Employees

Getting StartedBest Practices

Welcome! This page supports employees in the responsible and effective use of artificial intelligence in their work.

Here you’ll find College‑approved guidance, tools, training pathways, and best practices to help you build confidence with AI while aligning with Algonquin’s policies, privacy standards, and values. Whether you’re just starting out or expanding your use of AI, this space connects you to the resources and support you need.

AI can be a powerful assistant—but human judgment and accountability remain essential. This site provides high‑level direction and links to trusted, resources across the College.

Key College Approved AI Tools for Employees

Copilot Chat is Microsoft’s AI‑powered work chat experience that lets employees interact with AI using natural language to get help with everyday tasks—such as drafting content, summarizing information, generating ideas, or answering questions—while signed in with their Algonquin College account.

Benefits of Copilot Chat

Copilot Chat helps employees work faster, think more clearly, and stay aligned with College guidelines—without leaving their secure Microsoft 365 environment.

  • Saves time on everyday tasks Copilot Chat can quickly summarize long emails or documents, draft first versions of content, and condense information, reducing time spent on routine work and helping you get started faster. 
  • Supports better writing and communication It helps generate clear, professional drafts for emails, notes, instructions, and briefings that you can review and refine—supporting consistent, high‑quality communication across the College.
  • Helps you think, plan, and problem‑solve Copilot Chat is useful for brainstorming ideas, outlining plans, preparing meetings, and organizing thoughts, especially when workloads are high or timelines are tight.
  • Secure and compliant for College use When accessed using your Algonquin College account, Copilot Chat operates with enterprise data protection, meaning prompts and responses are protected by Microsoft 365 security controls and aligned with institutional AI guidelines. 
  • Enterprise Data Protection Enterprise Data Protection ensures that when you use Copilot Chat with your Algonquin College account, your prompts and responses are encrypted, protected by Microsoft 365 security controls, not used to train AI models, and handled in line with institutional privacy and compliance requirements.
  • Build AI confidence and skills Using Copilot Chat helps employees learn how to interact effectively with AI, develop better prompts, and build practical AI literacy that transfers to other College‑approved tools and workflows.

Where is Copilot Chat?

Copilot Chat is available for use via:

  • the Copilot Chat website, on any web browser,
  • the integrated sidebar in Microsoft Edge,
  • the Windows 11 app

The full list of approved tools can be found on the College Approved AI Tools page.

Available to employees with unique responsibilities within their role at the College. Microsoft Teams Premium bolsters all of the features of Microsoft Teams while adding key benefits, including:

  • AI-powered Intelligent Recap Automatic meeting summaries, AI notes/action items, chapters, and personalized timeline markers to catch up fast
  • Live translation for Captions/Transcripts Break down language barriers in meetings, webinars, and events.
  • Advanced Meeting Protection Enable watermarks on shared content/video, end‑to‑end encryption for sensitive meetings, control who can record, and prevent copy/paste from meeting chat.

Please note: Teams Premium does not require the installation of new software on your computer, it simply unlocks key features in the application installed on your College issued device.

Contact Information Technology Services (ITS) at 5555@algonquincollege.com to request a Teams Premium license.

The full list of approved tools can be found on the College Approved AI Tools page.

Workday Assistant and Enhanced Search​ uses artificial intelligence to help employees quickly find people, jobs, tasks, and HR information across Workday using natural, conversational queries. Its Microsoft Teams integration brings this capability directly into Teams, allowing users to search, ask questions, and take action without leaving their daily collaboration workspace. Recent improvements focus on smarter relevance, faster responses, and reduced context switching—making it easier for employees to get accurate answers and complete tasks where they already work.

Learn more about these Workday features

The full list of approved tools can be found on the College Approved AI Tools page.

Available to employees with unique responsibilities within their role at the College. 

Microsoft M365 Copilot bolsters all of the features of Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Office products while adding key benefit to boost personal productivity and content by automating tasks, drafting content, analyzing data, and summarizing information across Microsoft products. 

Please note: M365 Copilot does not require the installation of new software on your computer, it simply unlocks key features in the application installed on your College issued device.

