STEM   

This course teaches Hermeneutic Prompt Engineering and Advanced NotebookLM to help users overcome AI's limitations—avoiding generic responses and hallucinations. Drawing on Andrej Karpathy's insight that "English is the hottest programming language," participants learn structured prompting techniques rather than random commands.

Advanced NotebookLM supports up to 50 trusted source documents per notebook (up to 100 different notebooks), eliminating unreliable web searches. Users can explore personalized topics like dementia research, retirement planning, novel writing, etc. The platform offers nine key capabilities: deep research, customizable videos, audio overviews (podcasts), mind maps, chat interaction, reports (blog posts, study guides, briefing documents), flashcards, quizzes, infographics, and slide decks.

This interactive, hands-on course transforms participants' laptops into practical laboratories. Students select capabilities to explore, gaining real-world experience in advanced AI prompting and NotebookLM skills during class or afterward, unlocking AI's full potential through masterful prompt engineering. Participants must have their personal laptop with NotebookLM access previously setup. NotebookLM can found by searching Google.com

Back by popular demand, this updated course offers a clear, engaging introduction to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how it’s rapidly transforming our world. From self-driving cars to chatbots and precision medicine, we will explore how AI works, where it’s headed, and what it means for society. No tech experience needed—just curiosity! With fresh examples and timely updates, participants will gain a solid understanding of the opportunities and challenges AI presents today.

This Osher Online course, offered through the Osher National Resource Center, lets you learn with fellow lifelong learners nationwide, guided by a world-class expert. OSHER ONLINE COURSES ARE NON-REFUNDABLE.

Fascinated by birds but not sure how to start birding? This course introduces systematic approaches to bird identification and provides hands-on field experience. Emphasis is placed on understanding how habitat and behavior are essential to developing birding skills. We cover key birding resources, including equipment, where to go, field guides, and online tools. The course includes two Zoom classes featuring PowerPoint presentations and guided discussions, followed by field trips to local birding sites. 1–2-mile field trips walks, led by Curt, Cynthia, and other Master Birders, are a core part of the learning experience. Participants will practice identification techniques in real time, compare similar species, use binoculars, and field guides, and explore how season, habitat, and behavior influence bird presence. One field trip will include observation of bird banding (early start time). Sessions are 2½ hours. Participants should have binoculars, though a limited number may be available to borrow.

Zoom classes April 3 and 10; 2 1/2 hours.  Field trips April 17, May 1, May 8, May 15; 2 1/2 hours.   No class/field trip April 24.  One of the field trips will start earlier depending on the bird banding schedule.  

Donation of $40 per registrant required, paid at registration, to be made to Denver Audubon.  Field guides will be discussed in the class. 

The Colorado Front Range faces numerous environmental challenges that impact living in Colorado. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the products we use, and the recreation sites we visit all face environmental challenges we need to understand. This 4-week presentation-discussion course using a zoom format will provide a foundation for understanding the scientific principles, health impacts, and mitigation options for Front Range environmental challenges, including:

• Is the Suncor refinery the largest polluter in the Denver metro area?
• Is radon infiltration of homes a serious health risk?
• Why does the Front Range fail to meet federal air quality standards?
• Are ‘forever’ chemicals and microplastic contaminants a drinking water threat?
• How safe are Rocky Mountain Arsenal and Rocky Flats after Superfund cleanup?

The course includes some general science; however, no science background is required or assumed. Discussions will also include how political and economic factors impact environmental perceptions.

Science is full of surprises. Dyes, accidentally discovered, launched the modern pharmaceutical industry. A failed experiment opened the door to new physics. Discoveries are never just facts. They are moments of creativity, struggle, and chance with far-reaching consequences. In this course, we will explore the human side of science, tracing breakthroughs in biology, chemistry, physics, and more. We will ask not only what was found, but how and why it matters.

This Osher Online course, offered through the Osher National Resource Center, lets you learn with fellow lifelong learners nationwide, guided by a world-class expert. OSHER ONLINE COURSES ARE NON-REFUNDABLE.

