Custom Bots - Teaching with AI Resources, Workshops, and More

While you can send simulation prompts to your students, a custom bot allows you to hide the prompt and also to add a knowledge base. Making a custom bot is EASY and takes 2 minutes: the hard work is writing the prompt. (See the Simulations or Meta Prompting page for LOTS OF EXAMPLES, that also use meta prompting. It is, however, useful to do your first custom bot the hard way–this IS the pedagogy part!)
Each of the big platforms also has a way to build and then distribute your own fine-tuned applications. You can do this for free with Bots from Poe (see the separate buttons for “Explore” and “Create”), Custom Bots from BoodleBox, Gems from Google, SchoolAI, Playlab and Assistants (from HuggingFace). Paid subscribers can also create GPTs (in ChatGPT) and K-12 teachers get a secure Chat GPT for free. Some of the educational platforms (like SchoolAI and PlayLab) also allow you to see what students are doing. You can/should also search for already designed custom bots in most of these models.
To make your own custom bot, just sign in to one of the above, create a bot and copy and paste your prompt. Each platform has a slightly different format, but that is most of the work.
You might also want to add a knowledge base or other operational instructions.
BoodleBox, SchoolA I, MagicSchool and Khanmigo all provide tools to help with specific tasks that are free, FERPA compliant and secure. This includes creating specialized tutors. BoodleBox has these instructions. In SchoolA I go to Spaces and then Create. You can simply prompt it (Help students master content X by providing an overview and asking questions etc) or you can upload documents and set a standard for mastery. Importantly, SchoolAi also has a back-end that tells you have students have engaged and what they might still be confused about. Here is a great example (solving Linear Equations in One Variable from Rebecca Tyler at Great Falls College MSU).
Note that in BoodleBox, Gemini or (paid) ChatGPT, you can either write the prompt yourself, or use the helper (called VibeBuilder in BoodleBox), where you describe what you want and the AI writes the prompt. More about how to do this under Meta-Prompting.
Snorkl provides feedback to student on their verbal or visual thinking.
A simulation or custom bot can be a learning tool, but it can also be the assessment. You can assess student learning (a) by looking at the interactions inside a bot, (b) by looking for a specific outcome or (c) by asking the bot itself to do either of these.

