2026 Learning Lounge

Three one-hour sessions for UFT staff — designed for all skill levels, packed with real materials you can use right away.

Anatomy of a Prompt

The foundation session. Understand how AI language models actually work, learn the four building blocks of any great prompt, and explore the differences between ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini so you can choose the right tool for the right job.

What is an LLM? Prompt Anatomy Role Context Task Format ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini
Session Materials
What You'll Learn

How large language models process and respond to prompts

The four elements of every effective prompt: Role, Context, Task, Format

Key differences between ChatGPT (GPT-4), Claude, and Gemini

How to choose the right AI tool based on your task type

AI Personas

Your secret weapon for consistent, on-brand AI results. Learn to build a reusable persona that tells the AI exactly who it is, what it knows, and how to communicate — for your specific UFT role. Includes a complete worked example for UFT Membership and instructions for setting up personas in both GPT-4 and Claude.

What Is a Persona? 5 Anatomy Elements Persona vs Prompt UFT Membership Example Custom GPTs Claude Projects Before & After
Session Materials
What You'll Learn

What an AI persona is and how it differs from a regular prompt

The 5 elements of every effective persona: Role, Knowledge, Audience, Tone, Goals/Guardrails

How to save a persona in ChatGPT (Custom Instructions & Custom GPTs) and Claude (Projects)

Build a persona specific to your own UFT department and role

The Prompt Ladder

The capstone session — put everything together in a gamified challenge. Participants pick a real task from their own job and write the same prompt four times, adding a new expert ingredient each round. Ends with a community vote on the best AI response. Points, levels, and a winner.

Gamified Activity 4 Levels Points System Real Work Scenarios Padlet Sharing Peer Voting Debrief Discussion
🏆

The Prompt Ladder — 25-Minute Gamified Challenge

Level 1: The Bare Ask (10 pts) → Level 2: + Context (25 pts) → Level 3: + Role & Format (40 pts) → Level 4: + Persona & Constraint (50 pts + vote bonus). Max score: 125 points.

Session Materials
What You'll Learn

How adding context transforms a generic AI response into a relevant one

Why format instructions make AI output immediately usable without editing

How a persona makes the AI sound like YOUR department, not a generic bot

How to build a complete expert-level prompt from scratch for any real work task