Welcome to the WCC AI Learning Series! This repository contains hands-on resources, code templates, and project guides for our 12-week AI learning program.
Format: 12 sessions total (6 Foundational + 6 Advanced)
Duration: 60 minutes each
Schedule: Every other Wednesday, starting November 5th, 2025
Target Audience: Coders with no/basic AI knowledge
Delivery: Hands-on, project-based learning
Certification: GitHub-tracked participation badges
- Foundational Track: Nov 5 - Dec 10 (6 weeks)
- Break: Last week of January (feedback & planning)
- Advanced Track: TBD (6 weeks)
- Language: Python 3.11+
- Cloud Platform: Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
- AI Platform: Vertex AI / Gemini API
- Development: Jupyter Notebooks, VS Code, Google Colab
- Cloud: AWS (Bedrock, SageMaker), Azure (OpenAI Service)
- AI APIs: OpenAI GPT, Anthropic Claude
Note: All concepts and use cases work across platforms. We'll show GCP/Gemini examples, but you can adapt to your preferred stack.
✅ Generous free tier with $300 credits for new users
✅ Integrated ML platform (Vertex AI)
✅ Gemini models (competitive with GPT-4/Claude)
✅ Strong community support
✅ Great for production deployments
Date: November 5, 2025
Instructor: Sonika
Learning Objectives:
- Understand AI, ML, and LLM concepts
- Set up GCP/Vertex AI and get API credentials
- Make your first API call to Gemini
- Build a basic chatbot with conversation memory
- Handle API responses and errors
What We'll Build: A simple but functional chatbot with Gemini API integration, conversation history, basic error handling, and a simple web interface.
WCC Use Case Options:
- WCC Info Bot (Community Assistant) - Chatbot that answers FAQs about WCC with personality
- Problem: New members ask repetitive questions about WCC events, membership, volunteering
- Tech: Gemini API, conversation memory, system prompts
- Bonus: Add web scraping to pull latest info from WCC website
ai-learning-series/
├── README.md # This file
├── getting-started/ # Setup guides
│ ├── gcp-setup.md
│ ├── vertex-ai-quickstart.md
│ ├── python-environment.md
│ └── alternative-platforms.md
├── sessions/
│ ├── session-01-ai-chatbots/
│ │ ├── slides.pdf
│ │ ├── live-demo/ # Code from live session
│ │ ├── starter-template/ # Template for participants
│ │ ├── use-case-guides/ # Detailed guides for each use case
│ │ └── participants/ # Participant submissions
│ │ ├── username1/
│ │ │ ├── code/
│ │ │ ├── README.md
│ │ │ └── demo.mp4
│ │ └── username2/
│ ├── session-02-prompt-security/
│ └── ...
├── resources/
│ ├── gcp-vertex-ai-cheatsheet.md
│ ├── prompt-engineering-guide.md
│ ├── security-checklist.md
│ ├── troubleshooting.md
│ └── reading-list.md
└── badges/
├── badge-criteria.md
└── badge-images/
- Review the session materials in
/sessions/session-01-ai-chatbots/ - Check
/getting-started/for setup guides - Use
/resources/for reference materials
- Follow the setup guide in
/getting-started/ - Clone this repository
- Navigate to your session folder
- Use the starter template to begin coding
- Submit your work to
/sessions/[session]/participants/[your-username]/
- Sonika - Foundational Track Lead
- Sonali - Advanced Track Lead
This project is open source and available under the MIT License.
We welcome contributions! Please:
- Fork this repository
- Create a feature branch
- Submit a pull request with your improvements
Last Updated: November 2025
Next Update: After Session 1 (November 5, 2025)