During Summer 2026, Carleton offered three sessions of our inaugural Critical AI Literacy Certificate for Employees. During the academic year 2026-2027, we will continue to offer certificate sessions in one-hour segments.

In order to earn the certificate, participants need to complete eight sessions, including, if deemed necessary, an online session in Moodle.  Some of these sessions are foundational and required while others are electives. Most sessions will require you to bring a laptop.

Fall sessions 2026 are scheduled Thursdays, 3:30-4:30pm, in various locations. Please indicate your interest through this Google form. We will invite you to the events you are interested in using Google Calendar. Some basic knowledge and vocabulary is available on our Employee Certificate Moodle site.

Fall 2026 Sessions

September 17: Practical Application (Required)

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  1. Create a prompt that incorporates context, format, and constraints to produce more useful output
  2. Apply iterative prompting strategies 
  3. Use a supported Carleton tool for one relevant workplace task
  4. Select appropriate use cases for AI assistance
  5. Evaluate generative AI output for accuracy, and whether it actually saved time or improved their work

Location: Weitz 026 (Idea Lab)

September 24: Critical Evaluation (Required)

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  1. Understand how generative AI outputs can reflect and amplify biases
  2. Recognize “hallucinations” and other confident-sounding AI errors, and explain why they occur
  3. Assess AI-generated content for accuracy and using fact-checking strategies
  4. Identify when human judgement is non-negotiable

Location: Weitz 026 (Idea Lab)

October 1 – no session

October 8:  Privacy (Required)

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Explain what happens to data entered into AI tools
  • Identify categories of sensitive information that should not be entered into AI tools
  • Locate Carleton’s current policies governing AI use
  • Apply a decision framework to determine when AI use is appropriate in their workplace
  • Describe their own boundaries around AI use in their work area
  • Connect their AI use to broader ethical considerations around privacy, consent, and college responsibility
  • Understand that training materials and copyright have a complex relationship

Location: Weitz 026 (Idea Lab)

October 15:  Hands on Practice (Required)

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Apply prompting and evaluation skills from previous sessions to a task drawn from their own work context
  • Demonstrate at least one AI-Assisted workflow that may be helpful in their work
  • Share what worked and what didn’t with peers
  • Identify at least one additional use case in their work they want to try after this session

Location: Weitz 026 (Idea Lab)

October 22: Deep Dive into Copyright and Intellectual Property (Elective)

By the end of this session, participants will:

  • Review basic guidelines related to copyright and fair use
  • Develop an awareness of the potential legal challenges that generative AI poses
  • Assess risk associated with using copyrighted materials with generative AI tools

Location: Leighton 303

October 29: Developing Bots (Elective)

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Identify a repetitive task in their work area that is a good candidate for a chatbot/AI assistant
  • Draft a basic system prompt that defines the bot’s role, context and use case, boundaries, and how it should output responses
  • Use relevant source materials or reference documents to ground their bot’s responses in more accurate, context-specific information
  • Test and refine a bot’s performance to improve behaviors and accuracy
  • Share a working bot with colleagues

Location: Anderson 223

November 5: Deep Dive into Sustainability, Environmental and Resource Questions Connected to AI (Elective)

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • connect data centers with questions of sustainability, energy, and water
  • connect data centers to generative AI generation and use
  • understand their personal roles and responsibilities in this larger system

Location: Willis 204

November 12:  Supporting Student Workers Using Generative AI While Working with You (Elective)

By the end of this session, participants will:

  • Have a basic structure to introduce student workers to generative AI at Carleton
  • have at least one evaluation criterion to assess this AI-enabled work

Location: Sayles 252

Continued Learning

Carleton has a Community of Practice that shares ideas about AI. This group is often focused on teaching and learning. When you complete your certificate, you will join a group of others who have gone through the program. We will continue to share what we are learning in our use of generative AI.

Starting in Fall 2026, we will also have a monthly informal gathering to discuss questions and ideas about AI.