The Observatory
I’m Dr. Megan Perram, one of the 2026–2027 GenAI Fellows at the University of Regina. I’m using this space as both a landing site for projects and resources to support instructors, and an observatory to safely observe this strange new arrival.
Dissect the Strangeness
Two interactive guides for building fluency with generative AI in higher education. Rotate each carousel, then select a card to open it; everything expands right here on the page.
Projects
Interactive AI teaching tools built during the fellowship. Each project pairs a real course with a purpose-built pedagogical application.
Workshops
Hands-on sessions for instructors, posted as they are scheduled.
How to Build a Course-Specific GenAI Socratic Study Partner
August 26, 2026 · 10:30-11:30 · AI Futures: Teaching in the AI Era, August 26-27, 2026
We know that generative AI lures with the fantasy of frictionless learning: answers appear from the ether, instantly and for free. The slipperiness of this offer of information is intentionally absolute, algorithmically carving out the boundaries of, not only what the user should know, but what the user should ask. However, meaningful learning lives in the productive friction: the moments of intellectual struggle that deepen understanding.
This hands-on workshop guides participants in building a Socratic AI study partner that supports learning through questioning rather than answering. Grounded in a review of 36 recent studies, including randomized trials demonstrating gains in critical thinking alongside evidence of the risks of engagement without learning, the workshop translates current research into a practical teaching tool.
Participants will leave with a ready-made, modular prompt that can be adapted to build a Socratic AI study partner for their own course. The prompt includes customizable features such as Socratic questioning, exam preparation, guardrails that encourage independent thinking, and accessibility supports. This is a beginner-level workshop. A free Claude account is helpful but not required, and no prior experience with AI is necessary.
Presentation Slides
Explore the Socratic Study Partner
The study partner this workshop teaches you to build is running live on this site. No account or sign-in is needed.
Open the Socratic Study PartnerIf the study partner above is busy or unavailable, the same study partner also runs on Claude (free Claude account required). Scan the code with your phone or open:
claude.ai/public/artifacts/7fa61fcc-56ac-4fb3-9c0c-17af9ca0bb54The Prompt
Copy the full modular prompt below and paste it into a Claude Project (or the chat tool of your choice), then customize the bracketed fields for your own course.
Sharing It with Your Class
Once your study partner works the way you want, the easiest way to share it is as a published Claude artifact: paste your prompt into Claude, ask it to build the study partner as a small chat app (an artifact), click Publish, and give students the link. Students sign in with a free Claude account. Keep it optional: some students prefer not to engage with AI, so offer an equivalent alternative such as printed practice questions, study groups, or office hours.
Sources
The research behind the workshop
- Artal-Sevil, J. S., and J. L. Bernal-Agustín. “Socrates Retired and Plato Expelled from Class.” ICERI2025 Proceedings, 2025, pp. 7273-7284.
- Blacker, David J. “The Pedagogical Hard Problem of Generative AI: Socratic Countermeasures.” Educational Philosophy and Theory, 2026.
- Blasco, Andrea, and Vicky Charisi. “AI Chatbots in K-12 Education: Socratic vs. Non-Socratic Approaches.” SSRN, 2024.
- ---. The Impact of Large Language Models on Students: A Randomised Study of Socratic vs. Non-Socratic AI and the Role of Step-by-Step Reasoning. SSRN, Dec. 2024.
- Cuomo, Stefano, et al. “Designing and Experiencing Place-Based Education with Socratic AI: Findings from a Field Workshop.” Media Education: Studi, Ricerche e Buone Pratiche, vol. 16, no. 2, 2025.
- Degen, Ben. “Resurrecting Socrates in the Age of AI.” arXiv, 2025.
- Fakour, Hoda, and Moslem Imani. “Socratic Wisdom in the Age of AI.” Frontiers in Education, vol. 10, 2025.
- Favero, Lucile, et al. “Enhancing Critical Thinking in Education by Means of a Socratic Chatbot.” AI in Education and Educational Research (AIEER 2024), Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol. 2519, Springer, 2025, pp. 17-32.
