New Tools in Practice: Study Mode and Personalities

Reading time: approx 9 min

In the previous lessons, you learned to steer the AI with advanced instructions. Now we will look at the specially built tools that OpenAI has created to make ChatGPT-5 even more useful in the classroom. We focus on two completely new features: Study Mode, which transforms the AI into a personal tutor, and Personalities, which lets you stage discussions and perspective exercises.

This is a practical lesson where the goal is for you to get concrete ideas for lesson designs you can use immediately.

What you will learn

• What "Study Mode" is and how you activate it correctly.
• How you design a lesson where the AI acts as a Socratic guide.
• The different AI "personalities" and their unique pedagogical use cases.
• How you combine your knowledge about prompts with these new, powerful tools.

Part 1: Study Mode as personal tutor

"Study Mode", recently launched by OpenAI, is perhaps the most anticipated feature for everyone working in education. It is a mode where the AI is programmed not to give the direct answer. Instead, it uses Socratic questioning technique and provides step-by-step support (scaffolding) to promote the student's own problem solving and metacognition.

According to OpenAI, the feature is available for users with Free, Plus, Pro, and Team plans, while it is being rolled out to ChatGPT Edu in the weeks following launch.

Practical classroom example 1: Math problem solving (Illustrative)

Goal: A student should learn to independently solve a quadratic equation with the quadratic formula.

Instructions to the student:

1. Open ChatGPT. You can activate Study Mode via the menu Tools → 'Study and learn' and then turn the mode on or off directly in the conversation.
2. Enter the following task: Help me solve the equation x² - 6x + 8 = 0 step by step.
3. Follow the AI's guidance and answer its questions.

Expected dialogue:

• AI: "Absolutely! That looks like a quadratic equation. Do you have any idea what formula might be helpful here?"
• Student: "The quadratic formula?"
• AI: "Exactly! Good start. To be able to use the quadratic formula, what values do we need to identify for 'a', 'b', and 'c' in this particular equation?"

Practical classroom example 2: Text analysis in English (Illustrative)

Goal: A student should independently be able to identify stylistic devices in a text.

Instructions to the student:

1. Activate Study Mode.
2. Paste a short poem or text.
3. Ask the question: Help me find three stylistic devices in this text.

Expected dialogue:

• AI: "Of course. Let's start broadly. When you read the text, was there any sentence or image that stood out a bit extra for you?"
• Student: "Yes, 'the sun was a glowing coin'."
• AI: "Interesting choice! What is it that makes that sentence special? Are two things being compared to each other in a figurative way?"

Part 2: Personalities exploring perspectives with AI roles

This feature lets you instruct the AI to consistently act based on one of four pre-programmed personalities (in addition to the standard mode):

• The Nerd: Enthusiastic, detailed, loves to explain.
• The Listener: Empathetic, supportive, focuses on feelings and reflection.
• The Cynic: Skeptical, questioning, points out problems and shortcomings.
• The Robot: Extremely logical, objective, concise, and free from emotions.

Currently, personalities are available for Plus, Pro, and Team plans. You select a personality via Settings → Customization → Custom instructions → 'What personality should ChatGPT have?'. The feature initially applies to text chat, with support for voice calls planned for later. The pedagogical value is enormous for exercises in argumentation and source criticism.

Practical classroom example: Social studies and ethics (Illustrative)

Goal: Students should understand how one and the same question can be illuminated from completely different angles depending on the sender's perspective.

Lesson design:

1. Divide the class into four groups.
2. Give all groups the same controversial question, for example: Should artificial intelligence be allowed to make decisions in healthcare?
3. Each group is tasked with "interviewing" a specific AI personality about the question.

Prompt template for students:

I want you to act with the personality [Nerd/Cynic/Listener/Robot].

Answer my question: "Should artificial intelligence be allowed to make decisions in healthcare?"

Justify your answer carefully based on your assigned personality.

Follow-up in the classroom: The groups compare the answers. How do the arguments differ? Which personality was most convincing and why?

Next steps

You have now received concrete examples of how you can use the built-in pedagogical tools in ChatGPT-5.

In the next lesson, 'Advanced Content Production: From Lesson Plan to Working Code', we take the step fully out and explore how you can use GPT-5's full creative and logical power to produce complex and directly usable lesson material.