AI Is a Skill. Not a Shortcut.
Prompting is the skill. Everything else is output. A hands-on course that takes you from your first prompt to building reusable systems that work every time.
Taught by Dave Nicosia — Director of AI Development, Epic Web Studios
Already enrolled? Sign In
Everyone's Talking About AI.
Almost Nobody's Learning How to Use It.
Think about every piece of software you've ever had to learn. Word processors. Spreadsheets. Email. Design tools. Every one of them took time, practice, and someone showing you how they actually work.
AI is no different. Large language models are a fundamentally new kind of software — and most people are using them the way they used a computer the first time they sat down at one. Clicking around randomly. Hoping for the best.
They type vague questions like it's a search engine. They copy prompts from TikTok like they're cheat codes. When the output is mediocre, they blame the tool.
But the tool isn't the problem.
The problem is that nobody told you this is a skill. Nobody sat you down and said: “This is a new instrument. Here's how it thinks. Here's how to communicate with it. Here's how to get better.”
That's what this course does.
Not 47 AI tools. Not a list of hacks. Not a prompt template you'll use once and forget.
This is structured, hands-on training in the one skill that makes every AI tool work: how you talk to it.
You learned how to use a spreadsheet. You learned how to write an email that gets a response. You can learn this too — and it will be the most valuable software skill you pick up this decade.
Meet Dave Nicosia
I build AI-powered tools every single day. Then I teach what I learn.
I'm the Director of AI Development at Epic Web Studios in Erie, PA, where I lead a team of AI developers and build websites, custom dashboards, AI assistants, and automation workflows using AI coding. I design the systems and direct AI to build them — because knowing how to communicate with AI changes what you can accomplish.
Building with code isn't new to me. I've spent 15+ years as a web developer working with hundreds of clients at agencies from Philadelphia to Oregon. I founded my own tech company, grew it to 700+ active users, and sold it.
Teaching isn't new to me either. I've been a private instructor for over 20 years. I know how to meet my students where they are, break complex things down, and make the practice stick. At Epic, I don't just lead the AI team — I teach our marketing and content teams how to use AI in their own work, every day.
Most people teaching AI built a following. I built the tools. That's the difference.
“AI is a skill. Not a shortcut.”
13 Core Modules. 5 Bonus Guides.
Hands-On From Day One.
Every module includes reading, content, interactive exercises tailored to your background, and quizzes to test your understanding. No passive watching. You learn by doing.
Introduction + Modules 1–3
Foundation
Go from “I’ve opened ChatGPT a few times” to actually understanding what you’re talking to.
You’ll learn what AI really is, what it isn’t, and why that matters. You’ll compare the major AI tools side by side — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity — and understand when to use which one. By the end of Foundation, you’ll have accounts set up, a prompt library started, and the mental model that changes how you approach every interaction from here on.
After this phase, you’ll stop using AI like a search engine.
Modules 4–6
Building Skills
Learn the craft. Write prompts that actually work — and understand why they work.
This is where the real skill-building starts. You’ll learn the anatomy of an effective prompt, how to give AI the context it needs, and how to evaluate and refine output instead of accepting whatever comes back. You’ll practice the prompt-evaluate-refine cycle until it becomes instinct — the same workflow professionals use every day.
After this phase, you’ll write better prompts than 90% of AI users.
Modules 7–9
Going Deeper
Structure complex prompts, control output quality, and work with real context.
Now you’re building real capability. Role assignment, multi-step instructions, few-shot prompting, managing conversation history, feeding documents and data into your prompts. This is where you go from “I can get decent answers” to “I can get AI to do exactly what I need, consistently.”
After this phase, you’ll handle complex, multi-step AI tasks with confidence.
Modules 10–13
Mastery
Apply everything to real-world tasks. Build reusable prompts. Test and improve like a professional.
Summarizing, extracting, classifying, transforming, generating. Chain-of-thought reasoning. System prompts and templates. A/B testing your own prompts. Knowing when AI is the right tool and when it’s not. This is the professional tier — the skills I use every single day building AI tools at Epic.
After this phase, you’ll prompt like someone who does this for a living.