Just about everywhere you look today you can see artificial intelligence (AI) in products and services, from cars to cameras, TVs to shopping and crafts to education. But once you’re done with the demos, the question remains: How can AI actually improve your daily life? In this course, tech expert and DU professor Dave Taylor shares how you can use AI to improve almost everything in your life. The class is broken down into four areas: texting with AI, talking to AI, creating images with AI and using AI for creative writing. If you attended this course in a previous session, you’re encouraged to join us again—there will be new tools, examples and hands-on practice to deepen your skills.

If you’re worried about AI and privacy, Taylor covers that too, along with ethical implications of using AI for creative work. “Our primary focus is on how to continue with your regular daily activities, but have them be AI infused, smarter and more streamlined,” Taylor says. “One key skill you learn is how to use AI to fact check your own communications, whether text messages, email or articles. Join us to go beyond demos and master AI in no time.”

Please note: Students are asked to sign up for a ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, or Google Gemini account prior to class. “There are hundreds of AI systems, but those are the tools we focus on in this course,” Taylor says.

Prairies, forests and wetlands at our latitude come alive in April and May with a rich diversity of birds that only weeks earlier were wintering in habitats ranging from the southern United States and Mexico to Central America and northern South America. Who are they? Join Colorado birding expert Ted Floyd for two evening lectures and two field sessions covering the whys and wherefores of one of nature’s grandest spectacles: the spring migration of birds. Start your birding journey in the classroom where Ted discusses the questions we’ve all asked since childhood: Why do birds migrate in the first place? How do they know where to go? He’ll also explore birds’ amazing physical feat of flying hundreds or even thousands of miles in a relatively short time. Discover modern resources for enjoying bird migration that contribute to basic science about avian biology, including digital recorders and cameras, smartphones, apps, and software such as eBird and iNaturalist. In the field, at destinations within a 60-minute drive of campus, experience direct contact with scores of bird species, many of them on migration layovers or in the process of actually migrating. In addition to watching and listening, record your sightings and upload your data to global databases used by scientists to monitor and protect bird populations. Come away with a new understanding of one of nature’s most magnificent and mind-boggling annual spectacles.

The Saturday field trips involve walking several miles on level, well-maintained trails.

Across Colorado, gardeners are saving water, supporting biodiversity and beautifying their yards with native plants. But what does it really mean to garden for pollinators and wildlife? In this two-session course, you will explore the growing “native plant” movement and how to be part of it.

In our first session, we’ll debunk common myths about pollinator-friendly gardening and discover why native plants are essential to local ecosystems. We’ll also review flowers, shrubs and trees you can add this spring to provide three seasons of blooms and year-round habitat. In our second session, we’ll dig deeper into landscaping practices that sustain the full life cycles of bees, butterflies and birds. Along the way, you’ll meet some of the common—and not so common—species you might encounter in your own garden. Time permitting, we’ll also discuss how to elevate your practices by participating in citizen-science projects that contribute to broader conservation efforts.

As both a gardener and sociologist, Jared Del Rosso believes that what we cultivate matters—to other species, our communities, and the future of biodiversity. Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or just beginning, you’ll come away with practical, inspiring strategies for creating a thriving, sustainable yard. While the course focuses on CO native plants, much of what it covers is adaptable to other places.

What is "Fracking" and why is it controversial? Should it be allowed under the Aurora Reservoir as proposed? How is a horizontal well drilled and completed? What are the economics and geopolitics of oil and gas production, and how has horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing impacted these? What can go wrong? What are the long term consequences of burning fossil fuels, and what are the alternatives?

We will cover and discuss these questions and more, with examples of what can go wrong. The Santa Barbara oil spill offshore California (1969), the BP Macondo well offshore Louisiana (2010), and other incidents will be used to illustrate the drilling process, well control, and intercept and plugging of oil and gas wells.