Event description
Students often ask two key questions about Generative AI (GAI):
- what is allowed and what is forbidden?
- how should we use the tool?
For the first question, you will have to check with your course instructor. Opinions on what is allowed and forbidden vary widely. For example, one policy can be found here: GAI policy
but specific rules depend on the course context and exam format.
This seminar focuses on the second question: how should we use the tool - to learn?
The seminar will begin with a high-level overview of how these tools (not just the underlying language models) work, so you have an idea of what happens from the moment you enter a prompt to when you receive a response. Then, we’ll explore a series of steps, each introducing a general principle followed by practical examples. Finally, we’ll examine key learning tasks and demonstrate how GAI can optimise them.
The aim is not to let GAI do your thinking for you, but to use it to make your own learning more active, efficient, and effective.
What I will go through in the seminar is not rocket science; effective GAI use is based on a small number of simple principles that make a surprisingly large difference. Although most of the specific examples are drawn from software configuration management, they can easily be adapted to other settings.
By the end of the seminar, you will have a theoretical idea of how these tools work and how they can be used to improve your learning. In the following weeks, you should try, piece by piece, to put these strategies into practice. This will help you gain experience and identify what works for you - and what doesn’t. You'll quickly end up with your own personalised tutor who is there to help you learn whatever you need whenever you need it.