1 Course position and tonight’s promise

Day 3 completes Module 1. Tonight you will diagnose ten fictional failed requests, select the prompt pattern that fixes each one, verify the revised request, and save a named Pattern Selector Card for your challenge portfolio.

2 What you will learn and why it matters

• Distinguish zero-shot, few-shot, persona, grounded, chained, self-critique, and multimodal prompts.
• Ask for short, verifiable working instead of hidden reasoning.
• Select a pattern for a visible failure symptom.
• Keep inputs safe and compare claims with sources and requested format.
• Complete the Module 1 assessment with direct remediation links.

A prompt pattern is a reusable structure. It can improve clarity and consistency, but it cannot make a model truthful or make unsafe data safe.

3 A familiar situation: diagnose before you choose

Fictional sample values: Ravi has ten failed requests for a community notice, homework planner, club poster, and photo caption. Each failure has a different symptom. Predict the pattern before revealing it; do not use real names, student records, or client files.

4 Simple explanation, then accurate vocabulary

A prompt pattern is a repeatable request structure for a particular task. Zero-shot gives instructions without examples; few-shot adds a small set of labelled examples. A persona prompt names a useful role and audience. A grounded prompt limits the response to supplied, inspectable material.

5 Zero-shot and few-shot prompting

Use zero-shot when the task is simple and the format is clear: “Turn these three approved facts into two bullets.” Use few-shot when a short, safe example shows a style or classification rule that words alone leave ambiguous. Examples must be accurate, labelled, and small enough to inspect.

6 Persona prompts

A persona prompt gives a practical viewpoint, not a fictional identity to impersonate. Say “Act as a clear communications editor for volunteer families,” then give the audience, task, approved facts, format, and limits. Never claim professional qualification or use it as medical, legal, or financial advice.

Role: Act as a [HELPFUL ROLE] for [AUDIENCE].
Task: Create [ARTIFACT] from the approved facts below.
Context: [SAFE FACTS / SOURCE NOTES].
Format: [STRUCTURE AND LENGTH].
Constraints: Do not invent credentials, facts, or advice.
Verification: Mark claims I must check.

7 Step-by-step and verifiable working

Do not request private reasoning or hidden chain-of-thought. Instead, ask for concise, verifiable working: a short plan, visible assumptions, calculations you can reproduce, source quotes or links you can inspect, and a checklist of claims to confirm.

8 Grounded prompts

A grounded prompt clearly separates source material from the requested output. It says what may be used, what to do when the source is silent, and how to mark uncertainty. It is useful for a community notice where date, venue, and contact method must come from supplied approved notes.

Use only the approved fictional source notes below.
Create a 70-word notice for [AUDIENCE].
Include date, venue, and contact only when present in the notes.
If a required detail is absent, write [NEEDS CONFIRMATION].
Return a claim-to-source checklist for human review.

9 Format and negative constraints

Format makes the output testable: headings, fields, length, table columns, or file type. Negative constraints state exclusions: do not invent achievements, do not name people in a photo, do not give advice, and do not use private data. Explain the permitted alternative when a constraint blocks an action.

10 Prompt chaining

Prompt chaining breaks a complex job into small, reviewable stages. For a club notice: extract approved facts → draft headings → write the notice → check claims → export. Review each stage before passing its output onward, or an early mistake can spread.

11 Self-critique

Self-critique asks the tool to compare its draft with a supplied checklist. It can reveal missing headings or an over-length response, but it is not independent verification. You still compare factual claims with sources and make the final decision.

Check this draft against the checklist: [AUDIENCE, FORMAT, LENGTH, APPROVED FACTS, CONSTRAINTS].
Return a two-column table: issue found / exact revision needed.
Do not claim a fact is verified unless it appears in the supplied source notes.
Then wait for my approval before rewriting.

12 Multimodal prompts

A multimodal prompt combines more than one input type, such as text and an image. Give the image’s purpose, your task, and limits on inference. For the fictional poster photo, ask for a caption describing visible objects only; do not infer identities, locations, health, or private facts.

13 Interactive process model: select, test, verify

The failure card is the learner’s fictional request; the selector is the pattern decision; the improved-prompt card is the actual instruction; the response card is the tool operation; the gate is human safety, source, and format review; the last card is the saved Pattern Selector Card. This simplified picture does not expose hidden provider instructions or private reasoning.

14 Facilitator-led live demonstration: one pattern mismatch

Start with the fictional notice that invents a meeting date. Intentionally choose few-shot because examples feel helpful. Show why that is a mismatch: examples can demonstrate layout, but they cannot supply an absent date. Diagnose the visible evidence gap and switch to the grounded pattern.

• Use New chat or the current equivalent with fictional source notes.
• Run the mismatched few-shot request and identify the unsupported date.
• Replace it with the grounded notice pattern and [NEEDS CONFIRMATION].
• Compare every visible claim, heading, and word count against the notes.
• Save the before/after and state why the selected pattern changed.

15 Your Pattern Selector Card: ten failed requests

Save this as “Day 3 — Pattern Selector Card.” For each of your ten rows, keep the symptom, selected pattern, revised prompt, verification evidence, and one-line reflection.

16 Learner lab: build your own safe pattern selector

1. Prepare ten fictional failed requests or use the provided Pattern Selector Card.
2. Predict the failure category before looking up a pattern.
3. Run one safe first attempt with approved facts only.
4. Select and apply a pattern; state audience, output, limits, and verification.
5. Check facts, links, extracted data, and requested format manually.
6. Revise one mismatch, export/save, reopen, and add a one-line reflection.

17 Behind the scenes, limitations, safety, and verification

• A pattern is an instruction structure, not a model capability guarantee.
• Few-shot examples can introduce bias or mistakes; verify them before reuse.
• A persona does not create qualifications, current knowledge, or authority.
• Grounding is only as complete and accurate as the supplied source.
• Self-critique is generated review, not independent fact-checking.
• Images and files may carry personal, confidential, or misleading information.

18 Common confusion, errors, troubleshooting, and best practices

• Best practice: choose the smallest pattern that solves the visible problem.
• Best practice: keep source notes and draft language separate.
• Trainer tip: ask “What evidence proves this pattern fixed the stated symptom?”

19 Takeaways

• Choose a prompt pattern from the visible failure symptom.
• Zero-shot and few-shot solve different clarity needs; examples must be accurate.
• Persona, format, grounding, chaining, self-critique, and multimodal inputs each need limits and human review.
• Never use a pattern as proof; verify facts and protect sensitive data.
• Keep the ten-case Pattern Selector Card, revised prompts, evidence checklist, and reflection.

Module 1 is complete when you can explain why a pattern fit a failure, what evidence you checked, and what you revised.

20 What comes next

Next is Topic 04—Design Invitations, Greetings, and Restored Photos. You will use the Pattern Selector Card to choose safe, respectful prompts for a real creative artifact while checking permissions, watermarking, and commercial rights in current official terms.

• Reopen your Pattern Selector Card.
• Keep fictional source notes ready for practice.
• Write one safe creative task and the pattern you predict it needs.