Bonus Modules 14–18
Beyond Prompting
See what comes after prompting — and where AI is heading next.
Resource guides to Claude Skills, Projects, Cowork, Claude Code, and Agentic AI. These aren’t lessons — they’re curated starting points for learners ready to explore the next frontier on their own. Not required for the course, but invaluable if you want to keep going.
You’ll finish the course knowing not just how to prompt — but what’s possible beyond it.
Bonus Tools You Keep
On top of the 13 core modules, every student gets these — built from real work, not filler.
Included with every path
Prompt Library
A curated collection of real-world prompts I wrote and refined through actual daily use building AI tools at Epic. Not generic templates — battle-tested prompts you can adapt to your own work immediately.
Unlocks at Module 5.
Printable reference
AI Prompting Cheat Sheet
The key takeaways from every module distilled into a single printable reference. Pin it to your wall, keep it on your desk — the essential patterns and principles at a glance.
Available upon course completion.
Built for You
Choose your own AI adventure.
This isn't a one-size-fits-all course. When you enroll, you choose your path — and the exercises, examples, and projects are tailored to your world.
Student
The career advantage your classmates don’t have.
AI is already reshaping every industry you’re about to enter. Marketing, healthcare, finance, education, design, engineering — all of them. The students who know how to work with AI won’t just get hired. They’ll get hired first.
While your classmates are copying prompts from TikTok and praying, you’ll understand why prompts work, how to build your own, and how to walk into an interview and demonstrate a skill most applicants can’t even name.
This isn’t about cheating on papers. It’s about showing up to your career with a tool your competition doesn’t know how to use.
What you'll walk away with
- Stand out in internship and job interviews
- Add a real, demonstrable skill to your resume
- Use AI to research, write, analyze, and create — at a level your peers can’t touch
- Graduate with a skill most professionals haven’t learned yet
Professional
Stop falling behind. Start pulling ahead.
AI showed up in your workplace whether you asked for it to or not. Your company is talking about it. Your competitors are using it. And right now, you’re probably using ChatGPT the same way you used Google in 2005 — typing in vague questions and hoping for good answers.
The professionals who learn to prompt well don’t just save time. They become the person on the team who gets it. They’re the ones leading the AI conversation, not sitting quietly through it. That’s how you get noticed. That’s how you get promoted.
A few hours of deliberate practice will put you ahead of 90% of your coworkers. This course is those few hours.
What you'll walk away with
- Become your team’s go-to AI person
- Save hours on writing, research, analysis, and reporting
- Bring AI solutions to meetings instead of questions about AI
- Walk into any AI conversation at work with confidence and credibility
Hobbyist
Unlock the thing you’ve been curious about.
You’ve played with ChatGPT. You’ve seen what people are doing with AI online. You know there’s more to it — you just haven’t had someone show you how it actually works without drowning you in jargon or making you feel like you need a computer science degree.
You don’t.
This course meets you where you are. Learn to use AI for the things you care about — planning trips, writing better emails, organizing your life, exploring creative projects, learning new topics faster, or just finally understanding what all the fuss is about.
No tech background needed. No prerequisites. Just curiosity and willingness to practice.
What you'll walk away with
- Finally understand AI beyond the headlines
- Use AI for your own projects, hobbies, and daily life
- Learn at your own pace with zero pressure
- Go from “AI-curious” to “AI-confident”
Same core material. Exercises and examples tailored to your world.
Erie, PA. This Is Home.
Harborcreek native. I built a career across the country — Philadelphia, Charlottesville, Eugene. I chose to come back. Now I'm bringing my national experience to the local community.
In-Person
$125
per hour
Private 1-on-1 Tutoring
In addition to my online AI prompting course, I offer private in-person sessions in the Erie area. I'll meet you at your campus, library, or coffee shop — Penn State Behrend, PennWest Edinboro, Gannon, Mercyhurst, EC3, or anywhere local.
Limited availability — my time is first-come, first-served.
Ready to Build Real AI Skills?
Erie, PA's premiere AI prompting course. Hands-on, practical, and built by me — someone who ships with AI every single day.