SIMULATION EXAMPLES

English/Middlemarch: Here is my conversation with (free) Claude. Here is my conversation with (free) Claude. You can copy the prompt from there and try the simulation or you can play it here as a Gem in Gemini, as a custom b ot in BoodleBox or as a custom GPT in ChatGPT. You can also use it in VOICE MODE (chose this before you start). (It feels like a very hard exercise to me, but it is easy enough to ask for it to be easier.)
Computer Science/From Code Production to Code Reasoning. Here is my co nversation with (free) Claude (Sonnet 4.6)–which also suggested this framing. You can copy the prompt from there and try the simulation or you can play it as a custom bot in BoodleBox or here as a Gem in Gemini.
Music Theory/Roman Numeral Analysis: Since this required a musical score (and sound in one version) it required the vibe-coding version of the prompt (above). In other words, the request is not for a prompt but for an interactive website (or the code for that website). The Sonnet 4.6 chat did not result in a perfect working game, so I asked Claude Opus 4.6 (paid) to fix it. The web simulation is here. (Level 1 is just spelling chords, but in level 2 it starts to use the information you provided about your interests to ask questions about how the analysis might alter performance!)
Physics/Newton’s Laws Graded Exam: I thought all of the initial ideas were good and then gave Claude the link to the learning objectives for Chapter 6 of the OpenStax Physics Volume 1 to build out the assessment tool. Since I asked for visuals and diagrams, Claude produced both the prompt, which you can test here in BoodleBox (where I included the entire 31MB OpenStax textbook as the knowledge base), or as a Gem using Gemini, but also as an artifact in Claude . (I made it shorter so you could test the grading.)
Telecom KPI Simulation: I asked ChatGPT 5.4 Thinking to create this simulation using publicly available information about AT&T that would help them prepare for the next role they want. ChatGPT allows you to either configure the bot manually or to have it create the prompt and other components it needs. You can play it here. You can more play a more general KPI Strategy Simulation for Managers (for any sector) here in BoodleBox or as a Gem in Gemini. There are more business simulations under “Class Simulation GPTs” on the Prompts for Business page.
Anthropology/Multi-Informant Fieldwork Simulation: I specified sophomore year and an intro to the major where my “real learning goal is to make sure students are starting to understand the unique approach of anthropology (and maybe also be able to critique that too).” I said my field was South East Asia. Claude noted the tension in its bias in its own training, and suggested using that as a teaching opportunity. I asked it to consider that in the final reflection with students. You can play as a Gem in Gemini or here on BoodleBox. You can see the other ideas from Claude and the Instructor Guide it produced here.
The President and the Economy Simulation Game asks you to pick a year and they spend four years taking action to improve the US economy. At the end of four (virtual) years, your economic performance will be compared to the historical president. Click here to play in BoodleBox or here to see as a Gem in Gemini.
Nursing/AACN Standard 2.5 Develop a Plan of Care: I gave Claude the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Essentials: Core Competencies for Nursing Education and asked for simulation ideas that cover standard 2.5 with all of its subparts. You can find the initial ideas, the prompt and the teacher’s guide here. You can take the simulation as a Gem in Gemini, in Claude here or as a custom bot in BoodleBox here. You can do it in VOICE MODE (which is harder?) here.
History/Thomas Cromwell: Can you balance your own ethics, court politics and Henry’s favor to avoid execution?! You can find the (free) Claude-generated prompt here. You can play the simulation as a custom bot in BoodleBox he r e or as a Gem in Gemini.
Organic Chemistry/Chemical Bonds: Tutor in BoodleBox (very fast and basic–an early experiment).
NOTE that in order to make these free for you as demos, they run on the most basic models. They are better with better models powering the simulations. If you have a university enterprise license they will be MUCh better for your students.

The President and the Economy Simulation Game PROMPT

Create a presidential simulation game about the relationship between the economy and actions of the US President. You will guide me (the student responding as if I were the US president) through a multi-year simulation where I will create policies and you will simulate and describe their effect on the US economy. Use the actual political situation of each time period (like the divided houses of Congress, for example, so assume legislative action is limited). Start by asking me (the student) to pick a year when I would like to start (from 1800 to the present). Then reply with a summary of the US economic and political situation in January of that year using the actual data and circumstances for that year and prompt me to take executive action to improve the economy. If I am stuck and ask for suggestions, then you can propose several choices. Do not allow me to propose action which is not constitutionally or legally possible for the President of the United States (who is only the executive and cannot create new laws and does not control the Federal Reserve, for example). Point out if my proposed actions exceed US Presidential power and cite the sources for these limitations. Do not make suggestions unless I get stuck or ask for them. Vary the types of choices you offer so I will get a sense of the variety of Presidential powers in relationship to the US economy. Once I have suggested a possible US Presidential action, assess my strategy and describe how the US economy would change as a result over the next three months. Update me on this new state of the economy and what you simulate as the consequences of my actions. Prompt me again to take action and repeat this process. Continue with this sequence of prompting me to take action and then describing the consequences, advancing the time every three months for up to four years total or until I say I want to stop.. When I say I am done, summarize what I have done as president for the economy and compare my simulated performance to what actually happened during this period. Tell me who the actual president was and the major policies and their consequences during this period. Suggest ways I might have had a greater impact while not exceeding the limits placed on the US President by the US Constitution and US law.
You can copy the prompt above and paste it into any AI you like, or click here to play in BoodleBox or here to see as a Gem in Gemini.

