

In this two-day course, students will be introduced to using Claude Cowork, which is Anthropic's autonomous AI agent language and execution system used to manage complex, multi-step knowledge work directly within the Claude Desktop (https://claude.ai) environment. The course covers the structural requirements, permission frameworks, and interface dynamics needed to safely run computer use capabilities, but the emphasis is on leveraging Claude Cowork to handle long-running, autonomous business workflows. Students will learn how to configure persistent workspace context files, integrate native connectors and third-party Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, build reusable custom AI skills, and schedule fully automated daily or weekly tasks. This instructor-led course consists of a combination of lecture, demonstrations, and hands-on labs.

Power BI Introduction for Excel Users takes you from spreadsheet to service in two hands-on days. You'll connect Power BI to Excel workbooks, databases, web pages, and data feeds, then clean and shape that data with Power Query, model it with relationships and DAX, and bring it to life in rich, interactive reports. The course wraps up in the Power BI service, where you'll publish your work, build dashboards, and share insights with your organization. Designed for everyday Excel users rather than IT professionals, every lesson pairs plain-English instruction with a guided lab, so you leave having actually built what you learned.

Introduction to Claude
• You new image should be in your screen
• Select Plan the Save (You may also need to select Back to Chat)
• Enter “Add floating animation”
• Enter “Add glow effect” or select Add glow effect if the option is available
• The pulsing is very subtle after 1.2 seconds so look carefully)
• Enter “Make the glow effect more prominent”
• Enter “Add dark mode toggle if your background is white not black”
• Enter “Add background particles”
• Enter “Mouse interaction to particles”
• The particles will move away when the mouse is near them.
2. Improve Spacing
Prompt: “Increase spacing between all sections using a consistent 16px spacing system.”
3. Improve Alignment
Prompt: “Align all text and components to a clean left grid.”
4. Improve Typography
Prompt:
• “Increase title size.”
• “Use medium weight for subtitles.”
5. Improve Color Usage
Prompt: “Use a single primary color for actions and neutral colors for backgrounds.”
6. Add Micro-Interactions
Prompt:
• “Add hover states to buttons.”
• Move your mouse over the Get Started button to see the hover animation.
• “Add a success animation after saving.”
• If you get the following Question select Clicking “Get Started’ then Submit
@ 2026 Copyright Bob Branchek Associates, LLC
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7. Final Review
Check:
• Visual hierarchy
• Readability
• Consistency
LAB 6 -- Publish & Share Your App
Module 6: Publishing
Objective
Prepare your app for publishing, generate a shareable link, and test it like a real user. We could
pick any of your apps for this as the process would be the same. The following 3 steps would
apply to nearly any app. Let’s use the app from Lab 5 with the Advanced visualizations.
Step-by-Step Directions
1. Test Every Screen
@ 2026 Copyright Bob Branchek Associates, LLC
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Check:
• Navigation
• Actions
• Data
• Layout
2. Fix Issues
Prompt:
• “Fix spacing on all screens.”
• “Fix navigation from Home to Add Item.”
• “Remove placeholder text.”
3. Clean Up Visuals
Prompt: “Improve alignment and spacing across all screens.”
4. Generate a Shareable Link - Publish it
Use Lovable’s Publish feature.
@ 2026 Copyright Bob Branchek Associates, LLC
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5. Test the Link
Open it on:
• Desktop
• Mobile
• Tablet
6. Unpublish
To unpublish your app, go to Project Settings (click the project name in the top left ->
"Settings") and look for the option to unpublish under the Domains section.
From Settings you can also:
• Rename the project
• Transfer it to another workspace
• Hide the Lovable badge
LAB 7 -- Weather Application
Module 8: Additional Applications
Objective
Create a weather application that will show 3 days of weather for an entered zip code.
Step-by-Step Directions
1. Initial prompts
Prompt: “Create a weather application that accepts a zip code and shows the weather for
the next 3 days.”
Enter a zip code and your forecast should be shown
Prompt: Enter “Is this the actual weather data or is it simulated”
@ 2026 Copyright Bob Branchek Associates, LLC
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Lovable may return information such as:
It's simulated data. The src/lib/weatherData.ts file uses a deterministic mock engine that
generates consistent weather based on a numeric seed derived from the zip code--no real
API is called.
Would you like me to connect it to a real weather API (like OpenWeatherMap) to fetch live
data?
