Prompting 101: Foundational Communication Skills

Course Description

The “Prompting 101” workshop is an introductory lesson designed to establish a foundational understanding of prompting AI tools. It aims to help participants understand what a prompt is, why it’s important, and how to effectively communicate with AI.

Who This Course Is For

This workshop is designed for individuals and faculty, whether they are taking it alone or as part of a collective. It is also relevant for educators and students who use AI tools.

What This Course Is NOT

This is a beginner workshop, so it is not a long or complex course. It is not focused on teaching the use of one specific AI tool; rather, it applies to all AI tools, such as Claude, Gemini, or ChatGPT. The course also implies that the limitation in AI’s output is generally not the AI itself, but rather the user’s understanding of what they are looking for and how effectively they communicate that to the AI.

What This Course IS

This course is a foundational guide to the concept of “prompt engineering”. It defines a prompt as an instruction, question, or command used to elicit a response from an AI tool. The workshop highlights that the quality of AI’s output directly correlates with the quality of the prompt, emphasizing that good prompts are clear, specific, and provide ample context, leading to better results and saving time. It teaches how to improve vague prompts (e.g., “generate a book review”) into more detailed and effective ones (e.g., “help me think through a book review for this book… here’s the information and my response”).

The course stresses that the value in prompting lies in specificity, context, and providing direct examples of the desired output. It encourages thinking of prompting as a conversation, where the more clearly you explain what you want to the AI (the “doer”), the better the outcome will be.

Next Steps

Participants are encouraged to go through the lessons, activities, and worksheets to practice modifying prompts.