MORE EXAMPLES: University & Faculty Custom Bots

My bot builder support bot for faculty.
Here is a fabulous sample of faculty created custom bots you can try.
Writing tutor from Mark Marino
AI Tutor Pro from a group of Canadian faculty
MyEssayFeedback from Eric Kean
The University of Sydney has now created Cognifi which also allows complete security and control over student use but there will be some institutional cost (and I think pricing is still being worked out for other countries?)
Solving Linear Equations in One Variable from Rebecca Tyler at Great Falls College MSU
Auckland University of Technology: Jack, an AI marketing manager from Auckland FC, built by Sarah Wymer.
Georgia Tech: Jill Watson, an AI wrapper for the pre-AI course tutor
University of Michigan: MiMaizey, everything from class info to menu and student support “designed to enrich daily learner life with personalized support”. Whether you need information about dining options, class materials, learner organizations, or transportation, MiMaizey has you covered.””
University of Texas at Austin: UT Sage, a virtual instructional designer and AI Tutor that allows instructors to design tutor sessions on any topic.
Arizona State University: Sam health science students practice patient interviewing skills
Grand Valley State University: ADA (or Advanced Digital Assistant) to help business students learn software
Jeanne B Law has created this bot to assistant instructors in first-year college writing courses in creating assignments, rubrics, syllabus and more.
Here is a link to the Presidential simulation as a link as a custom bot in BoodleBox. Here it is as a custom bot in Poe. (Both are free to create and share.)
Here is an example of an entire course turned into custom bot modules of learning.
How to Build Your Own Customized Chatbot (free chapter from Levy and Albertos (2024 Teaching Effectively with ChatGPT.
How to use Speaker Progress in Microsoft Teams to get feedback on your/student presentations

RESOURCES & FACULTY SUPPORT BOT TO BUILD BOTS

Here is a faculty support bot (at BoodleBox) to help you create custom support bots. It will ask you a few questions and then create a prompt that you can then use to create your customized support bot. It uses the BoodleBox format which is a good one and you can create support bots for free (just sign up and click on the tool box: with the free model students will have to use the GPT 4o-mini model) and release them to students. Here is an example of a tutor to teach chemical bonds in organic chemistry that uses only the prompt that was created from the above faculty bot builder.
Here is a Custom AI Tutor Builder from BoodleBox (so a tutor to build tutors).
If you use ChatGPT then you should read Chapter 10 Customizing ChatGPT for You and Your Students from Teaching Effectively with ChatGPT by Dan Levy and Angela Pérez Albertos.
How to Create Custom AI Chatbots That Enrich Your Classroom by Tim Lindgren from Harvard Business Impact.
Four strategies for implementing custom AIs that help students learn, not outsource from the University of Sydney.

INTERACTIVE WEB SIMULATIONS

Agents and now ChatGPT5 allow you to build interactive simulations with a single prompt! ChatGPT5 can do this but Manus and Genspark both seem easier to me. (GPT5 writes the code–and it is helpful to ask it “make it better” a few times, but you then have to run the code or upload to GitHub. Easy with GPT5s instructions–which worked–but still another step.)
Here is a prompt I gave Genspark:
Create and deploy an interactive superhero-themed game to teach the Bingham plastic model through visual simulation to college students in both English and Arabic.
And here is what it produced in 10 minutes. Free.

See the Meta Prompting page for MORE EXAMPLES.

If you have any sort of institutional policy or framework for AI, you could create a custom bot for faculty on your campus to create a syllabus policy specifically for their course but aligned with your campus policy. You could write this yourself, but try this. (This is simple enough that ChatGGPT, Claude or an agent like Genspark could do it.)
Write code for an interactive interface that will produce a Generative AI syllabus policy for a college course that is both customized for individual faculty needs in that course and aligned with the university or college framework or policy. [Attach or provide a link to the campus policy or framework.] Start by asking faculty a few question about how they want to approach AI usage in their course, and offer the option of uploading a syllabus or learning goals. Offer some options based on the university framework and then provide a draft syllabus for the faculty member.