Generative AI can write a first draft, condense a 40-page document, compare two vendor quotes, or turn rough notes into a clean procedure. Used well, it saves real time. Used carelessly, it invents facts and leaks data. This four-session, instructor-led course teaches workers to use generative AI as a dependable assistant on their own job. Trainees work hands-on in their employer's approved tool, such as Microsoft 365 Copilot, ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude, on practice versions of their real work. They learn to ground the AI in a document they supply, to work in short rounds instead of one long request, to use images and files as inputs, and to check every claim before it is reused. Each session centers on a work pattern: drafting, summarizing, comparing and extracting, and building reusable assets such as templates and saved instructions. Examples are drawn from Massachusetts sectors including healthcare, manufacturing, insurance, construction, and hospitality, using fictional companies. Trainees finish with a personal toolkit of tested prompts and a before-and-after time log showing the value on one real task. Best for office, customer-facing, and supervisory staff who already use a computer daily and want to move from occasional AI use to confident, safe, regular use.
What you will be able to do
By the end of the course, trainees will be able to:
- Produce a grounded draft from a supplied source document and flag every gap as 'not in source'.
- Summarize a long document for two different readers (executive and frontline) and verify five facts against the source.
- Extract data from an unstructured document into a table with no invented values.
- Create one reusable asset (custom instruction, saved prompt, Copilot agent, custom GPT, or Gem) for a recurring task.
- Record a before-and-after time and quality comparison on one real work task.
Who this course is for
Administrative and executive assistants; Customer service and sales staff; Office and practice managers; Marketing coordinators; Operations and production supervisors; Insurance customer service and account representatives
Before you start
Daily computer use. FAST-01 or equivalent basic AI awareness recommended but not required; a short readiness check is given at session 1.
Hands-on activities
- Grounded drafting lab using a fictional Cape Harbor Inn policy sheet.
- Two-audience summary race: same 30-page fictional safety manual, two readers, fact-check scoring.
- Extraction lab: three fictional supplier quotes into a comparison table; partners audit every cell.
- Build-a-helper lab: trainees configure a saved assistant for one recurring task in the approved tool.
- Time-and-quality log on a sanitized real task, shared in a cohort debrief.
How your learning is measured
- Attendance at all four sessions.
- Four lab deliverables scored Meets / Not yet against a written standard (e.g., zero invented values in extraction table).
- Final applied task: a grounded draft or summary on a sanitized real task, with fact-check log.
- Before-and-after time log (self-reported, reviewed by instructor).
