Prompt Engineering For Responsible Generative Ai Use In African Education: A Report From A Three-Day Training Series

Benjamin Quarshie, Vanessa Willemse, Macharious Nabang, Bismark Nyaaba Akanzire, Patrick Kyeremeh, Saeed Maigari, Dorcas Adomina, Ellen Kwarteng, Eric Kojo Majialuwe, Craig Gibbs, Jerry Etornam Kudaya, Sechaba Koma, Matthew Nyaaba

Date

01/2026

AI Overview

Why it matters

Generative AI tools are reshaping education, but many educators lack guidance on responsible prompt engineering, particularly in African contexts where infrastructural and digital literacy disparities limit equitable participation in the AI economy.

Study at a glance

Question: How do African educators and researchers engage with and understand prompt engineering during an online training series?
Setting and data: Online webinar series, July 3–5, 2025; 468 participants including educators and researchers across African countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Nigeria, and South Africa.
Method: Program evaluation using descriptive survey analysis, qualitative interpretive reading, and computational text and sentiment analysis of session transcripts.
AI tools: ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Claude, Brisk, SciSpace

Key findings

Before the training, 80.4% of participants identified as beginners or occasional users of generative AI, with ChatGPT being the most widely used tool (87.2%).
Across the sessions, participant discourse shifted toward practical technology use and showed increasing confidence, evidenced by a rise to 62 occurrences of the reflexive marker "I think" in Session 3.
Session sentiments remained predominantly neutral (84.0% in Session 3) and positive (13.6% in Session 3), with low negativity (2.4%), suggesting advanced prompt techniques did not create widespread anxiety.

Summary drafted with AI from the full paper and may contain errors. See the full paper for details.

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools are increasingly adopted in education, yet many educators lack structured guidance on responsible and context sensitive prompt engineering, particularly in African and other resource constrained settings. This case report documents a three day online professional development programme organised by Generative AI for Education and Research in Africa (GenAI-ERA), designed to strengthen educators and researchers capacity to apply prompt engineering ethically for academic writing, teaching, and research. The programme engaged 468 participants across multiple African countries, including university educators, postgraduate students, and researchers. The training followed a scaffolded progression from foundational prompt design to applied and ethical strategies, including persona guided interactions. Data sources comprised registration surveys, webinar interaction records, facilitator observations, and session transcripts, analysed using descriptive statistics and computationally supported qualitative techniques. Findings indicate that participants increasingly conceptualised prompt engineering as a form of AI literacy requiring ethical awareness, contextual sensitivity, and pedagogical judgement rather than technical skill alone. The case highlights persistent challenges related to access, locally relevant training materials, and institutional support. The report recommends sustained professional development and the integration of prompt literacy into curricula to support responsible GenAI use in African education systems.