11. Prompts: prompts and publications as tools for making

Published by: Creative Pedagogy

Volume: 1 Issue: 1 Year: 2026

Authors:

Sarah Howe (Manchester Metropolitan University)

Polly Palmerini (Manchester Metropolitan University)

Richard Higginbottom (Manchester Metropolitan University)

Corresponding Author: Sarah Louise Howe s.howe@mmu.ac.uk

Abstract

This paper shares creative examples of prompt making for pedagogical practice articulated through the design, development and application of the co-authored publication, Prompts. A playful pedagogical tool that curates visual research created by academic staff at the School of Digital Arts, Manchester Metropolitan Univerity. Prompts serves as a starting point for current and prospective students to develop new creative visual responses, it enables reflection on the possibilities found in the simple act of prompting, and its expansive and iterative potentials. The paper considers how the publication (and future publications made through this method) might build communities of practice in and beyond the art school. Methodologically, the project adopts a practice-based and iterative approach, in which prompts are generated, tested, and reinterpreted through cycles of making, reflection, and collaborative exchange between students and staff. This approach foregrounds experimentation and process as key components of learning. Through this, the paper offers insights into how the simple act of prompting can open expansive creative possibilities and embedded in teaching activities, develop intergenerational learning and instigate new creative outputs that might bring forms of imaging and practice into an oblique dialogue with search engines and AI logic. Throughout this paper, we will focus on the interdependent nature of the prompt and the reciprocal curiosity bound in its making.

Keywords: Prompts, Intergenerational Learning, Iterative, Publication, Co-Making