Everyday Work and Learning

Brainstorming Ideas

Learn to generate varied options without treating them as final decisions and choose ideas using human criteria in this beginner-friendly ChatGPT lesson.

Learning outcomes

  • Explain how to generate varied options without treating them as final decisions.
  • Complete the guided activity safely.
  • Check that you can choose ideas using human criteria.

Before you begin

Prepare a short sample document or fictional scenario. Keep responsibility for checking facts, tone, calculations and decisions.

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Step-by-step instructions

  1. Open a new practice chat with a clearly defined outcome and confirm you are using the intended account or workspace.
  2. Request ten ideas grouped by effort and impact.
  3. Pause and check privacy, permissions, source material, feature availability and any instruction that affects the task.
  4. Review the result carefully and confirm that you can choose ideas using human criteria.
  5. Save only the useful, verified output and record one improvement for your next prompt.
Ian's practical tip: Start with fictional or non-sensitive information. Treat the first response as a draft, then verify facts, sources, calculations and permissions before using it.

Practical activity

Request ten ideas grouped by effort and impact. Your expected result is to choose ideas using human criteria.

Good-practice checklist