Most workers have now heard of AI. Fewer know when to use it on their own job, how to check what it gives them, and what must never go into a prompt. This course takes trainees past basic awareness and into daily judgment. In three live, instructor-led sessions, trainees map AI to the real tasks in their role, try it on safe practice versions of those tasks, and learn a simple routine for checking accuracy before anything leaves their desk. The instructor works in the employer's approved tool, such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, ChatGPT, or Gemini, and adapts examples to the trainees' industry. Trainees practice spotting fluent but wrong answers, protecting customer and company data under Massachusetts law, and explaining to a coworker what AI can and cannot do. Every session includes hands-on practice in pairs and small groups. Trainees leave with a personal AI use map for their own job, three tested prompts for real tasks, and a one-page data-safety checklist they can post at their workstation. Designed for frontline and office staff at small and mid-sized Massachusetts employers who are new to AI at work or using it without training. No technical background is needed.
What you will be able to do
By the end of the course, trainees will be able to:
- List at least five tasks in their own role and rate each as a good, poor, or unsafe fit for AI, with a reason.
- Explain in plain words why AI output can be fluent and false, and show one example caught in class.
- Apply a four-step check (source, facts, numbers, tone) to an AI draft and record a keep / fix / discard decision.
- Identify data that must never be entered into an AI tool under employer policy and G.L. c. 93H, with 100% accuracy on a sorting exercise.
- Write three working prompts for real tasks in their job using the employer's approved tool.
Who this course is for
Office and administrative support; Customer service representatives; Sales associates; Production and warehouse leads; Front desk and patient access staff; Bookkeeping clerks
Before you start
None beyond basic computer use (email, web browser, word processor). Trainees take a 10-minute self-check against the DOL literacy areas at session 1; the course builds above that floor.
Hands-on activities
- Task mapping lab: trainees list their weekly tasks and sort them into AI fit, AI with care, and no AI.
- Spot-the-error drill: pairs review five AI answers about a fictional company and find the invented facts.
- Data sorting game: 20 cards with workplace data; teams sort them into OK, remove first, and never.
- Live guided practice: instructor demonstrates, then trainees run the same prompt on their own task type.
- Teach-back: each trainee explains one AI limit to a partner as if to a new hire.
How your learning is measured
- Attendance at all three sessions (start and end check).
- Personal AI Use Map scored on a 3-level rubric (Meets requires 5+ tasks with correct fit rating and reason).
- Data sorting exercise: 100% correct on 'never enter' items, retaken until met.
- Final applied task: run a prompt on a practice version of a real task, apply the four-step check, and write the keep / fix / discard decision.
- Pre/post confidence survey (reported, not graded).
