The Studio functions as a structural intervention within this framework, utilizing institutional access to 
Copilot as a laboratory. I use the first week to set up the environment, onboarding students to GitHub 
and the Anatomy of a Prompt. A common submission consists of the prompt, the visual outcome, 
and a mandatory handwritten reflection. This is the abra kadabra of the course. In Aramaic, Avra 
kehdabra means “I will create as I speak.” By translating a technical sentence into a visual outcome, 
students engage in conceptual conjuring. They might reverse-engineer a historical work, recreate a 
masterpiece, or generate an original composition. 
In all these options, the student is visually experiencing how a concept functions. This is vital for 
my students at Dallas College, where approximately 55% are non-native English speakers. As the 
international student I was once, I understand how many of these students use AI to write essays 
as a mask; they do not want to make grammatical mistakes or lose points in their grades because 
of their language skills. AI serves as a protection that allows them to appear like any other student, 
even in classes not focused on language. In the Visual Prompt Studio, that mask is no longer 
necessary. I judge prompts on conceptual accuracy, not grammar. The handwritten reflection then 
slows the process down, ensuring the human mind remains the primary agent in the loop.
It is important to clarify, however, what the Visual Prompt Studio assignment is not. It is not an 
advocacy for the replacement of traditional creative processes, nor is it a statement on the inherent 
value of AI in the arts. My course remains a lecture-based space for deep historical inquiry. It includes 
other hands-on assignments, such as cyanotype workshops, lab visits, and the final assignment 
consists of a ten-minute face-to-face interview with every single student. This interview aims at 
giving them a literal and metaphorical voice while also building a strong and warm bridge between 
them and me. The professor and student relationship is something I resist letting go of in the AI era. 
Figure 3. Screenshot of the prompts submitted by the student.
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