGPT.

PROMPT TIME

“Write a story on [topic]” (You can even

PROMPT 1 specify the word count, if you want)

“Write a story about a [character]

PROMPT 2 who [situation]”

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UNIT 2: Generating Content
Generating Stories

“Generate a story, based on the

PROMPT 3
following parameters:
• Main character(s) in this story = ____
• The main conflict or problem in this story = ____
• The story should have an exposition, which
mentions the conflict, characters, and settings.
• Then it should include rising action, climax, falling
action, and resolution.
• Describe the key takeaways from the story.’

You can select the number of parameters

relevant to your course
Note

Example
Write a story about a new shopfloor employee
(Sam) who doesn’t wear the right safety gear on the
second day of his work.
Main Character = Sam
Conflict = Unhappy boss, scope for potential accidents
Resolution = Boss explains to Sam the right gear to wear,
how, and why

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UNIT 2: Generating Content
Building Scenarios

Scenario-based learning is an instructional design

strategy, which continues to be an effective approach in
corporate training. It is a highly immersive and engaging
method that leverages real-life situations and scenarios
to help learners develop and harness their decision-
making skills.

As effective as this instructional design strategy is,

building scenarios that check all the boxes for L&D,
learners, and stakeholders can be quite a challenge. But
not anymore! ChatGPT can generate scenarios that
simulate real-world situations and challenges, which
enable learners to apply their knowledge and skills in a
practical and meaningful way.

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UNIT 2: Generating Content
Building Scenarios

PROMPT TIME

‘Build a scenario based on the following

PROMPT 1
parameters:
Main character(s) in this scenario = _____
The setting where this scenario takes place = _____
Mention a problem using this scenario= ______
Provide __ possible options to resolve it, and provide
feedback for the best option.’

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UNIT 2: Generating Content
Building Scenarios

Example
Build a scenario based on the following parameters:
Main character(s) in this scenario = An employee
belonging to an ethnic minority
The setting where this scenario takes place = He is
offended after hearing a colleague’s causal comment.
Provide 4 possible options to resolve this scenario,
and provide feedback for the best option.

ChatGPT may not be able to expand much on

client-specific content. For example, specific sales
techniques or processes used within your customer’s
organization. It can give generics. Specifics such as
Note anecdotes, war stories, or real-world examples will
have to come from subject matter experts (SMEs).

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UNIT 2: Generating Content
Framing Assessments

Assessments are integral to corporate training. They

help measure the effectiveness of training programs.
Organizations can see where learners are performing
well and where they might need some additional help.

Assessments are majorly of two types:

• Formative assessments that evaluate learners during
the training session.
• Summative assessments that evaluate learners after
the training session.

No surprise that ChatGPT can help you frame

assessments that are aligned with your learning
objectives and training content. Moreover, it creates
assessments that are valid and reliable.

You need to ask ChatGPT for suggestions on the

type of assessment, slide-wise, instead of asking for
everything together. If you ignore this practice, there is
Note a high possibility that ChatGPT could go off track and
provide unnecessary results.

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UNIT 2: Generating Content
Framing Assessments

PROMPT TIME

Let’s see how you can frame assessments using ChatGPT.

‘Provide a drag-and-drop assessment to assess

PROMPT 1 [learning objective #] of the content ___.’

‘Provide a true-or-false assessment to assess

PROMPT 2 [learning objective #] of the content ___.’

‘Provide a single-select assessment to assess

PROMPT 3 [learning objective #] of the content ___.’

As per your requirement, you can add/avoid/modify the following

parameters to get the desired results
• Number of options =
• Avoid ‘All of the above’ and ‘None of the Above’ as options.
• Avoid using negative statements in the question and negative
or obvious options.
• Provide feedback for the correct answer.

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UNIT 2: Generating Content
Framing Assessments

Example
‘Provide a multiple-select assessment to assess
[learning objective 2] of the content ___, following
these parameters:
Number of options = 5
Avoid ‘All of the above’ and ‘None of the Above’
as options.
Avoid using negative statements in the question
and negative or obvious options.
Provide feedback for the correct answer.

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 UNIT 3
Reviewing Content

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UNIT 3: Reviewing Content
Need for Reviewing Content

Reviewing content is an opportunity to ensure

you provide nothing but the BEST! That’s right. It is
essential for ensuring effective instructional design
and accurate eLearning courses. Content review enables
you to provide training material that is reliable, valid,
and credible.

And apart from the learning objectives, interactivities,

content, and assessments, as an instructional designer,
you need to spot and correct spellings mistakes,
typos, and more. Sounds like searching for a needle
in a haystack?

Don’t worry! The next section will be a game-changer

for you and reviewing content won’t be the same. EVER!
Because we’ll be discussing how you can use ChatGPT to
your benefit.

Are you ready?

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UNIT 3: Reviewing Content
Identifying Grammatical Errors

Creating a lengthy eLearning course and then checking it

for grammatical errors? Phew! Before you start to sweat,
let ChatGPT be of assistance. And for all the curious ones
out there wondering how it does so, ChatGPT uses
techniques such as parsing and part-of-speech tagging, to
analyze the grammatical structure of the text and identify
potential errors. Ain’t that cool for an AI tool?

PROMPT TIME
Let’s explore some amazing prompts to help you use
ChatGPT for identifying grammatical errors.

‘Identify and highlight the grammatical errors

PROMPT 1 in the following text:’, followed by the text.

Look for and correct all misspelled words and

PROMPT 2 grammatical errors. Use American English.

Scan for repeated words or phrases and

PROMPT 3 rephrase or replace them.

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UNIT 3: Reviewing Content
Checking Parallelism

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,

it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness..."

