James D'Annibale
Director, Academic Technology,
Dickinson College
Let’s Build Some Bots: A Collaborative Workshop to Design Student- and Faculty-Facing GPTs (separate registration is required)
Monday, October 27, 2025 | 8:00AM–11:30AM CT | Meeting Room 104 AB, Level 1
Session Type:
Preconference Workshop
Delivery Format:
Additional Fee Program
Roll up your sleeves and bring your ideas—this hands-on workshop invites educators, academic technologists, instructional designers, and AI-curious professionals to collaboratively design and build bots that support real academic needs. Participants will begin by brainstorming use cases for student- and faculty-facing GPTs (or similar tools), identify key guardrails, and then move into active build mode using the GPTs feature within ChatGPT or other platforms of their choice. No coding required—just a clear purpose, a commitment to responsible AI use, and a desire to contribute to a shared resource for the higher ed community. Whether you're designing a bot that helps students prepare for exams without giving away answers, or one that assists faculty in aligning a unit with learning outcomes and UDL principles, this session is designed to help you get from idea to working prototype. By the end of the session, we’ll begin building a collaborative collection of public bots with short descriptions, hosted either by EDUCAUSE or by the presenter, to extend the impact beyond the room.
Outcomes of this workshop:
- Design a student- or faculty-facing GPT that aligns with academic values and instructional goals.
- Build a functional AI bot using a no-code platform like ChatGPT and apply practical design guardrails.
- Contribute a bot and abstract to a shared community collection for broader use across higher education.
Note: Participants who successfully complete this preconference workshop will be eligible to receive an EDUCAUSE microcredential. To earn this digital badge, you must complete a brief workshop evaluation and share two key learning outcomes from your experience. All registered participants will receive an email on October 29 with instructions for completing these steps. Completion of both is required. To learn how to accept and make the most of your microcredential, visit the EDUCAUSE Microcredential website.
