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Week 1 · Guide 4 of 7

Foundations

Learning with Your Agent

Field Guide

  • 15–25 minGuided walkthrough

Use your agent to explore a topic that matters to you, ask about unclear parts, and practice explaining or using what you learn.

You’ll leave with

An explanation or practice result for your chosen topic, plus one useful takeaway you can return to.

What You Need for This Guide

  • A rough topic or question you want to understand.
  • Access to ordinary chat in your approved AI tool.
  • Your notes app or a document for saving one useful takeaway.

Choose the tool you’re allowed to use

Your approved tool

The tool your company approved.

Pick your approved tool above to see the steps and screenshots for it.

Start guide
6 steps · At your own pace
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Standard Data rules for AI at work

Data Rules

Data rules for AI at work

Check with your IT Team before you paste any work data into an AI tool. Avoid names, account numbers, customer data, or anything sensitive without explicit permission from IT. If you aren't sure, redact anything sensitive and replace it with generic information. AI makes mistakes, make sure to fact check your agents outputs even if they sound right.

Before you start

  • Check with your IT teamAsk what your company allows before you put anything from work into an AI tool. Your company policy is the one that counts, and it is the one this library cannot see.
  • Use the tool your company approvedChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and Gemini Enterprise are all covered here. Use the one your company approved, not the one you like best.
  • Sign in with your work accountA work account keeps your chats inside the agreement your company signed. A personal account in the same product sits outside it.
  • No approved account yetFollow the steps with made-up example text, or on paper, until IT gives you one.

Never put this into an AI tool

  • Customer or personal detailsNo names, email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses or account numbers. That covers colleagues as well as customers.
  • Regulated recordsHealth, financial, HR and legal records stay in the systems built to hold them, unless IT has told you in writing that this tool may see them.
  • Passwords, keys and access codesNo credentials of any kind, yours or anyone else’s, and nothing that grants access to a system.
  • Anything under an NDA or not yet publicUnreleased plans, contracts, pricing and source code need clearance before they go near a chat window.
  • Anything your company policy prohibitsYour company’s rules win over anything in this library. If policy keeps something out of AI tools, it stays out, whatever a guide suggests.

Do this instead

  • Swap real details for placeholdersWrite “Customer A”, “[client name]”, “$X”. You get the same quality of answer, and you put the real details back yourself.
  • Describe the situation rather than pasting the documentMost of what an agent needs is the shape of the problem, not the file it arrived in.
  • Trim a file before you upload or paste itTake out the identifying columns and pages first, or work from a short extract.

Check the answer before you use it

  • Read it as if a colleague had drafted itAn agent states wrong things with complete confidence. Your name goes on the work, so the check is yours.
  • Say where the agent helpedFollow your company rule on disclosing AI assistance, especially in client-facing or formal work.

When you are not sure

  • Ask before you paste or upload, not afterA question to your IT team takes a minute. Cleaning up after a data incident takes a great deal longer.
  • When in doubt, leave it outIf you would not put it in an email to someone outside the company, keep it out of the chat.
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Step

Tell your agent what you want to learn

  1. Choose something you want to understand or do: a meeting term, spreadsheet feature or hobby. If nothing comes to mind, recall something you looked up but still had questions about.

    Write what you'd like to explain or do and why. Add your starting knowledge, even if it's “I'm starting from nothing.” The agent can help narrow a rough interest.

  2. Start a new chat for this topic and copy the prompt below into its message box. Replace each bracketed section with your details, remove the brackets and send it.

    Start learning something with your agent
    Download
    Help me learn about [topic or question].
I want to understand or be able to [what I want to explain or do, and why].
What I already know: [my starting point, including anything confusing].
Time I have today: [minutes].

If my goal is too broad, help me choose one useful starting point. Ask only for information you need, one question at a time, and wait for my reply. If I have given enough context, begin teaching.

Start with a short explanation in everyday language and a concrete example connected to my purpose. Explain unfamiliar terms when you first use them. Show how the idea works and why it matters, beyond its definition. Point out any important limit of a simplified explanation.

Teach one manageable piece at a time, then pause for my questions. Adapt the explanation when I tell you what is unclear. Do not assume I have learned something because I read it or agreed with you. If we practice, wait for my attempt before showing an answer.

Distinguish established facts from uncertainty. Do not invent sources or claim to have checked material you have not inspected. Keep this learning conversation in the chat.

