COVanderbilt University · on Coursera

Advanced Prompt Engineering for Everyone

Intermediate 8 hours English Completion CertificateFREE

About this course

Advanced Prompt Engineering for Everyone picks up where a basic prompting course leaves off. Taught by Dr. Jules White at Vanderbilt, it moves past "write a clear prompt" into the techniques that make prompting reliable at scale: in-context learning, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) concepts, and template-based output formats that keep an AI's answers consistent and structured.

It's pitched at people who've already used ChatGPT or similar tools regularly and want to stop guessing — the course gives a vocabulary and a set of repeatable patterns instead of trial and error. The honest take: it's narrow by design (8 hours, one specific skill), which is exactly right if you've outgrown beginner prompting content and want the next layer, not another "what is AI" overview.

What you'll learn

Apply in-context learning to improve prompt reliability

Understand how retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) works conceptually

Build template-based output formats for consistent AI responses

Structure multi-step prompts for complex tasks

Diagnose why a prompt is failing and adjust it systematically

Move from ad-hoc prompting to repeatable patterns

This course includes

On-demand video

Yes

Certificate

Yes

Mobile access

English

Language

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Instructor

Jules White

Coursera instructor

— learners— courses — instructor rating

Dr. Jules White is a professor at Vanderbilt University and one of Coursera's most-enrolled instructors for practical generative AI and prompt engineering courses.

Requirements

Basic familiarity with ChatGPT or a similar AI tool

Who this course is for

Learners who already use AI chat tools regularly
Anyone who's completed a beginner prompt engineering course
Professionals who want repeatable, reliable AI outputs

About this provider

Coursera

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Frequently asked questions

No — it's built for people who already use AI tools regularly and want more reliable, repeatable results, not a first introduction to prompting.

Yes, free to audit. A certificate is available through Coursera's paid plans.

About 8 hours of content, typically completed over a week or two part-time.

No coding is required — the techniques apply to using AI tools directly, not building software with them.

Beginner courses cover writing clear prompts. This one covers in-context learning, RAG concepts, and structured output templates — the next layer of skill.