- ---. “Enhancing Critical Thinking in Education by Means of a Socratic Chatbot.” arXiv, 2024.
- Garito, Maria Amata, and Marco Breda. “Socrates AI: An Ethical Model of Artificial Intelligence for Inclusive and Personalized Education.” 2025 Yearbook Emerging Technologies in Learning, Springer, 2026, pp. 235-255.
- Getachew, T. “Fostering Creativity in Low-Engagement Students Through Socratic Dialogue.” The International Journal of Management Education, vol. 22, no. 1, 2024, article 100901.
- Goda, Yoshiko, et al. “Design and Development of Mondo-GPT.” SITE International Conference, 2025, pp. 2753-2760.
- Goldin, A. P., et al. “Producing or Reproducing Reasoning? Socratic Dialog Is Very Effective, but Only for a Few.” PLoS ONE, vol. 12, no. 3, 2017, article e0173584.
- Hilliger, Isabel, et al. “Scaffolding Learning Scenarios with a Socratic Chatbot: Insights from Educators.” EC-TEL 2025, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 16064, Springer, 2025, pp. 155-161.
- Hu, X., et al. Generative AI in Education: From Foundational Insights to the Socratic Playground for Learning. arXiv, 2025.
- Jabbour, Jason, et al. “SocratiQ: A Generative AI-Powered Learning Companion for Personalized Education and Broader Accessibility.” Proceedings of the Workshop on Computer Architecture Education (WCAE ’25), ACM, 2025, article 1, pp. 1-10.
- Kampylis, Panagiotis. “The Timeless Art of Questioning: When Socratic Inquiry Meets Generative AI to Foster Students’ Creative Thinking.” Teaching and Learning in the Generative Artificial Intelligence Age, Springer Nature, 2026, pp. 3-26.
- Kampylis, P., and E. Berki. Nurturing Creative Thinking. UNESCO IBE / IAE, 2014.
- Konak, Abdullah, et al. “Socratic AI Agents for Critical Thinking.” 2026 Spring Middle Atlantic Section Conference, American Society for Engineering Education, 27 Mar. 2026.
- Koroye, Tamarakemiebi, and Donald Sikpi. “GenAI as Whetstone: A Socratic Framework for Sharpening Critical Thinking in Legal Education.” Law, Technology and Humans, 2025.
- Lee, Jeonghyun, et al. “Socratic Mind: Impact of a Novel GenAI-Powered Assessment Tool.” arXiv, 2025.
- Li, Changkui. “AI as a Socratic Dialogue Partner.” Artificial Intelligence Education Studies, vol. 1, no. 4, 2025, pp. 1-11.
- Li, Yan, et al. “An Innovative Socratic Method-Based Artificial Intelligence Platform for Healthcare Education.” Nurse Education in Practice, vol. 92, 2026, article 104770.
- Lu, Wencheng, and Zhenni Hu. “Addressing Autonomy Risks in Generative Chatbots with the Socratic Method.” Science and Engineering Ethics, vol. 31, article 41, 2025.
- Na Chai, Wasan, et al. “Beyond Answer Generation: Scaffolding Metacognitive Thinking via LLM-Driven Socratic Dialogue.” 2026 IEEE International Conference, IEEE, 2026.
- Nahar, Nurun. “Exploring Student Perspectives on AI-Generated Feedback Using a Socratic Method Chatbot.” Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education, no. 37, 2025, pp. 1-11.
- Orynbassarova, D., and S. De Lasala Porta. “Implementing the Socratic Method with AI.” 2024 ICETA, 2024, pp. 526-532.
- Raz, T., et al. “Open and Closed-Ended Problem Solving in Humans and AI.” Thinking Skills and Creativity, vol. 53, 2024, article 101598.
- Santos-Guevara, Ayax, et al. “Fostering Student Engagement and Learning Perception Through Socratic Dialogue with ChatGPT.” Education Sciences, vol. 16, no. 2, 2026, article 184.
- Sun, Dan, et al. “When Generative AI Meets Socratic Method.” Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 2026.