Prompt: Enter Yes
Goto the url: https://home.openweathermap.org/users/sign_up
And sign up for a free API key which will copy into Lovable as a secret
You may need to wait for your key to be active
1. Wait ~2 hours for your key to activate, then try again
Prompt: Change the api to Open-Meteo API
• Click on Add hourly forecasts
• Click on Add favorite locations
• Set up an account and log in to save a location
• Select Add hourly temperatures
• Select Add weather Alerts
• Fix the add alerts if necessary
• Add push notifications check this may not want to enable
• Add dark mode toggle
• Add 7-day forecast
• Add weather maps
@ 2026 Copyright Bob Branchek Associates, LLC
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LAB 8 -- News Summaries
Module 8: Additional Applications
Objective
Create a news application that will show news summaries on a list of topics.
Step-by-Step Directions
Initial Prompt
“Create a news summary application which allows you to show news summaries on the
following topics: sports, technology, business, leisure, science. Each summary will provide
a link to a url of the article or articles from which the summary was created. Allow the
user to enable the news summary to be read aloud.”
“Is this simulated or real news”
Lovable will return:
This is simulated/mock data - I created sample news articles in src/data/mockNews.ts to
demonstrate the UI.
To get real news, we'd need to connect to a live API. Would you like me to:
1. Use Perplexity API - AI-powered search that fetches and summarizes real news
2. Use a traditional News API - Like NewsAPI.org for headlines
Both require enabling Lovable Cloud for secure API key handling.
“Use a free news API to enable real news”
Select Enable Cloud.
Cloud is enabled. Now I'll use GNews API which is free (100 requests/day, no credit card). I
need to add the API key secret first.
Open up gnews.io in your browser and click on GET API Key
@ 2026 Copyright Bob Branchek Associates, LLC
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Sign up for your free account with you Google Gmail account if you have one or use
another username and password. Copy the API key under Add Secret in Lovable
Try each of the categories of news, open the full article for one of each of the news stories
for each category and click on the arrow button to have the summary of a article read to
you. Make sure that the sound is turned on for the computer tht you’re working from to
hear the summary.
@ 2026 Copyright Bob Branchek Associates, LLC
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LAB 9 -- Lovable Plan Lab
1. In your browser open up the url: https://copilot.microsoft.com/. In the list box select
Smart if it’s not selected which is the Large Language Model GPT-5.1. Enter the
following prompt:
Show me example of a plan for Lovable using plan mode for a weather app that will allow me
to enter a zip code or use my current location, show the weather for 7 days, use real not
simulated data using a free weather API, shows weather alerts, and include a weather map.
It’ll create a detailed plan for Lovable that you can copy into Lovable similar to the following
plan:
Create a weather app called “ZipWeather+”.
Goal:
Allow the user to enter a ZIP code or use their current location to retrieve real weather data
from free APIs. Show current conditions, a 7‑day forecast, weather alerts, and a weather map
with radar/precipitation tiles.
Data Sources:
- ZIP -> Lat/Lon: https://api.zippopotam.us/us/{zip}
- Weather + 7-Day Forecast (Open-Meteo):
https://api.open-
meteo.com/v1/forecast?latitude={lat}&longitude={lon}¤t_weather=true&daily=tempe
rature_2m_max,temperature_2m_min,precipitation_probability_max,weathercode&timezon
e=auto
- Weather Alerts (Open-Meteo warnings):
https://api.open-meteo.com/v1/warnings?latitude={lat}&longitude={lon}
- Weather Map Tiles:
https://tile.open-meteo.com/v1/precipitation/{z}/{x}/{y}.png
Screens:
1. Home Screen
- ZIP code text input
- Button: “Use ZIP Code”
@ 2026 Copyright Bob Branchek Associates, LLC
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- Button: “Use My Location”
- Logic:
• If ZIP entered -> call ZIP API -> store lat/lon
• If location used -> request GPS -> store lat/lon
• Navigate to Forecast Screen
2. Forecast Screen
- Show current temperature, conditions icon, wind, humidity
- Show 7-day forecast cards with:
• date
• high/low temps
• precipitation probability
• weather icon based on weathercode
- Buttons:
• “View Weather Alerts”
• “View Weather Map”
- Logic:
• On load, call Open-Meteo forecast endpoint using stored lat/lon
3. Alerts Screen
- List of active alerts
- Each alert shows:
• title
• severity
• description
• effective/expires
- Logic:
• Call Open-Meteo warnings endpoint
• If no alerts, show “No active alerts for this area”
4. Weather Map Screen
- Map component
- Overlay tile layer using precipitation tiles
- Toggle options:
• Precipitation
• Temperature
• Wind
- Logic:
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• Swap tile URL based on toggle selection
Data Models:
- Location: { latitude: number, longitude: number, zip: string | null }
- CurrentWeather: { temperature: number, windspeed: number, weathercode: number }
- DailyForecast: { date: string, temp_max: number, temp_min: number, precip_prob: number,
weathercode: number }
- Alert: { title: string, description: string, severity: string, effective: string, expires: string }
App Logic Flow:
1. User chooses ZIP or location
2. App retrieves lat/lon
3. App fetches weather, forecast, and alerts
4. User can navigate to Alerts or Weather Map
Requirements:
- Use real API calls (no mock data)
- Bind API responses to UI components
- Add navigation between screens
- Request location permission when needed
- Add map component with custom tile layer
2. We could be doing all this in Plan mode (replaces Chat mode) in Lovable directly but
we’re doing in a Large Language Model (LLM) for several reasons.
