Description:

Claude Cowork is an AI “digital coworker” designed to assist with real workplace tasks such as analyzing documents, organizing files, conducting research, and generating reports. Unlike traditional chat assistants, Claude Cowork can plan and execute multi-step tasks using files, tools, and integrations with minimal supervision.

In this course, participants will learn how to work effectively with Claude Cowork as a daily productivity partner. They will explore how to automate routine work, analyze information, generate professional deliverables, and support data-informed decision-making.

Through demonstrations and hands-on exercises, learners will use Claude Cowork to collaborate on documents, delegate tasks, and manage complex work. By the end of the course, participants will understand how to integrate Claude Cowork into everyday professional and academic workflows to improve efficiency, quality, and decision-making.

Duration:

Half Day

Course Code: BDT 545

Learning Objectives:

After completing this course, participants will be able to:

1. Understand what Claude Cowork is and how it differs from chat-based AI tools
2. Navigate the Claude Desktop environment and Cowork features
3. Delegate multi-step tasks to Claude
4. Use Claude to analyze documents and extract insights
5. Generate reports, summaries, and structured outputs
6. Use plugins and integrations to connect Claude with other tools

Apply best practices for safe and effective AI collaboration

1. Basic familiarity with workplace productivity tools (documents, spreadsheets, email)
2. No programming experience required
3. Experience using AI chat tools is helpful but not required

Course Outline:

1. Introduction to Claude Cowork

Topics Covered

1. What Claude Cowork is
2. How Cowork differs from traditional chatbots
3. Overview of Cowork capabilities:

         a. file analysis
         b. research
         c. automation
         d. document generation

Demonstration

1. Installing and opening Claude Desktop
2. Overview of the Cowork interface
3. Example: delegating a simple task

2. How Claude Cowork Works

Topics Covered

1. Agentic AI vs conversational AI
2. Multi-step task planning
3. File access and folder permissions
4. Task execution workflow
5. Review and approval before actions

Demonstration

1. Read documents
2. Extract key information
3. Generate structured output

3. Delegating Work to Claude

Topics Covered

Task framing

1. Clear objective
2. Context
3. Desired output

Delegation patterns

1. Research tasks
2. Document creation
3. Data analysis
4. Workflow automation

Hands-On Lab

Analyze documents and create a summary report.

4. Working with Files and Documents

Topics Covered

1. Read multiple documents
2. Extract insights
3. Create new files
4. Organize folders

Hands-On Lab

1. Upload meeting notes
2. Generate:
   1. summary
   2. action items
   3. follow-up email draft

5. Automating Multi-Step Workflows

Topics Covered

1. Research → Analysis → Report
2. Data extraction → Formatting → Document creation
3. Folder organization and document preparation

Hands-On Lab

1. Analyze data files
2. Generate summary
3. Format report

6. Plugins and Integrations

Topics Covered

1. Plugins
2. Connectors
3. Integrations with business tools

Examples

1. Research automation
2. Marketing analysis
3. Customer support workflows
4. Internal knowledge assistants

7. Best Practices for Working with AI Coworkers

Topics Covered

1. How to collaborate effectively with AI
2. Security guidance

Training material provided: Yes (Digital format)