📖 Today’s lesson
Lesson 1: What is AI — and what is a prompt?
A large language model is a pattern-recognition engine: a study partner who has read almost everything and understood nothing about you. A prompt is your instruction — and its single most powerful line is the one that assigns a role.
Why this matters: Ask a bare question and you get an encyclopedia entry. Assign the role of a patient tutor and you get teaching: scaffolding, checks for understanding, the next question. 94% of UK undergraduates now use these tools for assessed work, but only 48% say anyone taught them how (HEPI, 2026). This is the taught part.