Fall 2026 AI Workshops Champlain College Saint-Lambert

Wednesday Free Block, 12:30 to 2:15

Choose your AI workshop path.

Learn practical, ethical ways to work with generative AI this fall:

  • Choose individual stand-alone workshops
  • Join the four-session certificate program
  • Or do both for the complete training

All workshops will take place during the Wednesday free blocks.

Stand-alone workshops

A more flexible format for students who want to explore specific topics without committing to a certificate program. Register for one, two, or all three standalone workshops.

Individual sign-up No certificate 3 options
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AI Certificate

A short, up-to-date program on generative AI, from understanding how it works to using it effectively and ethically. Completing the program earns students an official Champlain certificate signed by the Academic Dean and AI Certificate Coordinator.

4 consecutive workshops 7 hours total 3 short submissions Champlain certificate
View certificate

Option 1

Three stand-alone AI workshops

These workshops are separate from the short certificate program. Students may attend any number of them without committing to all three.

Sign up for stand-alone workshops

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

How AI 'Thinks' and 'Writes'

Discover how generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini actually work beneath their deceptive chat interfaces. We'll explore how they simulate human thinking, process your questions, generate words, and why their outputs aren't always factually correct. This interactive, visually-rich session will help you understand what's really happening when you chat with AI, empowering you to use these tools more critically and effectively by recognizing their true strengths and limitations.

Identical to certificate Workshop 1

Wednesday, October 14, 2026

AI as Study Tool

Learn how generative AI can enhance your study process while maintaining academic integrity. We'll clarify College policies on AI use, discuss what's acceptable versus problematic, and help you draw clear lines between using AI to support your learning and using it to complete graded work. You'll share study practices and prompts with your peers, learn effective prompting techniques, and gain access to an extended library of study prompts specifically designed for Champlain students.

Study skills

Wednesday, November 18, 2026

How to Chat with AI

Develop practical skills for productive, multi-turn conversations with AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini. By examining two examples of human-AI chat sessions--one effective and one less so--you'll discover techniques for guiding AI conversations in the direction you want. This hands-on workshop ensures you stay in control of the interaction while getting valuable AI outputs that align with your personal needs and insights.

Hands-on practice

Option 2

Certificate on Generative AI: Ethical Practices and Technical Insights

A short student certificate program built around four consecutive Wednesday workshops and three short submissions.

Sign up for the AI Certificate
Oct. 21, 2026

1. How AI "Thinks" and "Writes"

  • Foundational Concepts: Learn how generative AI tools are trained, what they "know," and how they generate content based on patterns in their training data rather than facts or true understanding.
  • Understanding AI Limitations: Recognize the limitations of AI in providing reliable facts, while learning why it is important to critically evaluate AI-generated content.
  • Active Engagement: Discover how effective AI interactions depend on the user's insights and guidance, which can improve the originality, accuracy, and relevance of AI responses.
Oct. 28, 2026

2. AI Ethics

  • Key Ethical Concerns: Explore ethical considerations related to AI, including trust, privacy, intellectual property, environmental impact, transparency, and the risks of misinformation.
  • Bias Awareness: Identify how biases in AI outputs can come from both the AI's training data and the user's input, and learn why critical evaluation is essential.
  • Practical Ethical Guidelines: Apply practical ethical guidelines, such as crafting neutral prompts to reduce bias, giving clear instructions to improve explainability and verifiability, and providing AI with your own insights.
  • Ethical Opting-Out: Understand that selective engagement with AI, or choosing not to use AI at all, can be a valid ethical choice.
Nov. 4, 2026

3. Prompt Engineering

  • Original Prompting: Learn how to design ethical prompts that integrate your own insights and data, reducing reliance on patterns in training data that may have been used without consent.
  • Prompting Template: Use a structured prompting template to move beyond simplistic prompts. By integrating personal insights, specific context, detailed instructions, and carefully selected data, you can generate AI outputs that are more effective, accurate, and ethically responsible.
  • Hands-On Practice: Practice designing, testing, and refining a structured prompt while applying both technical skills and ethical principles.
Nov. 11, 2026

4. AI Ethics and Prompting in Action

  • Submission Alignment: Review how your submissions align with the ethical principles, technical insights, and instructions introduced in previous workshops.
  • Individualized Support: Receive one-on-one assistance to address specific challenges or questions related to your submissions.