Beyond the Prompt: Building Custom Tools with AI

Summer Short Course

The Department of Computer Science & Engineering is offering a four-week, in-person short course over the summer covering the basics of building applications with artificial intelligence (AI). This course is designed to be accessible for all professionals, regardless of coding experience.

In "Beyond the Prompt: Building Custom Tools with AI", students will go beyond basic AI prompting and learn the skills needed for AI-assisted app development. Through guided, hands-on exercises, students will build a modest, but functional custom application tailored to their personal or professional needs. The course also covers how AI works under the hood, and will help students develop their own opinions about the ethical landscape of AI use in the workplace. Students will finish the course with a better understanding of modern AI and a roadmap to build real apps for their personal and professional lives. 

Expand Your AI Skills

By the end of this course, students will:

  • Understand how modern AI actually works in non-technical terms and its ethical considerations; 
  • Build a personalized application designed to address a professional need; 
  • Establish a roadmap to take on more ambitious AI projects in the future; and
  • Foster connections with other professionals in the Twin Cities area.

Course Schedule

Week 1 (June 1 & 3) : AI foundations, first working application, and environmental ethics

Week 2 (June 8 & 10): Deeper AI mechanics, first custom application draft, and AI bias

Week 3 (June 15 & 17): Code quality, beta testing, and workplace ethics

Week 4 (June 22 & 24): Project demonstrations, ethical frameworks, and planning for the future

Review the full curriculum and course details


Instructor

Dan Knights

Associate Professor Dan Knights is a researcher and educator whose work centers on building custom AI and data tools to decode complex systems. His recent projects span from applications in human health to building AI-driven engineering tools for sustainability and environmental mapping. Additionally, Knights was the CEO and co-founder of CoreBiome, Inc., a startup company based on University technology that provides analysis of microbial communities for human health, agricultural, and environmental applications, from 2017-2020.

Course Details and Requirements

Course Details

  • Dates: June 1-24, 2026
    • Mondays and Wednesdays: 6 - 8 p.m.
  • Location: In person lectures, UMN Twin Cities, East Bank Campus
  • Weekly time commitment: 5-7 hours
  • Cost: 
    • Current UMN staff and faculty: $1,495
    • External participants: $1,995

Learning Format

  • Weekly interactive classroom sessions that review:
    • AI Literacy
    • AI-Assisted Development
    • Ethics
  • Guided, hands-on exercises to build custom software projects with AI assistance
  • Discussions around AI history, inner workings of AI models, and ethical issues around AI use
  • Independent work, including assigned reading and custom app development with AI

Requirements

  • Personal or work-issued laptop
  • Must have permission to install software on laptop
  • For optimal computing performance, laptop should ideally be less than 5 years old with more than 16GB of memory. This is not strictly required. 
  • Students will be encouraged to sign up for a professional-level AI subscription (roughly $20/month) with their choice of AI company during the course. This is not strictly required to be successful in the course.
     

Frequently Asked Questions

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What skills do I need to be successful? Do I need to be good with computers?

It is totally acceptable if you do not think of yourself as "good with computers," or if you have no coding experience. The most important skills and traits for this course are curiosity, patience, and resilience.

Will I receive a grade?

This is a certificate-only course. Rather than traditional letter grades, completion is based on two criteria:

  1. Engagement: Attending at least 7 of the 8 sessions

  2. Project Delivery: Demonstrating weekly progress on your custom application, sharing a functional demonstration of your app in week four, and proposing informed ethical guidelines for AI usage.

How will I receive recognition for this course?

Upon successful completion of the course and your final project demonstration, you will receive an official Certificate of Completion from the University of Minnesota Department of Computer Science & Engineering for "Short Course in AI-assisted Application Development".

Can I attend remotely?

While we understand the convenience of remote attendance, meeting in person is critical for this class. By being here in person, you will have experts in the room who can provide immediate feedback on your work and quickly help you work through fixes if something is not working. Being here in person also helps you network and share the excitement with your classmates. Although the class will be an exclusively in-person experience, we will also provide recordings of lectures for registered students.

How do I pay for this course?

All payments must be made through the course registration site. The full amount is due upon registration. 

We can accept American Express, Discover, Visa, or a University of Minnesota EFS chart string.

What is the cancellation and refund policy?

Students will be eligible for a 100% refund up to the day before the first class. Cancellations before the second class session will receive a 75% refund. No refunds will be issued after the second class.

A full refund will be issued if the class is cancelled due to low enrollment. A full or partial refund will be issued under extenuating circumstances if one or more classes must be cancelled.