Week 2 of 3

Build & Test

From Vision to Reality

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Vision & Design
2
Build & Test
3
Implement & Reflect

Welcome Back! Let's Build Your Tool

In Week 1, you identified a pedagogical challenge, defined your audience, articulated your heuta-heuristic principles, and crafted a complete prompt. That's significant work—you have a clear vision.

This week, you'll turn that vision into reality by building a working tool, testing it yourself, and making initial refinements.

📋 Quick Recap: What You Completed in Week 1
Step 1: Identified the problem your tool addresses
Step 2: Defined your target audience
Step 3: Articulated heuta-heuristic principles
Step 4: Sketched your vision
Step 5: Learned to write effective prompts and generated your complete prompt
This Week's Goal
By the end of Week 2, you'll have: (1) A working tool built from your prompt, (2) Self-testing complete, (3) Initial refinements made, (4) A tool ready to pilot with students (optional for Week 3)

Now: Build Your First Iteration

You have your prompt. Now let's use it to actually create your tool. Below are three different approaches. Read through all three decision guides first, then choose the one that fits your situation and follow those specific instructions.

🛤️ Three Ways to Build Your Tool

Each approach creates a different type of tool and requires different resources. Read through these descriptions carefully before choosing your path.

📱
Pathway 1: Custom GPT (Conversational Tool)
What You'll Create:
A specialized chatbot that students can talk with. It remembers the conversation and guides them through your designed process. Students interact through natural conversation.
What You Need:
• ChatGPT Plus subscription ($20/month) - Required for Custom GPTs
• About 15-20 minutes to set up
• Basic comfort with following step-by-step instructions
Best For:
Creating a conversational coach or guide • Tools where students type responses and get personalized feedback • When you want students to have back-and-forth dialogue • Example: An inquiry question coach that asks questions and responds to student thinking
Technical Level: Beginner-friendly (no coding, conversational setup)
What Students Need: ChatGPT account (free is fine) and your link
🎨
Pathway 2: Claude Interactive HTML App (Visual/Interactive Tool)
What You'll Create:
A visual, web-based tool (an HTML file) with buttons, forms, input fields, and displays. Think of it like a mini-app or interactive worksheet. Students interact with a polished interface, not a chat.
What You'll Learn:
• How to get Claude to build an HTML interactive app
• How to test HTML files on your computer
• What's involved in making it available to students online
• Basic options for hosting web files
What You Need:
• Claude account (free or paid - both work)
• About 30-40 minutes for building and testing
• Willingness to save a file and open it in your web browser
• Eventually: A way to host the file online (we'll explain options)
Best For:
Reflection journals with structured prompts • Observation trackers students fill out • Tools with visual organization (phases, sections, color-coding) • When you want it to look like a "real" app • When you want to understand how web-based tools actually work
Technical Level: Beginner-friendly with learning involved. Claude builds the app, you learn how to test and share it.
What Students Need: Just a web link - no account required, works on any device with a browser
💬
Pathway 3: Conversational Prototyping (Quick Test)
What You'll Create:
A conversational experience using your prompt as instructions. Students paste your prompt into ChatGPT or Claude and follow the guided conversation. No formal tool building - just instructions that create the experience.
What You Need:
• ChatGPT (free version) OR Claude (free version)
• About 10 minutes to test
• Your prompt (which you already have)
Best For:
Testing your idea quickly before building something formal • When you don't have paid subscriptions yet • Teaching students to use AI effectively (they learn prompting) • Maximum flexibility to iterate and adjust
Technical Level: Easiest (copy/paste, no building required)
What Students Need: ChatGPT or Claude account (free versions work)
📍 Choose Your Path

Read the three options above. Choose ONE to start with. You can always try another approach later on your own time, but for this lab, focus on one path so you can complete the full cycle of building, testing, and refining.

Click the section below that matches your choice to see detailed step-by-step instructions.

📱 Pathway 1: Custom GPT - Detailed Instructions
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🎨 Pathway 2: Claude Interactive HTML App - Detailed Instructions
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💬 Pathway 3: Conversational Prototyping - Detailed Instructions
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Document Your First Iteration

Regardless of which pathway you chose, now document what you created so you can track your learning and prepare for refinement.

What did you create? Which pathway did you use? What works? What surprised you? What needs refinement?

• If you built a Custom GPT or Claude HTML app: Paste the link here
• If you used Conversational Prototyping: Paste your complete instructions here (or a link to where you saved them)

Testing Your Tool

Before sharing with students, test your tool thoroughly yourself. You're looking for what works and what needs adjustment.

🧪 Self-Testing Process
Test yourself first (pretend you don't know what it's for):
  • Can you figure out what to do without additional explanation?
  • Is the language clear and accessible?
  • Does it guide you through the process you designed?
  • Does the tone feel supportive?
  • Do any features not work as expected?
👥 Get Colleague Feedback (Optional but Recommended)
Share with a colleague and observe:
  • Don't explain how it works first - just watch them try to use it
  • Where do they get confused?
  • What questions do they ask?
  • What works smoothly?

Note: When they struggle, resist the urge to explain or rescue immediately. Their confusion shows you where the tool needs clearer instructions - that's valuable data!

What did you discover during testing? What worked well? What needs to change?

Make Refinements

Based on your testing, go back and refine your tool. This is a normal part of the process - iteration makes tools better.

How to Refine Each Pathway:

Custom GPT:

Go back to the GPT Builder, tell it what to change, test in the preview pane, and update when ready.

Claude HTML App:

Go back to your Claude conversation, request changes, copy the updated code, save it, test locally, then re-upload to Netlify (it will update your existing link).

Conversational Prototyping:

Edit your instructions in your text editor, test in a new conversation, and update your student-facing document with the refined version.

What changes did you make based on testing? How did the tool improve?

📚 What to Work On Between Now and Week 3

You've built and tested your tool. Before Week 3 begins, we encourage you to:

Remember: Student testing is optional. If you can't try it with students before Week 3, that's okay - Week 3 will still be valuable. But if you can get even 2-3 students to try it, you'll have much richer data to work with.

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