The AI conversation on college campuses is understandably focused on students. This book centers everyone else. It shows faculty, staff, and administrators how to use AI in their own work to save time, get more reliable results, and extend the reach of the expertise they already have.

No coding experience, specialized vocabulary, or technical background required.

It’s written to be read in an afternoon and usable at work the same week. Everything taught in Foundations takes place in the normal chat window, with straightforward explanations and worked examples.

Volume One focuses on the problems that make AI frustrating to use – why they happen and how to prevent them. It can sound right while being wrong, lose the thread in long discussions, and leave you repeating decisions and directions. Alongside those practical lessons is a broader shift in perspective: from viewing AI as an advanced search engine to understanding AI as an environment in which you can build what your work actually needs.

David A. Martin, Ph.D., draws on seventeen years of college-level teaching and administrative experience, and a career studying information technology as a sociologist. He developed the methods in this series through his real work as a faculty member, head of sociology, and writer, under deadlines with other people depending on the results.