• In Lovable it’ll use credits, in Copilot AI (this version) it’s free
• Once we become knowledgeable, we could write the plan in detail ourselves but
we’re not there yet
• We don’t have to restrict ourselves to one tool when more than one can get us
better results, sometimes more easily
3. Click on Plan on the first page of Lovable and paste in the copied plan to Lovable.
4. Lovable will ask us questions before creating the app in order to refine the features of
the app.
5. When you’re finished you can add additional features before you have the app created.
Note: The last time I ran it (yesterday), it showed the temperature in
Celsius, (-6) so I added a toggle to go from Celsius to Fahrenheit.
@ 2026 Copyright Bob Branchek Associates, LLC
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LAB 10 -- NVIDIA DGX Spark Reseller
Optional Lab
Objective
Create a reseller application to resell the new Nvidia DGX Spark mini super computer.
Step-by-Step Directions
Open the application url or QR code (if available) provided by your instructor. Try all the
features of the application including the video, and display the specifications, features, and
performance.
Create an application similar to it but it does not have to be identical.
If you have time, enable one of the following: the Contact Sales, Request Quote, or
Schedule Demo features.
LAB 11 -- Gutenberg Project Reader
Optional Lab
Objective
Create a reader application for e-books available on the Gutenberg website. This a very
ambitious application and you may not have either enough time or account credits to complete it
during the class. However, completing only part of it would be helpful in understanding the use
of Lovable to develop application.
Step-by-Step Directions
@ 2026 Copyright Bob Branchek Associates, LLC
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Open the application url or QR code (if available) provided by your instructor. Try all the
features of the application including signing up for an account, logging in and out,
searching for books by title and author, generating a book synopsis, locating a chapter and
reading a chapter or the book synopsis.
Create an application similar to it but it does not have to be identical.
@ 2026 Copyright Bob Branchek Associates, LLC
--- Reference: chapter 2 all complete.pptx ---
MVP AND PRD
MVP (Minimum Viable Product)
An MVP is the simplest version of a product that includes only the essential features needed to satisfy early users and gather real‑world feedback.
It helps teams validate ideas quickly without wasting time or money on full builds.
Reduces risk by testing assumptions early
Speeds up time‑to‑market
Helps teams learn what users actually want
Enables iterative improvement based on real data
PRD (Product Requirements Document)
A PRD is a document that defines what a product should do -- its purpose, features, behavior, and release criteria.
It aligns stakeholders and guides development teams.
It’s used in both waterfall and agile environments, though in agile it tends to be lighter and more flexible.
Product overview and goals
Target users
Features and functionality
User stories or use cases
Constraints and assumptions
Success metrics and release criteria
--- Reference: chapter 4 all complete.pptx ---
Database Concepts
Thinking in Tables and Rows
W NotebaokLM
Users Table
123 alice@test.com 10:00 AM
Tasks Table
987 Buy Milk
False
123
Foreign Key Relationship
a Tables: Structured storage (like spreadsheets).
Columns: Attributes (text, boolean, timestamp, uuid).
Relationships: The mechanism that allows an app to know "Who owns what" by
linking IDs.