- Tzanoulinou, Diamanto, et al. “The Socratic Turn in AI: Reviewing the Transformation of LLMs into Dialogical Educators.” IEEE, 2025.
- Urdanivia Alarcon, D. A., et al. “Science and Inquiry-Based Teaching and Learning: A Systematic Review.” Frontiers in Education, vol. 8, 2023, article 1170487.
- Van der Merwe, Joricke. Exploring the Potential of Mindjoy as a Generative AI Socratic Tutor. Master’s thesis, University of Cape Town, 2025.
- Xi, Linjin, et al. “Investigating the Effects of an LLM-Based Socratic Conversational Agent on Students’ Academic Performance and Reflective Thinking in Higher Education.” Computers & Education, vol. 241, Feb. 2026, article 105494.
- Yakar, Tamar. “AI-Powered Socratic Dialogue System for Collaborative Problem Solving.” Technical Disclosure Commons, 7 Apr. 2026.
- Yong, Cai Ling, et al. “The Use of Large Language Models Tuned with Socratic Methods on the Impact of Medical Students’ Learning: A Randomised Controlled Trial.” JMIR Preprints, 3 Mar. 2024.
- Zhang, L., et al. “SPL: A Socratic Playground for Learning Powered by Large Language Model.” arXiv, 2024.
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Get in Touch
Questions about the fellowship, workshops, or collaborating? Send a note below; it opens in your email app, addressed to mpv239@uregina.ca.
Dr. Megan Perram
I am a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of English and Creative Writing at Campion College, University of Regina, specializing in digital literature and new media.
The GenAI Teaching Fellowship
I am one of two inaugural GenAI Teaching Fellows at the University of Regina: a one-year appointment through the Provost’s Office for faculty members to lead innovation in teaching, learning, and pedagogy through responsible use of generative AI.
Fellows retain their faculty appointment while serving as campus leaders in exploring and guiding the responsible use of GenAI in teaching and learning, and serve as associates of the Centre for Teaching and Learning. The role involves designing and delivering workshops and presentations that take up both the creative potential and the possible negative impacts of GenAI; consulting with faculty exploring GenAI applications in their courses, such as alternate assessment; developing and sharing resources like guides, templates, and case studies for GenAI-enhanced pedagogy; and contributing to institutional guidelines and frameworks for GenAI use in education.
Research
Some of my research focuses on choice-based digital fiction as a tool for body image narrative therapy, illness narratives in virtual reality centred on marginalized bodies, and pedagogical approaches to teaching interactive literary hypertext.
Selected Publications
- Perram, Megan. Hyperandrogenism and the Marginalization of Pathologized Bodies: Exploring Therapeutic Storytelling in Hypertext Illness Narratives. Routledge, 2026. View at Routledge
- Perram, Megan. “Pedagogical Approaches to Twine Illness Narratives through a Politicized Narrative Therapy Framework.” EnTwine: A Critical and Creative Companion to Teaching with Twine, edited by Emily Christina Murphy and Lai-Tze Fan, Amherst College Press, forthcoming, 2026, pp. 99–110. View at Fulcrum
- Perram, Megan. “Building Hypertext Literature Reviews for Qualitative Research.” Interdisciplinary Digital Engagement in Arts & Humanities, vol. 4, no. 2, 2024. View at IDEAH
Teaching
I design and teach undergraduate and graduate courses including Storytelling and Video Games, Digital Literature and New Media, Literature and Social Media, the Narrative Worldbuilding of Taylor Swift, and Reading the Pathologized Body, while advancing an active scholarly agenda and supporting equity-focused, inclusive learning environments.
Policy Background
As a former Senior Policy Advisor in the Alberta Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction, I contributed to the development of forthcoming drug policy legislation called Compassionate Intervention. I am also a former Strategic Initiatives Advisor at the University of Alberta. I am proud to have been qualified in the Government of Canada Emerging Talent Pool stemming from the Recruitment of Policy Leaders program, which recognizes expertise and dedication in driving innovative policy solutions.
Socratic Study Partner
One question at a time.
Enter to send. Shift plus Enter for a new line. Type /exam to practice or /summary for a recap.