Watch Generative AI workshops

ITS Instructional Support Generative AI Workshop Series

In response to the evolving education technology landscape, ITS Teaching & Learning is spearheading a new workshop series to integrate Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) into academic practices. The series aims to equip our academic community with the requisite skills for leveraging GenAI in teaching and learning and professional and personal productivity. This workshop series, developed in collaboration with U-M's Teaching and Technology Collaborative (TTC), aims to streamline the understanding and application of GenAI concepts across faculty, staff, and students.

Visit the Instructional Support Workshops page to register for upcoming live workshops.


Beginner Workshops

Generative AI Basics

This workshop is designed for instructors, students, and staff interested in learning the basics of generative artificial intelligence and its applications in academic and everyday settings. Attending this workshop will give participants a basic understanding of common GenAI tools and its relevance to various educational and professional contexts. Additionally, participants will be introduced to high-level privacy, ethical, and equity issues, which will prepare instructors for further, more extensive training opportunities.

Workshop Outline:

  • What is GenAI?
    • Unpacking key concepts and terminology
  • Different types of GenAI models relevant to education
    • Text, image, code generation
  • Academic Integrity
  • Equity and Bias Concerns
  • Privacy and Legal Concerns

Topics: Generative AI

Level: Beginner

Trainer: Nargas Oskui, Nichole Marbury, Monica Hickson

Generative AI in the Classroom (Pt 1)

This training course is designed to equip faculty with the necessary skills and knowledge to begin integrating Generative Artificial Intelligence into the classroom setting and considering its impact. The course will also focus on linking transparent design principles and authentic assessments to ensure that students can apply their learning in practical, real-world situations.

Recommended Prerequisites: Generative AI Basics

Workshop Outline:

  • Can GenAI complete my assessment? How will GenAI affect my courses?
  • GenAI syllabus statements
  • GenAI Citations
  • Talking about GenAI with students
  • Designing assignments in the GenAI era
  • Resources and Support

Topics: Generative AI

Level: Beginner

Trainer: Angela Marocco and Kalpana Joshi

Generative AI with U-M GPT

This hands-on, interactive workshop from ITS and the TTC introduces faculty to U-M GPT, U-M’s equitable, accessible, and secure text-based Generative Artificial Intelligence tool, and provides an overview of the 60+ ChatGPT Assignments to Use in Your Classroom Today Book Guide. During the workshop, attendees will learn how to craft effective GenAI prompts and try out activities in the book guide that they can add to their assignments to support student learning.

Recommended Prerequisites: Generative AI Basics

Workshop Outline:

  • Introduce U-M GPT
  • Prompt Literacy introduction
  • Introduce the 60+ Assignment Prompts guide
  • Explore prompt types in break-out rooms
  • Share out experiences with prompts
  • Wrap-up & share resources

Topics: Generative AI

Level: Beginner

Trainer: Angela Marocco, Jennifer Love, Carson Waites, Siba El Dallal, Sarah Noah

Leveraging Generative AI to Create Imagery (Pt 1)

Spark your Digital Creativity! Curious about Generative AI and how it’s integrated into Adobe products? Learn how to write descriptive prompts to quickly and easily generate extraordinary image content with Adobe Firefly and DALL-E 3 in U-M GPT. No experience is needed. As a reminder, Michigan is an Adobe Creative Campus which gives students, faculty, and staff access to Adobe Creative Cloud for free!

Recommended Prerequisites: Generative AI Basics

Workshop Outline:

  • GenAI overview
  • GenAI text to image creation
  • Imagery prompting
  • U-M GPT Dall-E 3
  • Adobe Firefly overview
  • Firefly demo and hands-on exercises
    • Text to image
    • Generative fill
    • Text effects
  • Firefly learning resources

Topics: Generative AI, U-M GPT, DALL-E 3, Adobe Firefly

Level: Beginner

Trainer: Kristine Towne, Angela Marocco



Beginner/Intermediate Workshops

Generative AI in the Classroom (Pt 2)

This workshop from ITS and the TTC is designed to assist faculty with learning how to integrate Generative Artificial Intelligence into the classroom. We will provide tips and hands-on opportunities for using U-M GPT to produce effective instructional materials such as effective discussion prompts, assignments, assignment rubrics and lesson plans. GenAI syllabi statements and syllabi creation will be discussed as well.

Recommended Prerequisites: Generative AI Basics

Workshop Outline:

  • Recap from GenAI in the Classroom, Part 1 and discussion
    • How have you used GenAI in your courses?
  • Hands-on time with AI
  • Using AI to create:
    • Syllabi
    • Challenging discussion prompts
    • Authentic assignments
    • Thorough rubrics

Topics: Generative AI, U-M GPT

Level: Beginner/Intermediate

Trainer: Monica Hickson, Nargas Oskui

Getting Started with U-M Maizey

Do you want an around-the-clock TA for your course? It’s possible with U-M’s Maizey GenAI tool! In this workshop, the benefits of Maizey will be explained- ranging from a Canvas course aid or the ability to index your personal Google Drive files. The workshop will demonstrate a step-by-step process of setting up Maizey, as well as offer hands-on opportunities. Faculty showcases/examples will be shared during the workshop. Privacy and academic concerns will also be discussed. This workshop is being offered by ITS and the TTC.

