Upcoming Public Training Courses

Course overview: A hands-on introduction to using Claude Code for people without a technical background. Participants learn how to build small projects, automate tasks, work with files, and connect Claude to everyday tools using plain English.

Phase 1 — Meet Claude Code

• What Claude is and how Claude Code differs from regular chat.
• Orientation in the Claude app and workspace.
• The describe → plan → act → review workflow.
• Understanding permissions and why Claude asks before creating files or running actions.
• First build: create and refine a simple styled webpage from a short instruction.

Phase 2 — Building real things with plain English

• Build an interactive dashboard with sample data, charts, and visual elements.
• Use Claude for data analysis: summarize a CSV, identify trends, find highs/lows, and generate a chart.
• Create a simple utility such as a converter, quiz app, or budget calculator.
• Review what Claude created behind the scenes: files, code, outputs, and structure.
• Collect effective prompts in a practical Prompt Playbook.

Phase 3 — Working smarter with Claude Code

• Prompting principles: specific vs vague instructions.
• Live comparison of weak and strong prompts.
• Iterating, refining, undoing, and asking Claude to explain design or code choices.
• Working with uploaded files, documents, and spreadsheets.
• Chaining requests into multi-step workflows.
• Understanding context windows, usage, subscriptions, and when to use Claude Code vs regular Claude chat.

Phase 4 — Connecting Claude to your tools with MCP

• What Model Context Protocol (MCP) is and why it matters.
• Using connectors to turn Claude into a connected workflow assistant.
• Browsing and adding integrations from the connectors directory.
• Example workflow: checking calendar meetings and drafting preparation emails.
• Guided exercise using a connected service such as Gmail, Google Drive, or Google Calendar.
• Permissions, OAuth, tool access, and security awareness.

Phase 5 — Capstone and wrap-up

• Build a polished landing page or portfolio site.
• Create a data analysis pipeline that produces a visual report.
• Build an interactive tool for a real workflow problem.
• Create a connected workflow using data from an external service.
• Review next steps, reference resources, prompt patterns, and useful integrations.

Course overview: A practical workshop on designing and building customized AI assistants for professional work. Participants explore Custom GPTs, Microsoft Copilot Agents, and Gemini Gems, then create a personal assistant and workflow blueprint.

Module 1 — Designing your AI assistant

• Introduction to customized AI assistants.
• Define the assistant’s purpose.
• Identify the workflows it should support.
• Decide what information sources it should use.

Module 2 — Building Custom GPTs

• Instructor demonstration of building a Custom GPT.
• Instruction design and behavioral configuration.
• Using knowledge uploads to support assistant responses.
• Participants begin building their own assistant.

Module 3 — Copilot Agents

• Overview of Microsoft Copilot Agents.
• Automation workflows and productivity integrations.
• Document generation pipelines.
• Practical examples for Microsoft 365 users.

Module 4 — Gemini Gems

• Demonstration of building Gemini assistants.
• Research synthesis use cases.
• Document summarization workflows.
• Structured analysis scenarios.

Module 5 — AI workflow automation

• Designing workflows such as research → summary → report.
• Turning meeting transcripts into summaries and action plans.
• Using AI to support data analysis and presentation generation.

Final exercise

• Complete an AI Workflow Blueprint.
• Map tasks to the right AI assistant.
• Choose the platform that best supports each workflow.