This parallelism from "A Tale of Two Cities" by

Charles Dickens is quite remarkable! Imagine creating
such beauty and magic in your eLearning courses with
the help of ChatGPT.

It can easily check the parallelism of your content to

ensure that it is consistent and easy to understand.
This will help you design and develop training material
that is clear and engaging for your learners.

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UNIT 3: Reviewing Content
Checking Parallelism

PROMPT TIME

Here are a few prompts to help you check parallelism

in your training content using ChatGPT:

‘Update the following text to

PROMPT 1 follow parallelism.’

‘Update the following text to follow

PROMPT 2 parallelism, where the first word must be a
verb in the past tense.’

‘Update the following text to follow parallelism,

PROMPT 3 where the first word must be a noun.’

Using these prompts, ChatGPT can analyze your text and

suggest changes to make it parallel, which can improve the
clarity and readability of your content.

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BONUS

Want to see how the prompts shared in this book work?

We’ve applied it ourselves to design a course on

Diversity and Inclusion.

See for yourself!

View Course

35
 UNIT 4
Getting to Know
ChatGPT Better

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 UNIT 4: Getting to Know ChatGPT Better
SWOT Analysis of ChatGPT

Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

• Boosts • Potential bias • Brainstorm • Becoming too

productivity • Plagiarism and ideas, titles, dependent on it
and efficiency misinformation keyword • Security,
• Has an suggestions confidentiality,
• Responses
extensive depend on how • Work with reliability of data
knowledge base questions are subject matter • Might hamper
• Strong idea asked experts to the development
generator create content of critical
• Offer in-depth thinking skills
content on
specific industry
verticals

37
UNIT 4: Getting to Know ChatGPT Better
Limitations of ChatGPT

Yes, ChatGPT is definitely the talk of the town and is a

great tool. But you do need to understand that relying
completely on ChatGPT is not the solution as it has its
own set of limitations like:

1 Biased Output

At times, ChatGPT’s responses may contain

inherent biases, perpetuating stereotypes, and
promoting misinformation.

For example, if asked a biased question, ChatGPT

may give an answer that reflects that bias,
reinforcing the user’s existing beliefs and
potentially perpetuating harmful stereotypes.

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UNIT 4: Getting to Know ChatGPT Better
Limitations of ChatGPT

2 Inability to Understand Emotions and Context

ChatGPT is not human and hence can’t always understand

the context or emotional nuances of a conversation, or
make accurate predictions about the real world.
For example, if asked "Can I jump off a building and fly?",
ChatGPT may give a response that suggests it is possible,
without understanding that this is physically impossible.
Similarly, ChatGPT may not be able to recognize sarcasm
or irony in a user’s question or statement, leading to
inaccurate or inappropriate responses.

3 Limited Knowledge

ChatGPT’s knowledge is limited as it has been trained on

data till September 2021. You read it right! So if you’re
looking to gather information on some contemporary topic
or your topic involves some latest data, ChatGPT might not
provide you with accurate or up-to-date information.

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UNIT 4: Getting to Know ChatGPT Better
3 Best Practices

When using ChatGPT for instruction design, it is

important to keep these 3 best practices in mind:

1 Identify the Learning Objectives

It is crucial to have tentative Learning Objectives ready

and use ChatGPT to refine them at the specific level of
Bloom’s taxonomy. Then you can tweak the content
generated by ChatGPT to be aligned with the desired
learning outcomes. By defining the learning objectives,
you can provide ChatGPT with clear prompts that will
help it generate relevant and useful content.

For example, if the learning objective is for learners to

understand the basic principles of coding, then prompts
for ChatGPT could include questions such as “What are
the key concepts of coding?” or “How can you explain
coding to someone who is new to the subject?”

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UNIT 4: Getting to Know ChatGPT Better
3 Best Practices

2 Use Clear and Concise Language

When using ChatGPT for instruction design, use clear,

simple language. This will ensure content is easily
understandable by learners. Use simple sentences and
avoid jargon or technical language.

Avoid lengthy paragraphs or sentences that can make

the content difficult to understand. Instead, break up
content into smaller sections and use bullet points or
numbered lists to help organize the information.

For example, instead of saying “The reaction produces

a precipitate which can then be used to determine the
concentration of the sample”, you might prompt
ChatGPT to say, “What is a precipitate and how is it
used in the chemical analysis?”

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UNIT 4: Getting to Know ChatGPT Better
3 Best Practices

3 Check for Accuracy and Bias

As ChatGPT has the potential to generate biased

responses, it is important to check the content for
accuracy and bias. Review the content to ensure that it
is accurate, free from biases, and up to date.

For example, if using ChatGPT to provide medical

advice, it is important to consult with subject matter
experts and review the content to ensure that it is
accurate and free from biases.

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Conclusion
We understand that adapting to new technology can be
a bit tricky, but trust us, ChatGPT is worth the effort!
From understanding to generating to reviewing content,
ChatGPT is your go-to tool.

With that said, just knowing about all that ChatGPT is

capable of ain’t enough. You need to know and understand
how to use it. It's like having an umbrella on a scorching
sunny day but still complaining about the heat because
you haven’t opened the umbrella.

To leverage ChatGPT effectively, using

relevant prompts is the key.

Now it's your time to experiment and get creative! Tweak

the prompts as per your requirement (because hey, we're all
learning here) and let ChatGPT do its magic! We hope you
found this book interesting and informative. Keep designing
effective, immersive, learner-centric eLearning courses, and
stay on top of your game with ChatGPT.

Good luck!

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About CommLab India
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and is the sought-after global leader for rapid eLearning solutions.

With its expertise in instructional design, rapid authoring tools,

and agile project management, CommLab India offers:
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