--- title: "Prompt Engineering Foundations — free course" description: "A friendly, practical start: clear prompts, thinking modes, files and images, and a personal library of 50+ prompt patterns" url: https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations updated: 2026-10-05 --- AI · Beginner · 333 minutes · free · updated Sep 2026 # Prompt Engineering Foundations A friendly, practical start: clear prompts, thinking modes, files and images, and a personal library of 50+ prompt patterns - **Lessons:** 16 in 6 modules - **Video lectures:** 16 lectures, 121 minutes - **Updated:** Sep 2026 ## Tools you'll use - ChatGPT - Claude - Gemini - Microsoft Copilot - Perplexity [Start the course](https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations/how-ai-assistants-respond) ## About this course New to AI assistants, or frustrated by generic answers? This free, beginner-friendly course teaches the skill behind every great AI result: explaining a task clearly. You will learn how today's assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot respond to your words, the five building blocks of a good prompt (Task, Context, Audience, Format, Examples), and how to be specific without writing essays. You will practise iterating, controlling formats, and using the features that matter in 2026: thinking modes for harder problems, projects and custom instructions that remember your context, web search and deep research with sources you can check, and prompting with files, photos, screenshots, voice and image generators. A library of more than fifty ready-to-adapt patterns covers writing, analysis, brainstorming, learning and planning. Finally, you will learn a simple routine for checking AI work and protecting private information. No technical background needed. ## What you will learn - Explain in plain words how AI assistants respond to prompts and where they go wrong - Build prompts using Task, Context, Audience, Format and Examples - Improve answers through targeted follow-ups and know when to start fresh - Choose between quick answers, thinking modes and deep research for a task - Set up projects or custom instructions so the assistant keeps your context - Prompt well with files, photos, screenshots, voice and image generators - Apply 50+ prompt patterns for writing, analysis, brainstorming, learning and planning - Check AI work for accuracy, fairness and privacy before using it ## Course content ### Getting started: what a prompt really is Understand, in plain language, how AI chat assistants respond to you and what every good prompt contains. - [How AI assistants respond to your words](https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations/how-ai-assistants-respond): 10 min - [The anatomy of a good prompt](https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations/anatomy-of-a-good-prompt): 11 min ### Clarity, context and examples Learn to be specific without writing essays, give the background that matters, and use examples to show exactly what you want. - [Clarity and specificity](https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations/clarity-and-specificity): 10 min - [Giving context and examples](https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations/context-and-examples): 11 min ### Iterating and formatting outputs Improve answers through conversation and get results in the exact shape you need: lists, tables, emails, slides or plain text. - [Iterating: the art of the follow-up](https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations/iterating-in-conversation): 10 min - [Formatting outputs: getting the shape you need](https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations/formatting-outputs): 10 min ### Modern assistant features: modes, memory, research and media Use thinking modes, projects and memory, web search and deep research, files, photos, voice and image generation well, and know when each one helps. - [Quick answers, thinking modes and deep research](https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations/quick-thinking-and-research-modes): 12 min - [Set context once: custom instructions, projects and memory](https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations/context-once-projects-and-memory): 12 min - [Prompting with files, photos, screenshots and voice](https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations/prompting-with-files-photos-and-voice): 12 min - [Your first image and video prompts](https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations/first-image-and-video-prompts): 11 min - [Research with web search, deep research and sources](https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations/research-with-web-search-and-sources): 12 min ### Your prompt pattern library More than fifty ready-to-adapt prompt patterns for writing, analysis, brainstorming, learning and planning. - [Patterns for writing and editing (1-18)](https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations/patterns-for-writing): 12 min - [Patterns for analysis and brainstorming (19-37)](https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations/patterns-for-analysis-and-brainstorming): 12 min - [Patterns for learning and planning (38-56)](https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations/patterns-for-learning-and-planning): 12 min ### Everyday mistakes and good habits Avoid the mistakes that hold most people back, and build simple habits for checking AI work and using it safely. - [Ten everyday prompting mistakes (and fixes)](https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations/everyday-mistakes): 10 min - [Checking AI work and building your prompt toolkit](https://optimizeall.com/learn/prompt-engineering-foundations/checking-ai-work): 10 min ## Certificate: Certified Prompt Engineering Practitioner The holder can write clear, specific prompts using the Task, Context, Audience, Format and Examples structure, improve results through iteration, control output formats, apply a library of prompt patterns across everyday tasks, and check AI outputs for accuracy, fairness and privacy. - **Final assessment:** 25 questions, 35 minutes - **Passing score:** 80%