Staff AI Training

• Looking for our AI usage guidelines at the University of Portland?  Click here. 

Getting Started with AI

Join Chief Information Officer Greg Pitter for an hour-long session designed to introduce newcomers to the possibilities of Generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot.  This workshop will introduce the most common tools, demonstrate some basic ways to get started using them, and help participants understand UP's guidelines and best practices around using Generative AI.  Following this class, participants will have what they know to explore AI on their own, or may decide to continue their journey in the AI Residency Program.

The Getting Started with AI program will be offered twice in Spring 2025, on March 3 and April 15.  Announcements and signups will be sent out by HR when available.

The AI Residency

• Signups for the Spring 2025 AI Residency are open!  Click here to register.

Generative Artificial Intelligence has rapidly become one of the most important technology topics of the modern era, but it has become so much of a buzzword and overhyped phenomenon that most people are still trying to figure out what it really means, how it might affect our lives, and whether we should be scared or excited.  The AI Residency Program at the University of Portland provides a chance for staff members to learn about the technology, get some experience applying it to their everyday work, and build connections with colleagues who are also interested in the topic.

The AI Residency Program includes both organized gatherings and the expectation that staff continue their exploration in their day-to-day work duties over the course of the four-week program.  For instance, this could mean experimenting with Copilot to brainstorm and research topics, or to generate a template for a grant proposal.  Through this combination of guided tasks and personal exploration, participants will get hands-on experience and immediately usable ideas for how to apply generative AI tools – many of which we already have access to – as assistants that can help all of us focus on the more rewarding and valuable tasks in our jobs. When the group meets to discuss these experiences, staff will get the chance to be inspired by each other’s stories.

Learning sessions will include information about the technology itself and some examples of ways to use it, a discussion of ethical and privacy concerns, and some recommended resources to get more help during the journey.

About the Residency

Participants in the AI Residency should be UP Staff members who may have experimented a little with generative AI tools and are interested in exploring more involved ways to use them in their day to day work.  The program consists of three in-person sessions, plus participants will be challenged to try out their newfound skills in their actual job between sessions.

• March 12: The first session will begin with a level-set to get everybody up to speed with the program itself and the tools.  It includes some background on AI, but more importantly will include in-class group work trying out tasks using AI and commenting on what works.
• March 26: After a few weeks applying the AI skills in day-to-day work, the group will discuss their successes and challenges.  The session will delve a little more into the dangers of AI and how best practices can protect against those challenges, and will include more hands-on work on increasingly involved tasks.
• April 9: The closing session will give participants a chance to sound off on their favorite AI experiences as well as to work together with both human and AI collaborators to design future AI resources for UP colleagues.

A goal of this program is to build a community of discussion and collaboration regarding AI and innovation.  Feedback and ideas from participants will help shape future professional development opportunities at UP.

Information for Supervisors

The AI Residency program entails a staff member attending three 90-minute sessions on Friday afternoons, as well as spending some time during work experimenting with ways to use AI to be more effective.  When considering whether to approve this, supervisors should consider the following benefits:

• The primary goal of the program is to make staff more effective and faster at everyday tasks by using AI effectively, safely, and responsibly. This should improve work quality while also freeing up time for higher-value projects.
• The full cohort of AI Residency participants will also remain connected, allowing each person to draw upon the collective experience of the group in devising solutions to future challenges.
• This is a cost-effective way to provide a unique professional development opportunity for staff to learn cutting-edge technology and apply that knowledge directly to current job responsibilities.
• Participants are very likely to come back to their home departments with skills and knowledge they can share, raising the capabilities of the whole office.

Eligibility and Cost

The target audience for this program is staff with some experience and knowledge with AI and a true desire to see how to use it to effectively improve their day-to-day work at UP. Participants who do not have any experience at all with AI may find themselves struggling, and are encouraged to first attend a Getting Started with AI workshop or find other ways to get a little basic knowledge.  Similarly, staff with extensive experience applying AI to problems are welcome but may not gain much additional knowledge in this program. Staff are encouraged to bring a laptop to each session if they have access to one.

Departments may choose to support this professional development experience by funding a Copilot for Office365 license for their participating members.  This license costs $360 a year for a single user, and can be requested by contacting the Information Services Help Desk at help@up.edu.  Some of the examples used in the course will be focused on Copilot for Office365 and its capabilities, and currently the enterprise Copilot engine is the only one that has been reviewed and approved as appropriate for using to analyze and work with protected data from the University.

This license is not required for participation, and participants can opt to use either the generative AI platform of their choice or a free option (such as the “web” version of Copilot, which is available for all staff), or the basic capabilities of OpenAI’s free tier of ChatGPT). 

The Spring 2025 AI Residency program will be capped at 30 participants.