How educators are building custom GPTs

From tutors to interview prep, a roundup of inspiring GPTs created by educators

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GPTs are a way for anyone to create a tailored version of ChatGPT to help with a specific task — and then share that creation with others. It’s a powerful tool for teaching and learning, as you can train a GPT to be an on-demand tutor or simulate learning experiences that go beyond what’s possible in the classroom.

In this short guide, we share best practices for setting up a GPT and round up inspiring GPTs built by educators around the world. If you’ve built a GPT, we’d love to add it to our list! Let us know in the comments about the GPT you made, and we’ll update the post with links on an ongoing basis.

Note: Pro and Plus subscribers can make custom GPTs, and all users, including free, can use them.

A guide to custom GPTs

It’s a lot easier to create a custom GPT than you think. As Professor

Teddy Svoronos

said, “Building a bot will only take you 15 minutes. But making a bot good is going to take you days. It is an iterative process that requires rigorous testing.”

Here’s how to get started:

1. In the ChatGPT profile dropdown, select “My GPTs.”

   

2. Select “Create a GPT.”

   

3. Use the Create tab to build a new GPT.

   

   Examples: “Make me a Teaching Assistant for my statistics course that answers students’ questions” or “Make me an interactive writing companion that gives me feedback based on my OpenStax textbook.”

4. Or use the Configure tab to manually set up a new GPT.
   This is a little bit more work, but it allows you to customize things and have more control.

   

   • Instructions: You can provide detailed instructions or guidelines on how the GPT should behave, its functionalities, and any particular behaviors to avoid. Educators often refer to this as the main “prompt” for their custom GPT.

   • Conversation starters: These are examples the user can select to start the dialogue. Think about the most common actions you or your students might take. This might be answering questions, providing explanations, assisting with research, or even beginning a role-playing exercise.

   • Upload files: Specify what information or expertise the model is trained on. This customization enables educators to align the GPT with their curriculum, learning objectives, and teaching methodologies. You can upload text-based files (e.g. .txt, PDF, Word, or Markdown formats) or numerical data (.csv or Excel files).

   • Capabilities: These are the functions a GPT can perform.

   • Actions: For those who are more advanced, you can make third-party APIs available to your GPT.

Custom GPTs created by educators

• Customer Interviewer by

  Doan Winkel
  
  A simulator for entrepreneurship students to role-play customer interviews. Doan has also built other custom GPTs, including Micro-Skill Builder, Targeted Resume and Cover Letter Creator, and Job Interview Question Generator.
  Learn more

• OpenStax Writing Guide Assistant by

  Dr. Jeanne Beatrix Law
  
  An interactive companion to the OpenStax writing materials Jeanne uses in her class, providing students with on-demand guidance tailored to their assignments.
  Learn more

• StatGPT by

  Teddy Svoronos
  
  An infinite question bank of statistics practice problems that adapt to an individual student’s needs and interests. Learn more

• Python Ki Pathshala by Mahipal Jadeja
  Interactive Python programming lessons, in Hindi and English, to help students master coding by connecting concepts to their favorite TV series, sports, or hobbies.

• Economics of AI by Altug Yalcintas
  An AI assistant for third-year undergrads at Ankara University to interact with the course materials.

• Your UDL Pal by Luke Hobson
  A guide to making online learning materials more inclusive and accessible using Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles.

• Digital Marketing Mentor by Mohammed Seedat
  Helps students create a comprehensive marketing plan.

Have you created a custom GPT?

Drop a link in the comments to a custom GPT you built or frequently use. Let us know why you’ve built it or use it and a story about how it’s provided value.