Stories and meaning
AI tutor designer
Designing how a machine should teach one specific thing — including when it should refuse to give the answer.
Written by Nivaan, founder of OffLadder · Last reviewed
Test it this week
Take one thing you can teach and write a tutoring script that never states the answer — only questions and hints. Try it on someone and note where you were tempted to just tell them.
What the work actually contains
- Breaking a subject into the order a learner actually gets stuck in
- Writing the wrong answers, hints and questions the system should use
- Watching real learners use it and noticing where they game it
- Deciding what the system must never do, such as finishing the work for them
Why it is appearing now
Every education product now has a conversational tutor, and most are bad in the same way: they answer instead of teaching.
What AI changes about it
It provides the tutor's voice. What it cannot supply is the pedagogy: knowing which misconception comes first, and holding back the answer.
The human abilities it leans on
- Teaching instinct, formal or not
- Writing clearly and briefly
- Noticing what a learner is actually confused about
What it can grow out of
- Teaching, tutoring, coaching, training
- Instructional design and content writing
- Being the person friends ask to explain things
What nobody knows yet
Whether this sits with teachers, designers or engineers.
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