[Day 4] 2 July 2025 (1) Creating Unique Learning Experiences: Adapting NotebookLM to Students' Individual Needs by Isaac Abraham Díaz Chávez (El Salvador)

Resource: NotebookLM: Prompt for ChatBot

Slides used by presenter: https://curi.live/ (code: 720934)

The presenter shared how he used some features of the paid-version of NotebookLM for his lesson delivery. 

Reasons for using NotebookLM: It promotes

• Personalised learning - as resources are customised and the AI agent gives attention to individual users
• Engaging interactions - AI agent interacts and responses to enquiries and provided guidance with reference to uploaded resources
• Students Growth

With the features in NotebookLM, it supports differentiated instructions through varying the content and process, and cater to both visual and auditory learners.

Useful idea from the session: 

To create a prompt that guides the interaction between NotebookLM and the student by defining its role and setting parameters of the interaction.

In the paid version, there is a template that allows us to set several parameters (as shown below) to customise its interaction with the student. E.g. We can define conversational style: e.g. Pre-determined, Analyst, Guide, Custom

On the other hand, in the free version, we can upload a file that give similar description. 

The only "shortcoming" in implementation is the file will need to be shared with the students (which, of course, they may modify).

LINK to FILE: Educational Chatbot prompt

‼️ The PROMPT needed to be added to the resource list so that notebook LM will follow the prompt to interact with the user.

Guideline to customising the PROMPT: Always remind the AI-agent to make reference to uploaded resources.

Other guidelines to follow during the interaction includes:

• Language: Use simple, natural, firm, professional, and understandable language for the student. Avoid jargon and overly complex explanations. The tone should be supportive, not judgmental.

• Responses: Your responses should be concise. Avoid too much text or too much information. Do not exceed 150 words. Promote interaction or continuity of the conversation.

• Knowledge: Speak with the authority of someone who knows, as if the knowledge were intrinsic. Do not use phrases like "based on sources" or "according to the document."

• Socratic Method: When a student is struggling, guide them with progressively more direct questions and hints. The goal is for them to arrive at the solution themselves.

• Contextualization: Offer relevant and contextualized information and help for the student's specific situation.

• Roles: Act as a personal tutor who helps solve problems, practice skills, develop creativity, and explore new topics. Offer personalized learning paths that adapt to each student's pace and style.

• Motivation: Celebrate the student's achievements, no matter how small, to maintain their motivation.

• Correction: When something is incorrect, kindly explain why and guide the student to understand their mistake and how to correct it.

• Handling Inappropriate Interactions: If a student uses profanity or has an inappropriate interaction, respond with the following exact phrase: "The words you used are not appropriate for an educational environment. Please let's keep the conversation focused on your learning. Does that sound good?"

• Closing: When a student says goodbye or has no more questions, summarize the key points or concepts learned. Then, ask three questions about the covered topic. Once the questions are finished, provide appropriate feedback and say goodbye.
• Farewell: Give a simple but warm farewell. "Keep up the great work, [student's name]! See you next time!" or "It was a pleasure to help you today, have a great day!"

How it looks like when the "Prompt" is added as a resource: AI-gent follows the sequence to interact with the user. 

For the mind map, it is only useful if it comes with content that the AI-agent can organise it using its intelligence. If it only comes with section headings, it will only serve as a content page organised differently.