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Blackboard AI Design Assistant – Generate AI conversations

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Before using this tool ensure you have familiarised yourself with the practical and ethical considerations in the ‘Getting starting with Blackboard AI Design Assistant‘ guide

What is the AI Conversation Tool?

Blackboard’s AI Conversations tool helps you create guided discussions where students can talk to a character or explore a topic by asking questions. AI Conversations has two components: 

  • Role Play – students take part in a conversation with a persona you define (e.g., a historical figure, legal expert, or fictional client). 
  • Socratic Questioning – students explore an idea or concept through structured critical thinking prompts, based on a question you provide. 

The AI Conversation tool is unlike traditional generative AI tools like ChatGPT or Copilot. Rather than producing static content for students, it creates an interactive space for them to practice, explore ideas, and reflect through structured dialogue.

How to set up an AI Conversation

Both types of AI Conversation follow a similar setup process. You will be prompted to enter: 

  • A title and description for your students 
  • The type of conversation and a persona (Role Play or Socratic)  
  • Key details like a scenario (for Role Play) and starting question (for Socratic) 
  1. From the purple plus in your course, choose Create.  
  1. Select AI Conversation. There might be a short wait while Blackboard loads the AI Conversation tool.  
  1. Choose either Socratic questioning or Role-play. The following guidance covers both options in turn. 

Socratic questioning

  1. If choosing Socratic questioning, you should enter the question which students will be responding to: 
  1. Click Next 
  2. Choose an AI persona for the conversation by clicking AI persona
  3. Edit image: You can provide your own image, use Unsplash, or generate an image for the persona’s avatar.
  4. Enter the name for the persona. If you’re using an historical figure, use this name.
  5. Briefly describe the persona’s personality traits.
  6. You can use the sliding scale to adjust the complexity of the persona’s responses. We recommend you experiment with this setting to decide the level of complexity suitable for your students and the task.
  7. Click Save:
  1. You can preview the AI Conversation as a student and interact with the AI persona by selecting Preview chat.  

Role-play

  1. If choosing Role-play, enter the scenario, roles for the student and persona, and the scenario outcome.  
  1. Choose an AI persona for the conversation by clicking AI persona 
  2. Edit image: You can provide your own image, use Unsplash, or generate an image for the persona’s avatar.
  3. Enter the name for the persona. If you’re using an historical figure, use this name.
  4. Briefly describe the persona’s personality traits.  

The personality traits significantly shape the interactions. Choose traits carefully and preview the conversation to avoid bias or otherwise inappropriate content. You could ask Copilot to suggest the key personality traits for your persona if you need inspiration. 

  1. You can use the sliding scale to adjust the complexity of the persona’s responses. We recommend you experiment with this setting to decide the level of complexity suitable for your students and the task.
  2.  Click Save: 

Auto-generate AI Conversations

You also have the option to auto-generate both types of AI Conversations. 

  1. Create an AI Conversation. 
  2. Choose Auto-generate conversation: 

Auto-generate conversation settings panel allows you to refine your suggested conversations (For more detail, please see our guide – Blackboard AI Design Assistant – General settings)

  1. Enter a description text prompt (limited to 2000 characters). The more detail you include here, the more focused and relevant the generated conversations will be. (See how to write effective prompts for Blackboard AI Design Assistant – AI Prompt writing)
  2. You can add content from your course to help generate the conversation. This is optional. 
  3. Choose whether you want Socratic questions or role-plays. Leave as Inspire me for  a selection of both types.
  4. Choose the other options as appropriate. 
  5. Click Generate
  6. Choose the conversation as appropriate and Click Add. 
  7. If none of the options are appropriate, you can choose Generate (7) to try again. 

Tips for effective use

Creating an effective AI Conversation (Role play or Socratic questioning) requires careful thought beforehand. We recommend you follow these tips:

  • Preview the conversation: You should always preview an AI conversation before releasing the activity to students. AI tools can hallucinate and introduce bias. It’s important to make sure that your instructions are clear and that the AI persona responds in an expected and appropriate way.
  • Choose the personality traits with consideration: The personality traits significantly shape the interactions. Choose them carefully and preview the conversation to avoid bias or otherwise inappropriate content. You could ask Copilot to suggest the key personality traits for your persona if you need inspiration.
  • Keep it the personas relevant: Choose personas that add value to the task, e.g. someone students wouldn’t usually get access to.
  • Set clear expectations: These conversations don’t have a fixed end point, so it’s important to let students know what a complete interaction looks like, for example, a minimum number of exchanges or a target time to spend on the activity.
  • Help students get started: The AI Conversations tool usually begins the conversation with the prompt: “Please share your initial thoughts.” This dos not provide clear instruction to tell students they are expected to do, especially if they are unsure of their role in the scenario. To support engagement, it is helpful to demonstrate the tool in advance and show how to begin a response. Providing a few example openers can help set expectations and make it easier for students to get started.
  • Give guidance: Students may not be familiar with how to interact with AI in a learning context. A short prompt like “Try to ask at least three follow-up questions” or “Imagine you’re preparing for an interview” can help.
  • Make it purposeful: Use the tool to encourage critical thinking or practise specific skills, rather than as a general discussion or content generator.
  • Socrative prompt questions need an open structure: A good open-ended starting question invites debate or exploration, rather than a factual answer.

Guide last updated on July 4, 2025

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