PVC Education and the Strategy Office
You need AI capability at scale, aligned to institutional policy, with a clear return you can report.
AI skills training for universities
WorkSmart-AI are AI specialists, helping universities, colleges and schools become more productive with AI, through staff and student training built around each institution’s own policy and tools.
AI training specialists improving capability, confidence and compliance.
A free, confidential 30-minute call and a written report you keep.
Built by former Digital Skills Leads at the University of Exeter.
Worked with the University of Southampton.
Services
AI support designed for every part
of your institution
Whether you need to lift staff capability, equip students for an AI-shaped workplace, coach an individual academic, or support your leadership team to lead adoption, we build it around your policy and tools.
AI Capability Check
Any public or private organisation
A free 30-minute call and a written report placing your team on the AI Use Hierarchy, with two or three next steps.
FreeLearn more
Workshops and Events
Staff and leaders
Face-to-face or online, from one hour to a full day: INSET, away days, leadership workshops, keynotes and talks.
From £250Learn more
Online courses
All staff, all students
Self-paced, interactive courses hosted on the WorkSmart-AI Academy or white-labelled for your own LMS.
From £4,995Learn more
AI adoption coaching
Senior leaders
One-to-one or small-group coaching for senior leaders on leading AI adoption: strategy, policy and a phased roadmap.
From £350Learn more
Academic coaching
Academics and research teams
Discipline and role-specific coaching for research, writing, grant work and teaching preparation.
From £250Learn more
Courses
Courses for staff and students
Run as workshops or online courses. Student courses are white-labelled only.
All staff (6)
AI Foundations and Responsible Use
A shared understanding of AI in your role: what’s appropriate, what’s risky, and how to prompt Copilot well.
AI for Daily Workflows
Draft emails and documents, run meetings and capture actions with Copilot in Outlook, Word and Teams.
AI for Summarising and Analysing
Summarise documents in Word and turn data into tables and charts in Excel, checking results before use.
Building Custom AI Agents
Build reusable agents in Copilot Studio and automate multi-step tasks with clear instructions and guardrails.
Copilot Chat to 365 Copilot
What changes when you move to licensed Microsoft 365 Copilot, and how to use it safely on your own files.
Intermediate to Advanced Copilot
Go beyond drafting: complex multi-step work, reusable prompts and grounding Copilot in your own documents.
Academic (4)
AI for Academic Content Creation
Create and adapt teaching materials aligned to learning outcomes, checking accuracy and accessibility.
The AI-Enabled Classroom
Bring AI into live teaching to support discussion and active learning, and guide responsible student use.
AI for Academic Assessment
Design assessments that hold up in an AI-enabled world, and use Copilot to support marking and feedback.
AI for Researchers
Use AI for literature reviews, synthesis and early writing, while judging outputs for methodological soundness.
Professional services (2)
AI for Process Improvement
Map workflows, assess risk and plan where Copilot and Power Automate can redesign routine processes.
AI for Comms and Engagement
Write audience-specific communications across channels, reviewed for accuracy, inclusivity and reputation.
Students (2)
AI Foundations and Responsible Use
Know when AI support is appropriate in your studies, spot the risks, and prompt Copilot for reliable results.
AI Skills for the Workplace
Use AI the way employers now expect, with the judgement to know when it helps and when it doesn’t.
How it fits together
Start small, build from there
Most institutions start with the free AI Capability Check, then build up as their staff do.
Who we work with
Built for the people who own AI adoption
We work with the people tasked with turning AI curiosity into
institution-wide confidence, capability and compliance.
L&D and Organisational Development
You need consistent, role-specific training for academic and professional services staff, measured against published outcomes.
Digital and IT
You need more staff using approved tools like Copilot well, and fewer using unapproved ones.
Student services and careers
You need students who know what is allowed in their studies and what employers expect.
“AI is the second most cited challenge [for HE] again this year [2025] ...the full potential of AI can only be unlocked if the staff are well-trained and confident in using these new technologies responsibly.”
