Executive Education

Time:  8:30am - 12:30pm (CT) 
Instructor:  Office Productivity
Fee:  $ 250  

Course Description (Half-day program)

AI can make it easier to work with data, but uploading a spreadsheet and asking for insights does not guarantee useful or accurate results. AI may misunderstand the data, overlook important context, identify patterns that are not meaningful, or present conclusions that sound convincing but are not supported by the numbers.

This hands-on course teaches participants a more reliable way to use AI when working with data. Participants begin with a realistic dataset that is not perfectly organized and learn how to determine what the data contains, identify potential quality problems, and prepare it for analysis. They then use AI to help ask better questions, explore patterns and exceptions, explain unfamiliar information, and identify areas that deserve a closer look.

The emphasis is on investigation rather than accepting an AI-generated answer. Participants learn how to give AI the context it needs, ask focused questions, challenge questionable conclusions, and trace important findings back to the source data. They also use familiar tools, including spreadsheets when appropriate, to verify calculations, comparisons, and patterns before relying on the results.

The goal is to help participants use AI to make sense of data more efficiently while maintaining responsibility for determining whether the conclusions are accurate and useful.

Recommended prerequisite: No AI or advanced data-analysis experience is required. Participants should be comfortable viewing and working with basic tables or spreadsheets.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Recognize common data organization and quality problems that can affect AI analysis.
• Prepare and describe data so AI has the context needed to interpret it correctly.
• Use AI to understand unfamiliar datasets, fields, terminology, and relationships.
• Develop better questions before asking AI to analyze data.
• Use AI to explore trends, patterns, exceptions, and possible areas of concern.
• Recognize conclusions that may be incomplete, misleading, or unsupported by the data.
• Challenge AI-generated insights and ask follow-up questions to investigate them further.
• Verify important findings against the source data before using or communicating them.
• Turn verified findings into clear summaries that explain what the data shows and what may require further investigation.

Technology requirement: Data analysis and file-upload capabilities vary by AI platform, subscription, and organizational settings. Exercises can be adapted to the AI tools approved by the organization.

Registration

Register Onlineor call 618-650-5440 to register by phone.

Individual Course Cancellation and Refund Policy

The SIUE Executive Education division of the School of Business reserves the right to cancel or postpone any course when necessary. If we cancel or postpone a course for any reason, you may choose to receive a FULL refund or apply the course fee to a subsequent offering of the same or a similar course. The latter option may be exercised within one calendar year of the original course.

If you register and pay for a course and then withdraw a one week or more before the start date of the course, a full refund of the course fee less an administrative fee of $25 will be made.

If cancellation occurs less than one week before the start date of the course, no refund of the course fee will be made; however, at the discretion of the Director of Executive Education Programs, the course fee may be applied to a subsequent offering of the same or similar course with a course fee that is at least equal to the cost of the original course. If the course fee of a subsequent course exceeds the amount paid for the original course, the difference in the course fee amounts must be paid in full prior to the start of the subsequent course. An approved substitution must occur within one calendar year of the original course.