A chatbot is an AI program that lets students discuss a reading with it and test their ideas, interpretations, and questions. It responds with questions that push them to explain, support, and reconsider their reasoning. In about 10–15 minutes, you'll set one up for your course so that it prompts students to think for themselves rather than handing them answers. No AI experience needed.
New to AI? anytime.
This page asks you a few simple questions, then turns your answers into one finished piece of text called a "prompt" — instructions that tell an AI tool how to act. When you're done, you'll paste that text into an AI tool to create your chatbot.
This page doesn't save anything — if you close it partway through, you'll need to start over, so once your prompt is finished, copy it somewhere safe (like a document on your computer).
This page was built with Claude, Anthropic's AI assistant.
Before anything else, it helps to decide what you want students to get out of talking with this chatbot. Just answer these in your own words — there's no wrong way to fill this out.
These questions shape how the chatbot "sounds" and behaves. Pick whatever feels right — you can select more than one, or write your own.
This is about the chatbot's approach during the conversation itself — not its personality, but its technique. Getting this right is what keeps a conversation feeling like a real dialogue instead of a lecture or a quiz.
Add any specific questions, themes, or expectations you want the chatbot to bring into the conversation. You'll give it the actual reading itself later, in Step 5 — this step is just about how you want the discussion shaped. If you're working with more than one text, this is also where you can describe what you want the chatbot to help students compare, connect, or contrast across them.
One last question, then this page will assemble everything above into one finished prompt.
You should have your prompt copied or downloaded from the last step. Canvas doesn't build the chatbot itself — you'll build it on an AI platform, then add a link to it in Canvas so students can reach it. First, which platform are you using?
Copy it now, or expand to keep it visible while you follow the steps below.
Complete these steps now, in Microsoft Copilot, to turn your prompt into a working chatbot and get it in front of students.
Why attach the reading(s), too? The prompt text alone can't include your full reading(s) or a live link to them — attaching the actual file(s), or entering their URL(s), as "knowledge sources" gives your chatbot everything it needs to work with.
Not sure which to use? If your campus hasn't pointed you toward something else, Microsoft Copilot is the safest default — it's free for every UO student and already approved for this kind of use. Ask your instructional designer or IT support if you're unsure.
These steps don't change the text you just built, but they matter for actually getting your chatbot in front of students. They're drawn from your full guide, Building an AI Reading-Discussion Chatbot.