Generative AI Workshop Pathway

Generative AI (GenAI) tools are truly double-edged swords. They can be helpful to subject-area experts, making their work more efficient. However, for those who lack subject expertise, these tools can lead to embarrassment or worse if the facts & analysis provided by GenAI tools are not checked for accuracy. Double edge sword

This workshop series is designed to help subject area experts & non-experts & help meet the needs of students, faculty, & staff by offering foundational to advanced research & productivity skills training:

The workshop materials are designed to be used by instructors with their classes or individuals. If you’d like to take a drop-in instructor-led workshop, please check out our list of upcoming workshops. Below are workshop lesson plans you can work through or review before taking an instructor-led session.

Introductory Workshops

  1. GenAI: Introduction & Prompt Design (Introduction)
    • Explore the use of GenAI to assist Researchers with idea generation, & consider ethical considerations
    • Participants will also explore GenAI tool usage & output for accuracy & biases & encourage informed, responsible GenAI use
  2. Literature searching with Artificial Intelligence (Introduction)
    • Learn about various AI tools that can assist with literature reviews
    • Explore attribution methods & library resource integration to encourage informed & responsible AI use
  3. Artificial Intelligence and the Environment (introduction)
    • Please contact David Boudinot for more details about the workshop or to schedule a workshop for your class

Intermediate Workshops

  1. GenAI: NotebookLM a Personal RAG Tool for Research & Productivity (Intermediate)
    • Explore how you can give NotebookLM a collection of documents so it can use the information in the documents to respond to your prompts.
    • Explore various ways NotebookLM can be used for research & productivity & evaluate its outputs for accuracy & biases
  2. Transcription with Free AI Tools (Intermediate)
    • Transcribe audio or video with Microsoft 365, Whisper.ai, & Zoom
    • Learn about the benefits & use cases for transcribing audio with Microsoft 365, Whisper.ai, & Zoom compared to other transcription technologies
  3. GenAI: Vibe Coding a Gentle Introduction (Intermediate) - COMING SUMMER 2026
    • Vibe Code, or create simple web applications using free GenAI tools for fun or for learning
    • The use of persistent storage or Databases will not be covered.

Advanced Workshops

  1. GenAI: Research Tools (Advanced)
    • Explore the use of advanced GenAI tools & techniques, including installing & using local GenAI software especially for working with private or sensitive information
    • Explore GenAI tools using specific documents as the training data, analyze datasets, perform sentiment analysis on free-form survey questions, & assist with qualitative coding
  2. GenAI: Vibe Coding for Research (Intermediate) - COMING SUMMER 2026
    • Vibe Code, or create applications to run your laptop or smartphone using GenAI tools
    • The use of persistent storage like databases will be covered.

NOTE: If you are a faculty member & would like to have a library instructor lead one of these workshops a class or a research group, please email us at dscommons@uvic.ca so that we can discuss your specific needs & learning objectives for your group.