GREENEVILLE – Individuals can learn about artificial intelligence from a variety of angles at a series of upcoming presentations, filled with hands-on learning, led by a Tusculum University professor.
David Hite
David Hite, associate professor of business and director of Tusculum’s Center for Free Enterprise and New Venture Creation, will hold five AI sessions in a three-month period. They are scheduled to be held in the Brotherton Boardroom on the third floor of the Meen Center at Tusculum. All of them will help attendees gain a firmer understanding of AI and the ways they can apply it ethically and effectively.
“AI has become a game-changer in multiple professions and has proven to greatly enhance productivity,” Hite said. “Using this technology makes great sense because it enables users to spend less time on many tasks and focus on other matters that require additional attention. These workshops will be fun and engaging and enable participants to make AI a regular part of their operations in a business or other facets of work or in personal matters.”
Here is the lineup of workshops:
- Friday, Sept. 4, 8 :30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: “AI Basics Bootcamp: Your Hands-On Introduction to AI” – For beginners, this session teaches what generative AI does, where it breaks and how to tell the difference. Participants will practice checking whether an AI answer is true and what they should not hand to a chatbot. Before the session ends, they will have used AI on something from their own work or life. No advance experience is needed.
- Thursday, Sept. 10, 9-11 a.m.: “Get Hired with AI” – This workshop is geared for anyone looking for a new job, preparing for a career change or trying to compete more effectively in today’s workforce. Participants will learn to use ChatGPT or Claude as their own personal job-search assistant. They should bring a laptop, an existing résumé or employment history and a job posting they would like to pursue. They will learn to develop a résumé tailored to a real job posting, a stronger cover letter, outreach and language for LinkedIn. They will also have practiced interview questions and have a reusable prompt set and a weekly job search action plan.
- Friday, Sept. 18, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: “AI Bootcamp for Small Business” – This workshop is geared for owners and operators in any industry, and no technical background is necessary. It starts with understanding problems participants are facing instead of the technology. These include marketing plans they do not have time to write, customers waiting on replies, quotes and proposals and paperwork that piles up by Friday. They will build working solutions during the session using their own business as the example. Hite will also settle the money question of what can be done on free tools, what is worth buying and what is not.
- Friday, Oct. 2, 8 :30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: “The AI-Ready Leader: Leading in the Age of AI” – This workshop is designed for business leaders who want to move beyond simply experimenting with AI and use it to create real results across their organization. Attendees will learn why successful AI adoption is about much more than choosing the right technology. The biggest challenge is often people, processes and culture. Hite will show attendees practical ways to identify where AI can improve everyday work, redesign processes and help employees conduct business more effectively with AI.
- Friday, Nov. 6, 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: “Claude at Work: Your AI Productivity Partner” – This workshop is for attendees who use a chatbot periodically and want to accomplish more with it. Participants will bring a real project they have fallen behind on completion. They will need the minimum paid Claude already set up by this date. This session will show them how to work with Claude, Cowork and Skills as a partner on the tasks that eat time, such as drafting and revising documents, digging through research, cleaning up messy information, organizing a project and redoing the same work they redid the month before.
Dr. John Alpers
“All of these are outstanding workshops and meet the needs of all types of individuals who are at different stages in AI usage,” said Dr. John Alpers, dean of the School of Business, Education and Sport. “David has picked topics to discuss that are germane to a wide variety of audiences, and his workshops will produce measurable results for attendees. These workshops are perfect examples that Tusculum and David are on the cutting edge of AI and are supporting the community in important ways.”
Each workshop costs $49. To register, please visit https://web.tusculum.edu/free-enterprise/events/. Tusculum students can attend the “Get Hired with AI” workshop for free. Anyone with questions can email Hite at dhite@tusculum.edu.
More information about the university is available at www.tusculum.edu.