Moving Upstream

Prompting for learning, assessment, and human judgement

There is a fascination in finding the source of a river. Not the wide, confident sweep of water as it moves through cities and landscapes, but the quiet beginning: a trickle, a spring, sometimes no more than a damp patch in the ground. The water is crystal clear and untainted – life giving, even. Easy to miss, yet everything that follows depends on it. People travel, sometimes for hours, to stand at that point. It feels significant, even if the source itself is modest.

The Source of Thinking

In education, we often are drawn to the visible flow — the outputs, the answers, the polished work. Yet in the age of AI, it is the source that matters more than ever. This shift has implications not only for how we teach, but for how we recognise and assess intellectual work. Prompts are not just signposts; they are the headwaters of thinking. They shape what follows, what is amplified, and what is overlooked.
To move upstream is to become curious about intention. What are we really asking and why? What assumptions sit beneath our questions? What kinds of thinking and learning are we inviting — or closing down?
Generative AI has entered education with remarkable speed. It is already embedded in research practices, assessment processes, feedback systems, and everyday academic work. But this ease can be misleading — and in educational contexts, potentially dangerous.

Shaping the Flow

It is easy to focus on what the system produces. Yet what matters most is what feeds it. Generative systems do not begin the thinking; they react. And what they respond to is shaped — profoundly — by the prompt. Outputs are only as strong as the journey their prompts undergo.
Prompts define scope, surface purpose, and determine what is included or prioritised. Prompting brings the design of thinking into sharper focus. The intellectual work moves upstream: framing the question, clarifying intent, iterating, and refining the prompts, and critically evaluating what emerges. This is where human capability becomes even more important. An AI system can generate responses, but it does not decide what matters. We do.

Upstream Human Judgement

Geographers have long traced the origins of rivers — identifying the furthest point from the mouth, following tributaries back through increasingly smaller channels. What begins as a tentative flow gathers strength, complexity, and momentum. Prompts, too, are refined through discussion, iteration, and collaboration. Understanding deepens, the flow strengthens, and thinking becomes visible and actionable.
Prompting is where agency, trust and human judgement are exercised in practice. In the end, the quality of what flows downstream depends on how carefully we choose to work upstream.
A Promptathon ‘Learning Café’ at OEB 2026 will provide a collaborative space to experiment with these ideas. Our invitation is to come upstream and shape the source together. Let’s make a start on prompt-based pedagogy!


Written for OEB 2026 by Gilly Salmon.


Professor Salmon is a member of OEB26’s Global Council and is dedicated to transforming education –helping institutions, companies, educators, and learners embrace new possibilities with success, growth, confidence, and creativity.