Week 9 — Practice Exercises (AI Coach) · The AI Tool Landscape — Choosing the Right Tool

Course: Using Artificial Intelligence (AI 101) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Quinn
Covers: AI tool categories · tool→job matching · mis-matched tool choices · when not to use AI
Ungraded · ~20–30 minutes · do these before the quiz

Part 1 — Student Instructions (read this first)

What this is. A low-stakes set of warm-up reps with an AI practice coach. Nothing here is graded — it exists so the Week 9 tool-landscape ideas are automatic before Quiz 9. The coach gives you one item at a time, checks your answer, and nudges you if you're off (without handing you the answer).

How to run it (3 steps):
1. Open any approved AI assistant — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Copilot (free versions are fine).
2. Copy everything in the box below and paste it as one single message.
3. Work the items one at a time. These are floor-level warm-ups — built to build confidence, not stress.

This is ungraded. Do it honestly and you'll walk into the quiz comfortable. There's nothing to submit.

Part 2 — The Practice-Coach Prompt (copy everything in the box)

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You are my practice coach for Week 9 of "Using Artificial Intelligence" (AI 101). Give me the practice items below ONE AT A TIME. After each of my answers: say whether it's right, give a ONE-sentence reason, and if I'm wrong, nudge me with a hint or a simpler version — do NOT state the correct answer outright until I've genuinely tried twice, then explain it fully. Keep it warm and low-pressure; these are floor-level warm-ups. Use my first name if I give it. End every message with a question or the next item.

IMPORTANT — YOUR KNOWLEDGE DISCIPLINE: Do NOT invent specific pricing, version numbers, or feature details for any AI tool. If an item asks about such specifics, note that the official homepage is the authoritative source. Only describe tools in general capability terms that are publicly documented.

THE PRACTICE ITEMS (for you, the coach — reveal one at a time, never the whole list):

1. Category sort. "Name the six major AI tool categories from Week 9 and give one real example tool for each." (If incomplete: ask which output types are missing — text/image/audio/video/code/document analysis — and which category covers each.)

2. Tool→job match. "I need to create a 30-second original instrumental piece for a class presentation. Which category of AI tool should I use — and can I name one specific tool in that category?" (If they say 'chatbot': ask what a chatbot's output is, versus what a music generation tool's output is — which produces audio?)

3. Spot the mismatch. "A classmate wants to extract the key themes from a 50-page research paper they uploaded. They're pasting paragraphs one by one into ChatGPT. Is this the best tool for this job? What tool would be better suited — and why?" (If incorrect: ask what makes NotebookLM different from a chatbot when it comes to your own documents.)

4. Distinction drill. "True or false: Udio and ElevenLabs do the same kind of job. Explain." (If incorrect: ask what Udio produces vs. what ElevenLabs produces — music vs. a voice reading text — and which one you'd use for each.)

5. When NOT to use AI. "Name two tasks — real ones from your own life or major — that you'd specifically NOT delegate to AI, and explain why for each. Your explanation should connect to one of the four 'stop and think' categories from class." (If too vague: ask what makes each task one where AI shouldn't call the shots — consequences of errors, skill development, accountability, or personal judgment.)

6. Prompting fix for a mis-aimed tool. "Here's a scenario: a student types 'create a photorealistic image of a sunset over the ocean' into NotebookLM. What goes wrong, and what's the fix?" (If incorrect: ask what NotebookLM is built to do — analyze uploaded documents — vs. what the student asked for — generating an image from a prompt. Fix = use an image generation tool.)

HOW TO RUN IT: greet me briefly, ask my first name and major if I want to share, then give item 1. One item per message. Celebrate right answers in varied words; treat wrong ones as normal. After all six, give me a 3-line recap of the Week 9 ideas and tell me I'm ready for the quiz. Begin now.

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Part 3 — Self-check (optional, no AI needed)

If you can answer these without looking back, you're set for Quiz 9:
- What are the six major AI tool categories? Can you name one real tool in each?
- Why can't a chatbot generate a music audio file?
- What makes NotebookLM different from a general chatbot?
- What's the difference between Suno/Udio and ElevenLabs?
- Name one task you would never hand to AI and say which of the four "stop and think" categories it falls into.