EdTech Sandbox Series: Build Your Own Teaching Bot – My Story of Creating CITE GPT as a Teaching Tool

When:

January 21, 2026 @ 11:30 am – 12:30 pm

2026-01-21T11:30:00-08:00

2026-01-21T12:30:00-08:00

About the Session

This session will explore the design and use of CITE GPT, a custom AI chatbot created as a project in the UBC Master of Educational Technology ETEC 511 class, to support students and educators with academic writing, citation formatting, and ethical information use in a reflexive way. The aim of this session is to demystify the design process, showing our successes and failures, which may lead to participants being better informed or trying this skill themselves.

Developed using OpenAI’s custom GPT framework and grounded in the principles of reflexivity, digital literacy, and educational usability, CITE GPT serves as a model for how AI can be thoughtfully embedded into academic practice.

Participants will be led through the coding process of creating a chatbot, engage in hands-on experimentation with the chatbot, be encouraged to make a chatbot of their own, and explore how the system-level prompt and knowledge base can shape user experience, all while reflecting on how AI can support, not shortcut, learning. This is done by emphasizing critical thinking, ethical engagement with technology, and student agency.

Together, we’ll reflect on how to use AI tools responsibly in our teaching and help students develop agency, not dependency. By the end, participants will leave with a concrete sense of how to evaluate, adapt, or build their own tools to support academic success.

Registration Coming Soon

This notice is to inform you that this session will be recorded, archived, and shared after the event. By participating in this session, you acknowledge that your participation will be recorded and the recording will be made available publicly.

About the Facilitator

Amanda Robins is an educator, instructional designer, and M.Ed. candidate at the University of British Columbia, specializing in educational technology. With over 20 years of experience teaching English for Academic Purposes at the college level at both Langara College and SFU, she brings a deep understanding of pedagogy, digital learning, and accessibility. Her recent work explores the ethical integration of AI in the classroom. Amanda has led workshops for educators on AI and assessment for BC TEAL and UVic PD days, and recently organized workshops for a digital literacy teaching exchange in China.

About the Series

Discover the BCcampus EdTech Sandbox Series consisting of workshops that empower educators, learning designers, and graduate students in B.C.’s post-secondary institutions to explore, experiment with, and evaluate cutting-edge tools for enhancing teaching excellence and student success. Aligned with the B.C. Post-Secondary Digital Literacy Framework , this program emphasizes a support technology perspective, encouraging open-mindedness, curiosity, troubleshooting skills, and the selection of appropriate tools for work and study.

Focus Areas for 2025-2026

The AI Sandbox: a space dedicated to experimenting with, and reviewing, artificial intelligence tools and applications in educational settings.
Other Learning Technologies: a space to explore, experiment, and review emerging learning technologies beyond AI, highlighting their potential impacts and practical applications.

In 90-minute live streamed webinars, expert leaders will introduce and demonstrate cutting-edge, open, and free, or low-cost, educational technology tools.

By actively participating in these sandbox sessions, participants will experiment with tools, work with fellow educators to review features of the tools, gain insights into teaching activities, and discover ways to integrate these tools into courses.

Recordings of the presentations and reviews of the tools will be available on our website following the event.