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If you’ve used ChatGPT, Copilot or a similar tool for uni work recently, you’re not alone. The 2025 Australian Digital Inclusion Index found students were among the heaviest users of generative AI in the country, at 78.9%, well above the national average of 45.6%. With that many students already using these tools, knowing how to use them well matters. Curtin University Library AI Literacy Program runs a four-part GenAI workshop series covering the basics, the policy side, evaluating information, and getting past ‘prompt engineering.’
Start with what you’re working with
GenAI tools produce text by predicting likely word patterns, not by knowing or reasoning the way a person does. That distinction explains a lot about their limits. Our GenAI Foundations session covers what generative AI is, where it came from, the issues and risks that come with it, and considerations for using it responsibly, plus how it might support your own learning goals.
Know the rules before you rely on the tool
Curtin has policies on GenAI use, and working out how they apply to your specific assessments isn’t always straightforward from the unit outline alone. Our GenAI and Academic Integrity session walks through what those policies say and how they’re structured, what’s expected around attribution and disclosure, and how to protect your academic integrity while using these tools, including the Grammarly Authorship tool some students already use to document their process.
When AI sounds sure but isn’t
GenAI rarely sounds unsure of itself, even when it’s out of its depth. Our session on navigating AI-generated information takes the everyday habit of checking whether information is reliable and applies it to how GenAI specifically gets things wrong: sourcing issues, quiet bias, answers that read well but aren’t right.
Beyond the perfect prompt
A lot of GenAI advice stops at wording. Our Prompting and Evaluating session argues that what matters more is how you evaluate outputs critically, bring your own judgement to what you’re given, and compare results across different tools and models, plus practical strategies for using GenAI in your study or work, for anyone who wants to get past “prompt engineering.”
It’s a skill, and it can be built
There’s no single right answer for whether GenAI helps or hurts your learning; it depends on the task and what you’re trying to get out of it. What can be built is the judgment behind that call. The same national survey found that GenAI use tracks closely with people’s existing digital confidence and pointed to AI literacy, not just access, as the factor that determines whether people experience the benefits or the risks. That’s what this workshop series aims to build across its four sessions, which is why we’d recommend attending all of them rather than just the one that sounds most relevant. There are also standalone sessions for literature searching and academic writing with GenAI, as well as a dedicated session for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
Register for the series
Ready to build these skills? Register for an upcoming GenAI workshop and find a session that fits your schedule.
