AI Foundations: Prompt Engineering with ChatGPT Course

Lesson 1 • Capabilities and Boundaries of ChatGPT

Maps what ChatGPT reliably does well versus where it struggles. Students gain calibrated expectations before writing their first prompts.

Lesson 2 • What Is Generative AI

Defines generative AI and distinguishes it from traditional software. Anchors the chapter by establishing the conceptual baseline every later topic depends on.

Lesson 3 • How Large Language Models Work

Explains tokenization, training data, and next-token prediction at a conceptual level. Gives students a mental model for why prompts affect output quality.

Lesson 1 • Tone, Style, and Format Directives

Covers explicit instructions for controlling output style, length, and structure. Connects directly to producing outputs that fit real workplace deliverables.

Lesson 2 • Common Prompt Mistakes and Fixes

Catalogs the most frequent structural errors—vagueness, overloading, and ambiguity—and shows corrected rewrites. Builds diagnostic skills students apply in every later exercise.

Lesson 3 • Role and Persona Assignment

Teaches how assigning a role or persona to ChatGPT shapes tone, depth, and framing. Students practice role prompts across professional and creative scenarios.

Lesson 1 • Choosing the Right Technique

Provides a decision framework for selecting among zero-shot, few-shot, and chain-of-thought based on task type and complexity. Synthesizes the chapter into actionable guidance.

Lesson 2 • Chain-of-Thought Prompting

Introduces step-by-step reasoning prompts that improve accuracy on complex tasks. Students apply chain-of-thought to analytical and problem-solving scenarios.

Lesson 3 • Zero-Shot Prompting

Defines zero-shot prompting and identifies the task types where it succeeds without examples. Students practice writing zero-shot prompts for common professional tasks.

Lesson 4 • Few-Shot Prompting with Examples

Explains how embedding examples in a prompt guides output format and style. Students construct few-shot prompts and learn how example quality affects results.

Lesson 1 • Diagnosing Poor Outputs

Teaches a root-cause framework for identifying why a prompt produced an unsatisfactory result. Grounds the chapter in analytical thinking before introducing fixes.

Lesson 2 • Targeted Prompt Edits

Covers single-variable editing—changing one prompt element at a time to isolate its effect. Students practice controlled edits on real prompt-output pairs.

Lesson 3 • Building a Prompt Testing Habit

Introduces lightweight testing practices—A/B comparisons and output logging—to make refinement systematic. Prepares students for the prompt library work in later chapters.

Lesson 1 • Research and Fact-Finding Workflows

Teaches prompts for literature review, competitive research, and knowledge synthesis while managing hallucination risk. Integrates verification habits into the research workflow.

Lesson 2 • Data Analysis and Structured Output

Covers prompts for interpreting data, generating tables, and producing structured JSON or CSV output. Bridges ChatGPT with downstream data tools and workflows.

Lesson 3 • Summarization and Information Extraction

Teaches prompts that condense long texts and extract structured data from unstructured input. Connects to research, meeting notes, and document review workflows.

Lesson 4 • Brainstorming and Ideation

Demonstrates prompts that generate diverse ideas, alternatives, and creative options on demand. Equips students to use ChatGPT as a collaborative thinking partner.

Lesson 1 • Meta-Prompting and Self-Improvement

Teaches prompts that instruct ChatGPT to critique and improve its own outputs. Unlocks a powerful self-correction loop that reduces manual iteration.

Lesson 2 • Handling Sensitive and Edge-Case Prompts

Addresses how to navigate refusals, reframe sensitive requests ethically, and work within model guardrails. Builds professional judgment for responsible advanced use.

Lesson 3 • Prompt Chaining for Complex Workflows

Explains how to break a complex task into a sequence of dependent prompts, passing outputs forward. Enables automation-ready workflows that go beyond single-turn interactions.

Lesson 4 • Simulations and Role-Play Scenarios

Covers structured role-play prompts for training simulations, scenario planning, and stakeholder perspective-taking. Expands ChatGPT use into learning design and strategy work.

Lesson 1 • Marketing and Content Creation

Covers prompts for ad copy, social media posts, SEO content, and brand voice consistency. Connects prompting skills to measurable content production goals.

Lesson 2 • Software Development and Code Assistance

Teaches prompts for code generation, debugging, documentation, and code review. Equips developers and technical professionals to accelerate their coding workflows.

Lesson 3 • Finance and Operations Analysis

Applies prompting to financial narrative writing, process documentation, and operational reporting. Bridges ChatGPT capabilities with structured business analysis needs.

Lesson 4 • Customer Service and Support

Covers prompts for drafting responses, handling complaints, and building FAQ content. Prepares customer-facing teams to deploy ChatGPT responsibly in service workflows.

Lesson 1 • Prompt Governance and Quality Control

Introduces review workflows, deprecation policies, and audit trails to keep the library accurate and safe. Connects prompt management to organizational risk and compliance needs.

Lesson 2 • Measuring Prompt Library ROI

Defines metrics for tracking time savings, output quality, and adoption rates across the library. Gives students the language to justify prompt engineering investment to stakeholders.

Lesson 3 • Principles of Prompt Documentation

Establishes standards for naming, describing, and versioning prompts so they remain reusable over time. Lays the organizational foundation for the library built throughout this chapter.

Lesson 4 • Designing Reusable Prompt Templates

Teaches how to abstract specific prompts into parameterized templates with variable placeholders. Enables rapid customization without rewriting prompts from scratch.