How We Built an AI Mission Generator for Educators (and Accidentally Helped Everyone)

From teacher tool to universal inspiration engine — here's how it happened.

Making Mission creation easier for teachers

We love educators. They’re passionate, creative, and always have their students’ best interests at heart. But they’ve got a lot on their plates, and time is precious. We kept hearing the same thing: “I love Goosechase, but I just don’t have time to come up with all the Missions.”

So we asked ourselves: what if Mission creation could be as easy as typing in a topic and pressing a button?

With support from DIGITAL’s funding program, we got to work building a tool that would take the pressure off teachers and help them get started faster — all while ensuring Experiences remained highly educational, creative, and fun.

These goals were our north star:

• Help educators generate engaging, topical content in seconds.
• Use AI to spark ideas, not replace human creativity or personalization.
• Support teachers of all subjects and grade levels — no AI expertise required.

We started by talking to teachers. Lots of them. From elementary school classrooms to high school science labs, we dug into how educators were using Goosechase and where they needed support.

Three big takeaways stood out:

• Teachers were excited about all the interactive activities they could run with students, but when it came to the creation process, they consistently needed help with Mission suggestions
• Many were new to AI tools and needed a simple interface
• Receiving sample Missions didn’t mean the creating stopped there (although it could!); it prompted even more ideas

From there, the prototyping began. Armed with hundreds of prompt variations, user feedback, and our own decade worth of designing interactive experiences, we started building. 51 versions, to be exact.

Through user testing, we settled on launching our v1. Our early version of the AI Mission Generator lived as a module at the top of the page, and relied on creators making a few Missions first. Once an Experience had at least 5 Missions, the AI Mission Generator kicked in and suggested Missions based off what the creator had already built.

Users could add Missions directly to the Experience, or refresh for new ideas. 

As tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini became mainstream, we realized this was a tool other creators could use, too. Not just teachers. So we decided to roll it out to a few of our longtime creators.

They started using it — and loving it.

Event organizers. HR teams. Nonprofits. Summer camps. Museums. You name it.

Unsurprisingly, everyone loves a good shortcut to creativity.

So we expanded its capabilities. Today, the AI Mission Generator supports a wide range of use cases, from “Employee onboarding activities” to “Climate action scavenger hunts.”

The AI Mission Generator is better embedded into the Goosechase Studio, living as a chatbot rather than a separate module. Instead of just building on existing Missions, creators can open the AI Mission Generator in their blank Experience, feed it information about their event, audience, and goals, and it will come back with personalized ideas. Currently, the generator exclusively ideates Camera Missions, but we’re looking into adding Text and GPS Missions to its capabilities in the future.

Since formally launching the AI Mission Generator in April 2025, we’ve seen major traction. Here’s a peek at what it’s made possible:

• 9,582 AI-generated Missions have been created
• 1,691 Experiences now contain AI-generated Missions
• 1,451 Creators have used the AI Mission Generator
• 85% of surveyed creators ranked the AI Mission Generator between 8 - 10, when asked “How satisfied are you with the AI Mission Generator Chatbot”?
  
  *Data as of June 11, 2025

Feedback from educators:

“We have been using Goosechase for a few years now, and we’re loving the new AI-generated Missions. The generator has significantly reduced the amount of time I spend coming up with fun, interactive challenges that I think the students would enjoy.” - Shelle Rankine, TDSB

“The AI generator on Goosechase is a time-saver. I love how easy it was to input a simple prompt and instantly receive a few fully-formed Missions that are ready to use — no need to stress about wording it perfectly. It took some of the stress out of planning and made the whole process faster and more fun. Highly recommend for anyone creating games, especially when you're dealing with teenagers!” - Karla Wilson, One School of the Arts and Sciences

Teachers are running more interactive lessons. Event creators are planning scavenger hunts in minutes. New users are finding it easier than ever to dive into Goosechase.

And maybe best of all?

They’re telling us the AI isn’t doing the creating — it’s just jumpstarting it. Mission accomplished!

What is Goosechase?

At Goosechase, experience is everything. Originally inspired by scavenger hunts, Goosechase is an online platform that enables organizations and schools to engage, activate, and educate their communities through delightful interactive experiences. Sign up and try creating a free recreational Experience, or check out our Pricing!