USF Microcredentials

AI, Agents, LLMs, Prompting and More: An Overview

The most confident AI users aren't always the most effective ones.

Knowing what a model is doing when you hit enter is what separates a useful answer from a convincing wrong one. In this self-paced, one-hour course you will learn from a faculty expert in USF's Bellini College of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and Computing to build a working understanding of artificial intelligence, large language models (LLMs), agentic AI, and the prompting and context habits that make these tools dependable at work.

The Sequel to a Successful Approach

This microcourse was designed as a natural sequel to the successful AI Whisperer: A Microcourse in Crafting Prompts. This brand-new microcourse allows for a deeper dive into prompting by focusing on building agents and context within your most-used AI tools.

However, there are no prerequisites for AI, Agents, LLMs, Prompting and More: An Overview. Anyone can successfully follow the modules and learn best practices, regardless of whether they completed AI Whisperer.

What Are You Signing Up For?

Four short modules pair expert-led video instruction with knowledge checks that confirm what information stuck (and what might be worth a second glance). Complete the course in a single sitting or return at any time to continue where you left off. By the end, you will have the vocabulary to discuss AI credibly with colleagues and leadership, plus techniques you can apply in your very next interaction with an AI tool.

Successful completers earn access to purchase the USF AI Upskilling Foundations digital badge, ready to be displayed on your LinkedIn profile, email signature, or résumé.

No application. No cohort schedule. No prerequisite coursework.

Open Module 1 and begin.

Who Should Take This Course:

This course is designed for:

• Professionals in any field who already use AI tools at work and want to understand more about what they are using, not just which buttons to press.
• Supervisors, team leads, and managers being asked to guide their teams toward responsible, defensible AI use.
• Staff in data-sensitive or compliance-minded roles who need to recognize where AI systems fail before those failures reach a client, a record, or a decision.
• Anyone who has heard “agentic AI,” “context window,” or “hallucination” in a meeting and nodded along.

No prior coding or technical background is required.

Course Outcomes and Skills:

• Demonstrate responsible AI use in realistic workplace scenarios.
• Define the core concepts behind AI, LLMs, and agentic systems, and explain how they differ from one another.
• Identify the common risks and limitations of AI systems, including hallucinations, sycophantic responses, and privacy considerations.
• Apply foundational prompting techniques, including chain-of-thought reasoning and task decomposition, to improve accuracy.
• Manage context deliberately across a working session and recognize when to start fresh.
• Evaluate AI outputs for accuracy and reliability instead of taking fluency for correctness.
• Demonstrate responsible AI use in realistic workplace scenarios.

Learning Journey:

• Module 1: Foundations - What Is Agentic AI? How LLMs generate responses, what makes a system agentic, and the main ways models are deployed and accessed.
• Module 2: What to Watch Out For. Hallucinations, sycophantic behavior, and how AI providers handle your data.
• Module 3: Prompting - Talking So AI Will Listen. Structuring requests, breaking down complex tasks, and steering a conversation that has drifted off target.
• Module 4: Context Engineering Basics. What consumes context window space, what belongs in context, and how to spot context rot.

The modules build on one another and should be completed in the order presented.

Assessment and Completion

Each module closes with a five-question knowledge check. A score of 80% (4 of 5) unlocks the next module. The course concludes with a 10-question final assessment, and a score of 70% (7 of 10) earns your badge. Attempts are unlimited on every assessment because the goal is understanding, not test-taking.

For the best experience, bookmark this course or note your progress before exiting.

Ready to Start?

We hope you enjoy the course and take full advantage of the opportunities it provides.