Prompting Without Borders: Equitable AI Co-Creation Between Kenyan and U.S. Learners

• In Event: Osotua and Umoja - Bridging Borders, Building Futures: Decolonized Virtual and Hybrid Collaborations for Global Learning and Faculty-Student Engagement

Abstract

Grounded in the Maasai ethic of Osotua (Wijngaarden & Ole Murero, 2023) and critical AI scholarship (Holmes et al., 2023), this design-based study will pilot “prompt-engineering studios” linking graduate students at a U.S. historically Black university with peers at an East African university. Prompt logs, screen captures, and reflective journals will reveal how equity-oriented prompting nurtures diasporic solidarity while surfacing bias in generative AI.
Generative large-language models can energize collaborative writing yet often reproduce colonial knowledge flows (DeWitt Prat et al., 2024). This project asks whether Osotua-infused prompting (Wijngaarden & Ole Murero, 2023) can redirect that power toward equity. After co-designing reflection-rich prompt templates, cross-continental student pairs will complete a series of online “prompting studios” with GPT-4-mini to co-author passages for an ethical, bias-aware generative-AI framework for higher education (Holmes et al., 2023). Data—prompt–response threads, recorded screens, reflective journals, and pre/post agency surveys—will be examined to trace shifts in cultural references, authorship balance, and bias awareness. We anticipate Osotua framing will increase localized examples, equalize voice distribution between U.S. and Kenyan students, and sharpen critical readings of AI output without dampening creativity. Deliverables include an open-access Osotua Prompting Guide and design heuristics for equity-centered AI writing, offering a pathway to transform GenAI into a tool for reciprocal, globally just knowledge production.

Author

• Kenley Obas, Alabama State University