Large Language Models (LLMs) like Claude and Gemini are cognitive engines — they don't just process text, they reason, translate, summarize, code, and automate tasks that previously required specialized human expertise. This module covers the full spectrum: from crafting effective prompts to building conversational AI, from translating African languages to "vibe coding" (generating software from plain language descriptions). Whether you're a researcher summarizing papers, a small business owner drafting contracts, or a field worker automating reports, LLMs can amplify your cognitive capacity. "The 4th industrial revolution in Africa cannot take place in English."
Learn language & cognitive intelligence step by step with narration, interactive theory, and hands-on pipeline activities. Everything you need is inside the lesson — no coding required.
Already know the basics? Go straight to building language & cognitive intelligence pipelines visually.
Learning Objectives
What you'll learn in this module
- Craft effective prompts using zero-shot, few-shot, and chain-of-thought techniques
- Build a conversational chatbot with system prompts and context management
- Summarize documents and extract structured information from unstructured text
- Translate between English and African languages using Helsinki-NLP and LLMs
- Use vibe coding to generate working code and applications from natural language
- Automate cognitive tasks: report generation, data extraction, form filling, and workflow automation
- Choose the right tool: when to use specialist models vs general-purpose LLMs
Sector Applications
How this technology is used across African sectors
Summarize clinical notes, translate patient consent forms into local languages, build triage chatbots, and auto-generate medical intake forms
Generate lesson plans, create adaptive tutoring chatbots, translate learning materials, and build assessment tools with vibe coding
Summarize policy documents, translate laws into local languages, build citizen service chatbots, and automate permit and compliance workflows
Summarize literature, extract themes from interviews, translate survey instruments, generate analysis scripts, and draft structured reports
Generate invoices, draft contracts, translate business communications, automate inventory tracking, and create simple apps via vibe coding
Use LLMs to generate code from natural language descriptions — build dashboards, data pipelines, and prototypes without deep programming expertise
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