Weeks 1 to 2 · about 6 hours
Module 1: AI Primer
Instructor notes (instructor view only)
- Expect pushback and welcome it. Grade the reasoning, not the opinion.
- Model checking an AI answer live in the first video.
- Students under 18: some Gemini features (for example Deep Research) are blocked on their accounts. Nothing in this module requires a blocked feature; confirm in Week 1 that every student can open Gemini with the Maricopa account.
Build list before this module opens
- Create and caption the video: How AI works: it predicts the next word, it does not know facts, it makes things up, and the account you use matters (8 minutes, captioned)
- Create and caption the video: How to use it well: role, task, context, format; then verify; then revise. Includes checking one answer live (8 minutes, captioned)
- Create and caption the video: The course rules: Gemini writes and gives feedback, it never designs; the AI-use log (4 minutes, captioned)
Objectives
Module 1 objectives. By the end of this module, you will be able to:
- 1.1 Explain why employers expect AI skills, and the real costs of AI. (Course Competency 1; Understand)
- 1.2 Explain in plain terms how a large language model produces an answer, and why it can be wrong. (Course Competency 1; Understand)
- 1.3 Write, test and revise a prompt, and verify the result against a source. (Course Competency 3; Apply)
- 1.4 Explain your own position on using AI in creative work, citing evidence. (Course Competency 1; Understand)
Overview
You are here because you want a career doing this work. The people who will hire you have already decided AI skills matter: in Microsoft and LinkedIn’s 2024 Work Trend Index, 66 percent of business leaders said they would not hire someone without AI skills, and 71 percent said they would rather hire a less experienced candidate who has them. Our industry advisors asked us to teach it.
Many students have serious doubts about AI, and some of those doubts are right. AI is trained on artists’ work, often without permission. It makes confident mistakes. It reflects the biases in its training data. Data centers used about 1.5 percent of the world’s electricity in 2024, and the International Energy Agency expects that to more than double by 2030. This course does not hide those problems.
The case for learning it anyway: refusing AI does not slow it down; it removes your voice from how it is used. Designers who decide how AI is used in their studios are the ones who understand it well enough to be trusted. This course keeps the creative work in your hands, teaches you to use AI for what it does well, and to catch it when it is wrong.
Is this cheating? No. AI use here is assigned, disclosed in your AI-use log, and you are graded on your own thinking. How your work is protected: Maricopa account only; under the district’s Google for Education agreement, what you enter is not reviewed by people, not used to train AI models, and not used for ads. Your instructor never puts your work into a public AI tool.
Watch
- How AI works: it predicts the next word, it does not know facts, it makes things up, and the account you use matters (8 minutes, captioned)
- How to use it well: role, task, context, format; then verify; then revise. Includes checking one answer live (8 minutes, captioned)
- The course rules: Gemini writes and gives feedback, it never designs; the AI-use log (4 minutes, captioned)
- Videos are posted in Canvas before the module opens.
Read
- Google for Education, Gemini for Education, see “Your data is not human-reviewed or used to train AI models”
- Google Workspace with Gemini FAQ for Education
- Microsoft and LinkedIn, 2024 Work Trend Index
- International Energy Agency, Energy and AI, executive summary
- AIGA, the professional association for design, find and read one current article on AI in graphic design
Practice
- Write a prompt about a design topic, then revise it twice using role, task, context and format.
- Fact-check three claims in Gemini’s answer against a source.
Assessment
- AI Primer: 10 points, Process Work; due Thu Jan 28 at noon
Critique
Post two or three sentences on where you stand on AI in design, and reply respectfully to three classmates who see it differently. This is part of the AI Primer submission.
Due
- AI Primer: Discord Wed Jan 27; due Thu Jan 28; hard close Fri Jan 29, all at noon