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Detail	Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT	Google AI Essentials
Provider	Vanderbilt University	Google
Our rating	3.2	4.4
Cost	About A$84 a month	Free
Time	20 hours	2.25 hours
Level	Beginner	Beginner
Credential	certificate of completion (paid (Coursera enrolment or Coursera Plus))	certificate of completion (free on Google Skills; included in Coursera subscription)
Open to	Worldwide	Worldwide
Free in	Not stated	Worldwide
Content written for	Any country	United States
Summary	A practical, highly rated university course on writing better prompts for ChatGPT and similar tools. It teaches reusable prompt patterns and examples you can apply straight away to everyday work tasks.	Google's entry-level course on using generative AI tools at work: generating ideas, researching, drafting and speeding up routine tasks. It also covers prompting basics and how to spot bias and other risks. The same course is sold on Coursera, but Google now offers it at no cost on its own Google Skills platform.
Objectives	Write clear prompts that get more useful answers from AI chat tools Use named prompt patterns to handle common tasks Give examples in a prompt to steer output (few-shot prompting) Chain prompts together for more complex work	Use generative AI tools to brainstorm ideas and draft content Apply AI to research, organisation and planning tasks Write clearer, more specific prompts Recognise bias and other risks and use AI responsibly Keep skills current as AI tools change
Things to know	Only the first module is free since Coursera ended audit in August 2025 Focuses on ChatGPT, though patterns carry over to other tools Coursera's 20 hours is an estimate (2 weeks at 10 hours)	Google Skills and Coursera versions list different durations (Google Skills: 2 hr 15 min; Coursera: about 8 hours across five short courses) Coursera version is subscription-based and cannot be audited US-centric examples Google Skills sign-in required
Our course page	Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT	Google AI Essentials

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