Recommended Prerequisites: Generative AI Basics

Workshop Outline:

  • What is Maizey?
    • Demo of Maizey
    • Why use Maizey instead of U-M GPT
    • Privacy
    • What it can read
    • The Cost
  • How to set it up and index the content
    • Demo
    • Hands-on opportunity

Topics: Generative AI, U-M GPT

Level: Intermediate

Trainer: Angela Marocco, Aaron Elam, Kalpana Joshi, Sarah Noah



Intermediate/Advanced Workshops

Mastering the Art of Prompting with U-M GPT

Learn to prompt effectively using U-M GPT by exploring techniques for AI prompt engineering. This workshop offers hands-on activities and advanced applications in conversation manipulation and creative AI interaction. Dive deep into conversational prompts, rephrasing prompts, prompt style and tone, inserting text/data, and much more on your way to becoming a master of AI prompt engineering.

Recommended Prerequisites: Generative AI Basics and Generative AI with U-M GPT

Workshop Outline:

  • Prompt literacy recap
    • Three elements: Author, audience, and purpose
  • Effective text/data input into U-M GPT
  • Prompt Engineering – Hands-On Opportunities:
    • Conversations/Length
    • Rephrase/New Chat
    • Specified Style/Tone
  • Intro to U-M GPT Dall-E 3 (Image generator)
    • How to prompt in Dall-E 3

Topics: Generative AI, U-M GPT, DALL-E 3

Level: Intermediate/Advanced

Trainer: Angela Marocco, Jennifer Love, Carson Waites, Sarah Noah

Boosting Teaching Productivity with Generative AI

Ready to transform your teaching workflows and free up valuable time? Join our interactive workshop and discover how Generative AI (GenAI) tools can streamline your approach to teaching tasks, course data, and administrative tasks. Get ready to boost your teaching productivity and gain more time to engage with your students!

Recommended Prerequisites: Generative AI Basics and Generative AI with U-M GPT (or Generative AI in the Classroom, Part 2)

Workshop Outline:

  • Effortless course content creation: Learn how GenAI can help you create lesson plan materials, such as slides and content for your Canvas pages/courses.
  • Streamlined data analysis: Explore techniques for analyzing student feedback and summarizing academic materials.
  • Hands-on experience: Get comfortable using GenAI tools through practical hands-on exercises.
  • Peer insights: Participate in discussions and learn best practices for integrating GenAI in higher education.

Topics: Generative AI, U-M GPT

Level: Intermediate/Advanced

Trainer: Monica Hickson, Nichole Marbury, Angela Marocco, Jennifer Love, Siba El Dallal

Ignite Digital Creativity — Generative AI Imagery (Pt 2)

Join us as we continue to explore generative AI imagery. Learn how to write descriptive prompts to generate unique image content using Adobe Firefly features integrated into Adobe Express. Participate in hands-on experiences to create and modify custom images in Express. As a reminder, Michigan is an Adobe Creative Campus which gives students, faculty, and staff access to Adobe Creative Cloud for free!

Recommended Prerequisites: Generative AI Basics and Leveraging Generative AI to Create Imagery

Workshop Outline:

  • Imagery prompting recap
  • Adobe Firefly overview
  • Adobe Express overview
  • Images effects
  • Express demo and hands-on exercises
    • Firefly Generative fill
    • Firefly Text-to-image
    • Firefly Text effects
    • Firefly Text-to-template
  • Adobe resources

Topics: Generative AI, Adobe Firefly

Level: Intermediate/Advanced

Trainer: Kristine Towne, Angela Marocco, Nichole Marbury, Elizabeth Fomin

Tailoring U-M Maizey: Your Personalized Digital Assistant

Want a customized assistant for your data? Elevate your Maizey skills as we delve into the craft of ‘system prompting’ within the U-M Maizey interface. System prompts allow users to personalize how their Maizey will interact with end users, giving a Maizey project a custom persona. Crafting a system prompt allows users to curate their data, which is like having a personalized librarian or assistant. This workshop will also explore how to customize the temperature in Maizey, which helps project owners refine the scope of their Maizey results.

Recommended Prerequisites: Generative AI Basics and Getting Started with U-M Maizey

Workshop Outline:

  • Discuss how Maizey works
  • Define what Maizey is and is not
  • Review of Maizey setup
  • Define the difference between Maizey prompts
    • User question prompt vs System prompt
  • Craft a System prompt and explore how it affects the results
  • Adjust Temperature and explore how it affects results

Topics: Generative AI, U-M Maizey

Level: Intermediate/Advanced

Trainer: Angela Marocco, Aaron Elam, Kalpana Joshi, Sarah Noah, Nargas Oskui



Watch Generative AI workshops