  3. The agent should give a short explanation or ask a useful question. Answer in your own words and correct mistaken assumptions. If it proposes too much, ask for one part that fits today. Stay in this chat throughout the guide.

Step

Shape the explanation around what you need

Read the first explanation. If you can follow it, go to step 3 and try it yourself. Otherwise, name the unclear part and choose an approach below.

  1. Choose an approach that would help with that specific part:

    • A concrete example shows the idea in a situation you recognize.
    • A familiar comparison gives you a way to picture something abstract.
    • A step-by-step walkthrough explains how a process or skill works.
    • A side-by-side comparison separates two ideas you keep mixing up.
    • A simple text diagram shows how the parts connect.

    Replace both bracketed sections in the card, choosing one approach for this reply.

    Try a different explanation
    Stay with the topic we are discussing.
The part I want to explore is: [the word, idea, sentence or step].
Try this approach: [a concrete example, a familiar comparison, a step-by-step walkthrough, a comparison of two ideas, or a simple text diagram].

Explain that part in a way that connects to my goal and what I already know. Keep the important qualifications. If you use an analogy, explain where the comparison stops fitting. Then pause so I can ask a follow-up.

  2. Read the new explanation and follow what interests you or remains unclear. Name any term you still don't understand. For a comparison, check where it stops fitting. Once you can follow the idea, try it yourself.

Step

Find out what you can explain or do yourself

An explanation may feel familiar. Trying it without looking shows what you can explain or do yourself.

  1. In the same chat, send the check prompt. For a term, explain it with a new example. For a skill, try one small task that fits your goal. Look away from the lesson during your first attempt.

    Check what I can explain or do
    Help me check my understanding of the part we covered.

Give me one short question or practice task that fits my learning goal, using an example you have not already solved for me. If I am learning a term or idea, ask me to explain or apply it. If I am learning a skill, give me a small task I can attempt.

Wait for my answer before giving the solution or a hint. Then explain what is correct, what needs changing and why. Do not invent an error if my answer works. If I struggle, offer one hint and let me try again. After a correction, offer a similar question to check whether I can use it. Do not treat your feedback as independent proof of factual accuracy.

  2. Read the feedback and reasons. If you're stuck, say where and ask for a hint. After a correction, try a similar question without copying. If the solution arrives too soon, ask for a different question and remind the agent to wait. When your answer works, move on without inventing a mistake.

Step

Double-check the part you’ll use

  1. Look back at the answer or example you tried in step 3. Check the result against what you were trying to learn, and ask about any part that remains unclear.

  2. Before relying on an uncertain fact or a claim that could affect an important decision, verify it against a trusted source, such as your course material or the tool’s official help. Asking the agent again does not establish that it is true.

Step

Make a plan if you want to go further

If you can explain the term or answer your question, go to step 6. Larger goals may need several short sessions.

  1. Use the planning prompt in this chat. Fill the brackets with your realistic time and target, or write 'no deadline'.

    Make a learning plan I can use
    Use the goal, starting knowledge and practice from this conversation to help me plan what to learn next.

My available time is [minutes per session and how often].
My target or deadline, if any, is [what I want to be able to do and when, or no deadline].

Suggest a short sequence that starts from what I can currently explain or do. For each stage, name what I will learn, one small practice activity, and what I should be able to explain or demonstrate before moving on. Put any necessary foundations first.

Give me a manageable first session. Ask about a missing constraint only if it would change the plan. Treat timing as an estimate and tell me if the goal is too large for the time available. Flag activities that need equipment, access or instruction beyond this chat. Do not invent resources or assume access to paid courses. Let me adjust the plan before we continue.

  2. Check what you'll practice in the first session and how you'll judge your progress. If it assumes knowledge or equipment you lack, say so and ask for a smaller start. Adjust the plan as you learn.

Step

Save one useful takeaway

  1. Keep one thing you’ll use again: a short explanation, a useful example, or the steps for the skill you practiced. Save it in your notes app or a document named for the topic.

  2. Next time you need it, open that note. To continue in a new chat, paste the note and say what you want to learn next. For another topic, reuse the starting prompt in a new chat and edit your saved copy to fit how you work.

Learning with Your Agent

Confirm your result

Confirm the outcomes below to finish this guide.

Final checks

You can explain or use the part of your chosen topic you worked on, without copying the agent’s answer.

You have one useful explanation, example or set of steps saved where you can find it again.

Provide Feedback

Thanks. That went straight to the people who write these guides.

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