Meet GPT: Designing Custom Instructional Tools Powered by Generative AI

Meet GPT: Designing Custom Instructional Tools Powered by Generative AI

October

2025

David Cassell

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Rita Wang

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October 2025

Presented by

Content

Meet GPT: Designing Custom Instructional Tools Powered by Generative AI

October

2025

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The Needed Math Project

GPT: A Customized Chatbot

Needed Math’s Scenario Generator

Other Applications

Limitations and Best Practices

Q&A

The Needed Math Project

October

2025

Project Intent

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•To improve alignment of the mathematics taught in two-year technical college programs with the mathematics manufacturing technicians need and use in the workplace.

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•To develop a list of mathematical skills and competencies that technicians need in the manufacturing workplace.

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•To set in motion a mechanism for the development of authentic scenarios illustrating what technicians do in industry. These can be useful in discussions between industrialists and technical educators.

Meet GPT: Designing Custom Instructional Tools Powered by Generative AI

The survey

October

2025

Meet GPT: Designing Custom Instructional Tools Powered by Generative AI

• We developed, conducted, and analyzed a survey to assess the use of math skills and the perceived amounts of preparation needed to perform these skills by three groups:
• Manufacturing Technicians (n=107),
• Applied Mathematics Instructors (n=56)
• Technical Subject Educators (n=150).
• Forty items were generated by the NM team.
• Factors

• As shown, there are some significant differences among the three roles on usage and preparation.
• For half of the factors, technicians differ from one or both of the educator groups.
• Although there were statistically significantly correlations, the correlations among use and preparation were generally low to moderate for all three roles.
• This was especially so among the Technicians.
• Therefore, frequent use of mathematics skills is not a guarantee of preparation for these skills.
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GPT: A Customized Chatbot

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Quarter Month

Year

The acronym, GPT, stands for:

•Generative

•Pre-trained

•Transformer

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Meet GPT: Designing Custom Instructional Tools Powered by Generative AI

GPTs are customized chatbots that follow your instructions and use information you provide.

October

2025

Meet GPT: Designing Custom Instructional Tools Powered by Generative AI

• Available to ChatGPT Plus subscribers and above ($20 per month fee)
• Available to those in schools or universities with ChatGPT Edu subscriptions
• After you create your custom GPT, you can restrict access:
• Public
• School
• Yourself

October

2025

Meet GPT: Designing Custom Instructional Tools Powered by Generative AI

Arm it with your knowledge and give it various tools.

October

2025

Meet GPT: Designing Custom Instructional Tools Powered by Generative AI

• Use the knowledge feature to upload various files, including:
• Lesson plans (.docx, .pdf)
• Example problem sets or tables (.csv)
• Provide the GPT with various capabilities (if needed for your use case)

Give it access to outside information using Actions.

October

2025

Meet GPT: Designing Custom Instructional Tools Powered by Generative AI

• Actions let your GPT connect to external tools or APIs to pull live data, query a database, or send information to another app.
• Example connections:
• WolframAlpha API
• Canvas or Moodle API
• Airtable or Google Sheets API
• OER Commons or CK-12 API

Needed Math’s Scenario Generator

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October

225

Our first application of the custom GPT feature

Link: http://bit.ly/4h5f8bC

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Meet GPT: Designing Custom Instructional Tools Powered by Generative AI

• Purpose of the Scenarios: To provide realistic, contextualized examples of the use of math in the manufacturing workplace.

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• Our scenario framework
• Problem Statement
• Scenario Description and Specific Example
• Issues to Address
• Mathematics

Other Applications

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October

2025

Custom GPTs can be used for various instructional tasks

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Meet GPT: Designing Custom Instructional Tools Powered by Generative AI

For Instructors

For Students

October

2025

Meet GPT: Designing Custom Instructional Tools Powered by Generative AI

• Grading Assistant GPT: generate rubric-based grading feedback quickly and consistently.
• Item Writing GPT: create quizzes or problem sets by topic or difficulty level.
• Exports items for Canvas, Moodle, or Google Forms.
• Course Assistant GPT: Build structured lesson plans with objectives, examples, and assessments.
• Monitor Student Progress GPT: review LMS grade exports to identify weak areas.

• Specialized Knowledge GPT: knowledge repository for Q&A
• Socratic Tutor GPT: encourage problem-solving by asking guiding questions.
• Placement GPT: give short quizzes to gauge readiness for specific math levels.
• Teaching Assistant GPT: answer questions about assignments, due dates, and course concepts.

Limitations

October

2025

1. Context Window Constraints
2. Hallucination Risk
3. Lack of True Understanding
4. Bias & Safety Issues
5. Limited Real-Time Knowledge
6. Difficulty with Multi-Step Reasoning
7. Need for instructor oversight�

Meet GPT: Designing Custom Instructional Tools Powered by Generative AI

Best Practices

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1. Be Clear and Specific
2. Use Role Assignment
3. Break Down Complex Tasks
4. Leverage Few-Shot Examples
5. Control Output Length & Style
6. Iterative Refinement
7. Use Systematic Constraints
8. Try different models and use their reasoning and calculation capacities
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Meet GPT: Designing Custom Instructional Tools Powered by Generative AI

October

2025

Where would you find a custom GPT useful for your teaching?

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+ Q&A

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October

2025

We’re happy to answer any questions you have.

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Meet GPT: Designing Custom Instructional Tools Powered by Generative AI

Thank you

October

2025

Meet GPT: Designing Custom Instructional Tools Powered by Generative AI