Jisc Leadership Survey 2025
A structured path
The AI Use Hierarchy
Five levels, from first use to institutional capability. Every course, workshop and AI Capability Check is mapped against it, with capability, confidence and compliance measured at each level.
- 1
Conversational AI
Using everyday AI assistants to draft, summarise and question. The starting point for most staff.
- 2
Structured Prompting
Applying a framework (Role, Context, Task) to get reliable, repeatable outputs.
- 3
Custom Configuration
Building reusable assistants with set instructions, tone and knowledge.
- 4
Agents and Workflows
Designing agents and multi-step workflows with checks and handoffs.
- 5
Integration and Orchestration
Connecting AI into team and institutional systems, and coordinating several tools.
| L1 Conversational AI | L2 Structured Prompting | L3 Custom Configuration | L4 Agents and Workflows | L5 Integration and Orchestration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | Uses an AI assistant to draft, summarise and question, refining through conversation | Uses the R-C-T framework and reusable prompts for reliable, repeatable results | Builds reusable assistants with set instructions, tone and knowledge | Designs and runs agents and multi-step workflows with checks and handoffs | Connects AI into team or institutional systems and coordinates several tools |
| Confidence | Willing to try AI on low-risk tasks; knows its limits | Uses AI routinely without step-by-step help; trusts own judgement on outputs | Shares tools with colleagues; adapts when tools change | Hands off multi-step work to AI while staying accountable | Leads others’ adoption and makes the case for change |
| Compliance | Follows the AI policy; no sensitive data in unapproved tools; checks outputs | Applies the Green/Amber/Red Decision Matrix to choose suitable tasks | Configures with approved data sources, permissions and guardrails | Builds human checkpoints, data handling and audit trails into workflows | Owns governance: risk assessment, accountability, monitoring |
The evidence
Why higher education needs this now
37%
of HE institutions have delivered AI staff development (44% in FE).
68%
of students say AI skills are essential, but only 48% feel staff are helping them develop them.
39%
of AI users have had AI training from their employer.
“Students overwhelmingly see AI as essential for their futures, but many do not feel adequately supported to develop the necessary skills. If universities want graduates to feel prepared for the future, then AI literacy and capability must be embedded across the curriculum. These skills cannot be treated as optional.”
Charlotte Armstrong, Policy Manager, Higher Education Policy Institute - HEPI/Kortext Student Generative AI Survey 2026
We’ve worked inside the buildings we’re trying to help.
Both founders are former Digital Skills Leads at the University of Exeter, and higher education is our home sector. That context shapes every workshop we design and every conversation we have with your team.
Understanding how universities operate and the technology used, means we can jump straight into helping you directly with your specific need.
Appreciating the time, capacity and anxiety pressures that can exist, we use a people-first approach, to offer flexibility and support every step of the way.
This isn’t theory for us. It’s the world we came from.
Meet the team →
AI Savings Calculator
What does the status quo cost you?
Limited and sporadic AI use isn’t free. Staff are spending hours on tasks that could be done in seconds if they were AI capable. The AI Savings Calculator estimates what a coordinated approach could reclaim.
How much could you save with AI?
- Enter your staff count
- Set your average salary
- Choose your adoption level
Your organisation
Number of staff20
Average annual salary£39,000
Adoption level
Advanced breakdown by role
Academic staff
Professional services
Your estimated savings
Financial impact
Annual saving
£0
Estimate for one year, on our published assumptions
5-year total
£0
Estimate over five years: the annual figure × 5
Productivity impact
Estimated hours saved / week
0 hrs
Across your whole team
Estimated capacity freed up
0.0 roles
Equivalent full-time roles of capacity
Estimated productivity gain
0%
Average increase per staff member
Free resource
The Higher Education Use Case Guide
A short guide that takes a single task most staff already do, and shows how it changes as staff move up the AI Use Hierarchy: from a quick prompt to a full agentic workflow.
Download the Higher Education Use Case GuideWhere does your institution stand?
Book your free AI Capability Check
A confidential 30-minute conversation, followed by a written report on where your teams sit on the AI Use Hierarchy and two or three next steps. No pitch, no slides, no obligation.
Book your free AI Capability Check