Drexel UniversityDornsife School of Public Health

Department of Environmental
& Occupational Health

AI WORKSHOPS FOR DSPH

Workflow Enhancement

Start from your own plan, then let ChatGPT Edu or Copilot Chat draft or refine

Alex Quistberg, PhD, MPHAssociate Research Professor · Department of Environmental & Occupational Health

Core 2 · Fall 2026 · on Zoom

WHAT YOU'LL LEAVE WITH

Today's Goals

1Pick a weekly task where AI can save you time.
2Start from your own plan, then decide: should AI draft it, or refine what you wrote?
3Get a document, email, or spreadsheet into Copilot Chat or ChatGPT Edu.
4Use AI as an editor: tighten language, catch inconsistencies, find what's missing.
5Check the answer before you use it, and save one prompt you can reuse.

WELCOME BACK

How Did Your Core 1 Task Go?

In the Zoom chat, one line

What task did you try after Core 1?
Did it help? What did you have to fix?
Didn't get to it? Type the task you'll try today.

How today works on Zoom

Put Zoom and your browser side by side.
React with 👍 when you finish a step.
Stuck? Say so in the chat and we'll help.
Demo file links are in the chat.

SECTION 01

Plan First, Then Draft or Refine

Your plan comes before any AI draft. Then decide what AI should do with it.

THE SHAPE OF A TASK

You Plan It, AI Helps, You Finish It

DRAFT OR REFINE?

When Is an AI Draft OK?

AI Drafts From Your Outline

When: routine, low stakes, and you know the content.

Meeting recaps, reminders, announcements, status updates, notes into a table.

You Write, AI Refines

When: your expertise, judgment, or voice is the point, or the stakes are high.

Grant aims, manuscript sections, recommendation letters, performance feedback, policy.

Leave AI Out

When: sensitive information, or the decision itself.

Student records or health information, who gets hired or funded, sources you haven't opened.

AI AS YOUR EDITOR

Three Ways to Refine What You Wrote

1 · Refine the languageMake this clearer and shorter without changing the meaning. List what you changed.

2 · Catch inconsistenciesCheck this for anything that doesn't match: dates, names, numbers, or a term used two ways. List them; don't rewrite.

3 · Find what's missingThis is a [type of document] for [audience]. What would they expect that isn't here? List it; don't add it.

Ask for a list, not a rewrite. The writing stays yours, and the suggestions are easy to check.

WHICH TOOL TO OPEN

Two Tools, Same Steps

Copilot Chat

m365.cloud.microsoft/chat, signed in with your Drexel account. Good for quick summaries and edits of Drexel documents and email.

ChatGPT Edu

The Drexel workspace you used in Core 1. Good for longer drafting, going back and forth, and (in Core 3) saved assistants.

Same Steps in Both

Paste the text, or upload the file with the + button. Ask. Check. Copy the answer back into your document.

No Copilot inside Word or Excel at Drexel. You don't need it: upload the file or paste the text, then copy the answer back.

TOOLS & DATA

Same Data Rule as Core 1

Fine to use

Your own drafts, notes, and announcements
Committee and project email without sensitive details
Public documents and published papers
Made-up versions of anything sensitive

Never paste in

Health information about a person
Student records or Social Security numbers
Identifiable research data
When in doubt, leave it out or make the details up

SECTION 02

Check Before You Use It

Three quick questions before anything leaves your hands.

A CHECK YOU CAN RUN IN 60 SECONDS

Before You Hit Send

“

If you can’t open it, you can’t cite it.

A rule worth keepingTreat every AI-supplied figure as unverified until you’ve confirmed it

SECTION 03

Hands-On

Upload a file together, then pick one everyday job, then your own task. Demo file links are in the Zoom chat.

GUIDED START · ~5 MIN · FOLLOW ALONG

Upload a File to Copilot Chat

1Download Workshop2_Demo_StudyDescription.docx (link in the Zoom chat).
2Go to m365.cloud.microsoft/chat and sign in with your Drexel account. Look for the shield icon.
3Click + next to the message box and upload the file (or paste the text).
4Type: “Summarize this document in 5 bullet points for a project status update.”
5Follow up: “Now make it 3 bullets for a busy dean.”

React with 👍 in Zoom when you have an answer. The same steps work in ChatGPT Edu.

ACTIVITY 1 · ~19 MIN

Three Everyday Jobs: Pick One

Use Copilot Chat or ChatGPT Edu, on your own screen. Upload the demo file or use your own non-sensitive material. Questions go in the Zoom chat.

