How to use Generative AI for productivity

Before using a GenAI tool to support your studies, it's important to be aware of any limitations on AI use within particular modules or assessments. Some modules or assessments may not allow the use of GenAI, so check your school handbook and module and assessment guidance. If you're unsure, contact your department for clarification on what's permitted.

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Assigning role(s)

Think of the GenAI tool as your personal assistant. The more information your assistant has about you and your needs, the more likely they are to be able to meet them. Who are you? What are you studying? What are you good at? What do you find challenging? 

This contextual information can help the GenAI tool to provide a more detailed and specific output tailored to your own individual circumstances.

Note: to save time, you might want to create one or more role descriptions for your AI assistant and keep them saved in a google doc. That way you can quickly and easily copy and past these prompt stems into your GenAI tool when you are composing a prompt. 

For more ideas on how to assign roles and context to an AI tool, visit the Academic Prompt Bank.

Visit the Generative AI Academic Prompt Bank

Remember: you should never enter any sensitive information such as personal or confidential data about yourself or other people (e.g. names, email address, age or date of birth etc).

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Time Management

Generative AI tools (e.g. Google Gemini) cannot replace your own time management skills and strategies, however, they can be a complementary tool to assist you in managing your time and avoiding procrastination. 

You might find GenAI helpful for the following tasks:

Generating to-do lists and prioritising tasks

Do you already use a to-do list? Perhaps you write this in a notebook, add it to a calendar, or use an app. 

Try entering your to-do list into your chosen AI tool (Google Gemini is the supported tool at the University). Be sure to add specific details and parameters within your prompts to ensure a more helpful output, and ask it to prioritise which tasks to do and list them in that order. 

You could also ask it to suggest efficient ways to approach each task. Whenever you use an AI tool, always take care not to add any personal or sensitive information as it may not be clear how the tool might use this as part of its training data.

Remember: review the output you receive and assess how useful it is for your specific circumstances. You can use follow up prompts where appropriate to refine the output.

Breaking large tasks down into smaller more manageable steps with milestones and deadlines

Large tasks can appear daunting and it can be difficult to get started. A useful strategy is to identify the different stages involved in achieving the larger task and to set a series of milestones and deadlines. Whilst it isn’t necessary to use GenAI to break a larger task down into smaller more manageable steps, it may provide a useful starting point as shown by the example below.

Use follow up prompts to refine the output and consider adding further details to your prompt to assist with this  (e.g. how much time per week do you have to work on the essay, are there specific days or times etc).

Remember: AI outputs can provide a useful starting point but are unlikely to be specific to your situation and circumstances and will need to be adapted.

Creating schedules e.g. a study or revision schedule

AI tools can be a helpful aid when creating schedules e.g. for study or revision. To make this effective, it is important to provide the AI tool with enough specific information to ensure the schedule it generates is personalised to you and is more useful as a result. For example, you could include:

• The modules you are studying  
• The topics covered in the modules
• The anticipated workload for each module
• The deadlines and dates for assessments or exams
• The available time for study each day or week
• The other activities that impact on your study time such as work, social activities, friends and family, wellbeing and time to rest

Remember: check the accuracy of the output. A good example is the number of hours allocated as numerical errors are common in some AI tools (eg. allocating too much time to one module).

Setting SMART goals

Making the goals you set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely) can give clarity and ensure goals are focused and targeted, making it more likely you will achieve a positive and impactful outcome. It can also improve your ability to reach your goals, by encouraging you to define the objectives and set a completion date (i.e. maintain your target when it comes to your coursework, deadlines and exam revisions). 

AI tools can assist with creating SMART goals or can be used to check if existing goals are aligned with the SMART model.

Remember to review the output received and assess how specific and useful it is for you. Responses from GenAI tools (e.g. Google Gemini) are often generic in nature. 

Further guidance on time management

For more information about approaches to time management, access the How to manage your time page where you will find a range of useful information and guidance.

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Group work 

Generative AI (GenAI) tools such as Google Gemini can provide useful ways to develop your ideas as a group and to plan your projects. You can use Generative AI to support your group work in a number of ways:

• As an additional group member: You could test out ideas by asking the GenAI tool for feedback, which might help to generate constructive criticism in a non-confrontational and objective way. 
• To support communication: you might find it helpful to use GenAI to help formulate your ideas and contributions to a discussion either during an in-person meeting, or via email.
• To support group administration and organisation: you could use a GenAI tool to help with setting meeting agendas or even taking notes /minutes from your discussions.

To create a realistic plan: consider using GenAI to develop a timeline for the project with suggested milestones and deadlines. This may help to make the planning process more focused, specific and objective. For example, you could use a GenAI tool to help generate a Gannt chart to help manage your project. 

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Project management

You may want to use a GenAI tool to help with the project planning process. The key things to consider in your approach to planning with GenAI are the following:

• Provide as much detail as possible about your schedule and requirements when you are designing your initial prompt.
• Be sure to build some contingency time into the plan to allow for unforeseen eventualities.
• You may need to use multiple prompts to refine the output to generate a plan that works for you.
• You will need to sense check the output to ensure that it is realistic and meets your needs.

GenAI can help you to plan an overall schedule for your project and/or break down individual tasks. You can also use AI tools to create schedules and other outputs to support the planning and monitoring of your project e.g. Gantt charts. The following prompts may give you some inspiration for how to use GenAI to plan a project project (e.g. a dissertation or final-year project):

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Email management

GenAI could also help you to manage your email by supporting the writing process and helping to identify actions arising from messages you have received. 

Email drafting

Try using a GenAI tool such as Google Gemini to create a draft email or to check your own draft. This could help to provide a basic structure for the email and making the necessary edits may be significantly quicker than writing the email from scratch. You could also use it to help generate ideas; e.g. what should I include if emailing someone about x topic. 

You can add additional details to your prompt such as the required tone, level of formality and your relationship with the recipient. 

As with any use of GenAI, care should be taken to check the output received carefully and critically. You should also remember not to provide any personal, private or confidential information in your prompts.

Remember: your own style and personality is unlikely to come through in the AI generated output and the amount of time taken to edit might be more than writing it yourself. Visit the How to manage your emails page to find out more.

Identifying actions

GenAI can help you to identify actions arising from an email or provide a summary of the main takeaway points. 

Be aware that GenAI may not interpret the content of an email perfectly, so you should always check the original to make sure that the AI summary is accurate.

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Preparing for a lecture or seminar

Arriving at a lecture or seminar with a general understanding of the topic that is going to be covered can help you to get more out of the session. Perhaps you have some thoughts or ideas about the topic that you would like to hear more about, or some questions that you would like answered?

GenAI can help you to prepare for a class by providing a general overview of a topic and identifying key points that you will need to be aware of. It can help you to start formulating your own ideas so that you can feel more confident about contributing during the session.

Remember: asking a GenAI tool for a summary is no substitute to your own independent research and reading. If you have been asked to read a text ahead of a session, you should always read the text in the original rather than relying on an AI-generated summary.

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Things to remember when using GenAI tools for productivity

• Never include personal or private information when using a GenAI tool.
• Always look critically at the output from the tool to check for any errors or misinformation 
• Remember that GenAI responses can be generic in nature and lack depth. You will need to tailor the outputs to suit your specific needs
• Use dialogic prompting to refine the outputs received to make them more tailored and useful for you
• GenAI tools don’t always make things quicker, they may even take longer than they otherwise would due to the need to carefully review and edit the outputs received

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Next steps

• How to use GenAI for assessment
• How to use GenAI for essays and reports
• How to use GenAI critically