IntroductionTime commitmentFirst StepsIntroduction to MoodleClass Meetings and Office HoursBasic Technology and Computer SkillsSoftware You Will NeedSkills You Will NeedCourse StructureObjectivesReadingActivitiesOnline Course CommunicationMoodle Support
Welcome to this class!
Since the release of ChatGPT in November of 2022, AI has become an even hotter topic than ever. AI already had a big presence in our lives, but now it seems to have exploded in a way that has taken many of us by surprise.
AI has great potential for good as well as... well, evil. Some people are excited to see it advance, others are cautious and others see it as a doomsday technology. Regardless of your viewpoint, AI will play a big role in our future, so it is important to have some understanding of how it works and how we can use it for good while guarding against ways in which it might be abused.
Since this class has been compressed from ten-and-a-half weeks to eight weeks for the summer term, you will need to put in a little more time each week than you would in a "normal" class. In order to be successful, you should set aside at least 10 hours a week for learning activities. This includes 4 hours in class (or for online students, participating in the Zoom live-stream or watching recordings of the lectures) plus at least 6 hours studying on your own.
I believe the effort will be worth it and you will learn to do good (maybe even great and exciting) things with AI!
Here are the things you should do to get ready for this course:
Finish reading this guide.
Read the Syllabus.
Take note of class time and location (for online, the Zoom link).
Sign up for the free online course that will be your "textbook".
Look at the Software You Will Need section below and install any software you don't already have on your computer.
Look at the week 1 section on Moodle:
Read the objectives.
Under the reading heading, take note of the assigned reading and schedule time to do the reading and exercises this week.
Under Activities:
Fill out the "Introduce Yourself" questionnaire.
Take note of the due dates for the rest of the activities and schedule time complete them.
Moodle is the learning management system used by Lane Community College. To learn how to use Moodle, go to the LCC Moodle home page. Near the bottom of the page, click on "Training", then "Moodle for Students".
Come to class in person or via Zoom or watch the class recordings.
There is a Zoom link in the syllabus.
The Zoom widget at the top of the Moodle page has links for class meeting, recordings, and my office hours
Come see me during office hours—Drop in! No appointment needed. Come get help with assignments, discuss AI, or just to say "hi".
A web browser.
Adobe Reader for reading PDF files.
QuickTime, VLC Media Player or some other means of viewing videos.
Office software such as MS Office, OpenOffice.org or GoogleDocs.
Zoom for participating in class or office hours remotely.
Discord for class communication and collaboration with your team.
Sign up for a free account, if you don't already have one.
Accept my invitation to the Intro to AI Discord server (click on the link) and join the class server.
If you haven't used Discord before, here's a 15 minute beginner's tutorial.
Azure for Students account. This is a free online subscription. You won't need to download or install any software. You will use Azure AI Studio to build custom GPT chatbots.
Basic computer skills such as file management.
Experience navigating the Internet and using an Internet browser.
Basic knowledge of using office software such as a word processor.
This course is broken into topical weekly modules. The weeks start on Monday and end on Sunday. Every week is broken into four sections: Objectives, Reading, Lecture Notes and Activities.
Each week includes a set of objectives that are helpful to read before starting your work for the week.
Links to the reading required for the week will be listed here
Activities include quizzes and lab assignments both of which have due dates.
All course communication (via e-mail, Moodle Messages, discussion forums, video, chat, etc.) should be clear, concise, and respectful. Written communication should use complete sentences with standard spelling and grammar, including proper capitalization and punctuation.
The Core Rules of Netiquette is a guide to the proper protocol for participating in online classes and writing emails.
Questions about the course should be posted to the General channel on Discord. Questions of a more personal nature, such as grades or extensions, should be sent to your instructor via e-mail. E-mails to your instructor or e-mails to another department regarding support issues should include your course number and section.
All course announcements will be posted by the instructor to Discord General channel. Enable notifications for that channel and watch for them on a daily basis.
Help links can be found by clicking on the ?HELP link in the top navigation bar on Moodle.
Support information is also available at https://library.lanecc.edu/shed.