Job A · A Document

Summarize a study description, rewrite a paragraph for a community board, then find what's missing.

Job B · An Email Thread

Find the decisions and open questions, make an action-item table, then draft a reply from your outline.

Job C · A Spreadsheet

Find what stands out, get an Excel formula to flag rows, pick a chart.

JOB A · A DOCUMENT

Summarize, Rewrite, Find the Gaps

Demo file · Workshop2_Demo_StudyDescription.docx

Pedestrian injuries remain a leading cause of traffic death in U.S. cities, and risk is concentrated at a small share of intersections. This study will link citywide crash records with street-level imagery to identify built-environment features — crossing distance, vehicle speeds, lighting, signal timing — associated with severe pedestrian injury at signalized intersections. Results will produce a ranked list of modifiable intersection features for city transportation partners…

Step 1 · SummarizeSummarize this document in 5 bullet points for a project status update.

Step 2 · Rewrite for an audienceRewrite the first paragraph for a community advisory board. No jargon, 8th-grade reading level, 4 sentences.

Step 3 · Find what's missingWhat would a funder expect in a study description that isn't here? List the gaps; don't rewrite.

Check it: did the plain version keep the facts right? Are the gaps it lists real ones?

JOB B · AN EMAIL THREAD

Sort the Thread, Reply From Your Outline

Demo file · Workshop2_Demo_EmailThread.docx (6 messages, excerpt)

M. Rivera: …proposing we move EPI 570 to fall and add the data-visualization module. Thoughts before Friday?

J. Chen: Fall works if the lab sections don't collide with BST 555. Also — who owns the syllabus update?

M. Rivera: Agreed on fall, pending the registrar check. Syllabus update: can you take it, with a July 20 draft?

+ 3 more messages…

Step 1 · SummarizeSummarize this thread. List every decision made and every open question.

Step 2 · Structure itList the action items as a table: owner, task, due date.

Step 3 · Draft from your outlineWrite a reply from my outline: (1) syllabus draft by July 20; (2) who owns the accreditation crosswalk update? Two friendly sentences.

Check it: did it list a decision nobody made? Did the reply stick to your two points?

JOB C · A SPREADSHEET

Make Sense of a Spreadsheet

Demo file · Workshop2_Demo_SeminarAttendance.xlsx (60 rows, excerpt)

Month	Department	Attendees	Cost ($)
Sep 2025	EOH	34	310
Sep 2025	UHC	38	360
Oct 2025	EOH	29	402
Oct 2025	Autism Institute	17	215
… Sep–Jun, six units: EOH, Epi & Biostat, HMP, CHP, UHC, Autism Institute

Step 1 · SummarizeSummarize this data. What stands out?

Step 2 · Get a formulaWrite an Excel formula for a new column E that says ‘Over’ when cost per attendee is more than $12. Tell me how to copy it down.

Step 3 · Find the patternWhich months had the lowest attendance? Suggest one chart I could make in Excel to show the trend.

Paste the formula into Excel. Check one row by hand: Oct, EOH is $402 ÷ 29 = $13.86, so “Over.”

ACTIVITY 2 · ~11 MIN

Your Own Task: Plan, Then Draft or Refine

1Plan first: 3–5 bullets in your words. The point, who it's for, the key facts.
2Decide: routine? AI drafts from your outline. Your expertise? You write, AI refines.
3Improve it with one or two follow-ups.
4Final edit: check it against your plan. Is everything there?
5Save the prompt in a “My prompts” document, with [blanks].

Recipe · draft from my outlineYou are a [role]. Write a [type of document] for [audience] from my outline below. Use only what's in the outline; mark anything you had to guess. [your bullets]

Recipe · refine my writingHere is my draft of a [type of document] for [audience]. List anything unclear, inconsistent, or missing. Don't rewrite it. [your draft]

WRAP-UP

What to Take Away

Plan first. Then AI drafts from your outline, or refines what you wrote. Then you check it.

Routine and low stakes: AI drafts from your outline. Your expertise or high stakes: you write, AI refines.
As an editor, AI tightens language, catches inconsistencies, and finds what's missing. Ask for a list, not a rewrite.
Before you use it: Verified? Disclosed? Yours?
Before Core 3: save two recipes (one draft, one refine) and use one again next week.

In the Zoom chat: one thing you'll try this week.

Drexel UniversityDornsife School of Public Health

THANK YOU

Questions & Discussion

Next: Core 3 — Reusable Assistants. Turn your saved recipes into shared Projects and custom GPTs.

Alex Quistberg, PhD, MPHdaq26@drexel.edu

Department of Environmental & Occupational Health