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AI Foundations: Practical Skills for Everyday Life and Work
AI Foundations: Practical Skills for Everyday Life and Work
An Alumni Academy Course
October 7, 14, 21 and 28
noon–1 p.m. Eastern time
Curious about artificial intelligence (AI) but not sure where to start? This four-part introductory series is designed for beginners who want to understand what generative AI is, how it works and how to use it confidently and responsibly.
Through live demonstrations, guided practice and hands-on activities, participants will learn how to communicate effectively with AI, provide it with meaningful context and apply it to everyday tasks such as writing, planning, learning, brainstorming and problem-solving. No prior experience with AI is required.
Course topics include:
• Understanding Generative AI
• Talking with AI
• Giving AI Better Information
• Putting AI to Work
This course is led by James D’Annibale, director of academic & emerging technologies at Dickinson. All classes will be taught on Zoom. Registrants will be able to use whatever AI tool is most comfortable and accessible to them during the course.
Course Fee:
• $200 per person
• $150 for classes of 2022–26
Please register by Monday, October 5.
Faculty Bio:
After spending some time in K-12 education and project management, James began his career in higher education in 2015. He spent seven years at Wilson College, beginning as a librarian, then working as director of educational technology, as interim director of IT and, finally, as director of library services and educational technology. During his pre-pandemic time at Wilson, James modernized the college's approach to teaching with technology and teaching online, so that when the campus shut down at the start of the pandemic, the faculty were far better prepared than many at peer institutions. In fact, while James expected to spend the first week of fully remote teaching helping faculty troubleshoot, he instead discovered that extra help was not needed.
In 2022 James came to Dickinson College to serve as the director of academic technology. He has since led the collegewide evaluation and implementation of our new learning management system, adjusted how we budget for classroom technology to make replacements more predictable and influenced an overall shift in his team's approach to prioritize the student experience.
James' focus with generative AI has been to use it in ways that create opportunities for deeper learning and thinking rather than simply as a tool that creates shortcuts. He designed an elective course for students called AI as a Partner. While students in that course use AI and become “AI literate,” they focus more on the intersections between AI and liberal-arts skills like communication, problem-solving, seeing others' perspectives, etc. James has designed this Alumni Academy opportunity with the same ideas in mind.