Contact Information Technology Services (ITS) at 5555@algonquincollege.com to request a M365 Copilot license.

The full list of approved tools can be found on the College Approved AI Tools page.

Getting Started with GenAI (Copilot)

What you can do—safely and quickly

  • Summarize and draft: Create first drafts, summarize long emails or documents, and generate reply options in tools like Outlook and Word—always reviewing before sharing.
  • Analyze and organize information: Ask Copilot to spot patterns, summarize data, and help draft formulas or insights in Excel.
  • Brainstorm and plan: Generate ideas, outlines, meeting agendas, and talking points to help you think through tasks and next steps.
  • Prepare presentations: Summarize slides, draft speaker notes, and anticipate audience questions when working in PowerPoint.
  • Refine and rewrite content: Improve clarity, tone, and structure of existing text to better suit your audience or purpose.

Reminder: Microsoft Copilot in Microsoft 365 is the College approved generative AI tool for employees. Do not use nonapproved AI apps and extensions to analyze any College data that is not available to the public.

Quick Start Guide

  1. Sign into Copilot Chat in a web browser with your AC credentials or launch Word/Outlook/PowerPoint/Excel/Teams on your College issued device.
  2. Start by crafting a clear prompt: Goal + Context + Expectations + Source.
    • Provide non‑sensitive context: Use public or internal information and links, when in doubt do not share information with Copilot
  3. Click Send.
  4. Review critically: Check facts, numbers, names, and tone.
  5. Refine iteratively: Ask Copilot to tighten, reformat, or generate alternatives, then finalize.

AI and Information Handling

Click or tap on each row to view examples of each information classification.

Information TypeCollege Approved Copilot ToolsNotesExamples
Public Information✓ Permitted✓ PermittedPublicly available College or external information
  • Faculty and staff directory information
  • Course catalogues
  • Published research data
  • Advertised Jobs and Tenders
  • Corporate Policies
Internal / Non-Sensitive✓ Permitted⚠ Use cautionCollege-approved tools preferred; do not use public tools with internal data
  • Class Lists
  • ITS, Facilities and security system design and configuration information
  • Contractual agreements that include a confidentiality clause, are subject to a nondisclosure agreement, or include information which is not otherwise publicly available
  • Information related to a regulator’s request that could be damaging to the College and is not otherwise subject to Freedom of Information
Personal Information (PI), Personal Health Information (PHI) and Payment Card industry (PCI) data✗ Not permitted✗ Not permittedNever enter into any AI tool, regardless of approval status
  • Payment and Credit Information
  • Personal information identifying or reasonably linking to an individual and, if disclosed without authorization, could result in harm to the individual or the organization. Example includes any combination of identifiers such as student/employee ID and/or name with sensitive demographic information or student record data
  • Restricted Personal information such as government issued identification (Social Insurance Number (SIN), Passport...)
  • Research Data (containing personal and/or personal health information)
Confidential / Restricted✗ Not permitted✗ Not permittedNever enter into any AI tool; consult ITS for specific use cases
  • Exam materials and results
  • Organizational financial data that is not otherwise publicly available
  • Research data 4
  • Unpublished intellectual property
  • Contractual agreements deemed confidential under FIPPA
  • Information related to and identifying children and young persons
  • Solicitor-client privileged documents and communication
  • Litigation privilege documents and communications
TerminologyDefinition
Personal Health Information (PHI) Identifying information about an individual relating to the physical or mental health of the individual or the provision of health care. Where it is held for purposes related to the provision of health care, the Ontario Personal Health Information Protection Act 2 (PHIPA) governs the College's collection, use and disclosure of the information.
Personal Information (PI) Personal Information is any information relating to an identified or identifiable person including employees, learners and other individuals.
Payment Card industry (PCI) PCI Compliance (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard - PCI DSS) is a set of security requirements for any entity that processes, stores, or transmits credit card data. It aims to prevent fraud, protect consumer data, and minimize data breaches. 

AI Best Practices

  • Protect College information. Use College approved tools. Keep Internal, Confidential, or Restricted information out of public AI tools.
  • Review before you use. Treat AI output as a draft. Verify accuracy, sources, and implications before sharing.
  • Keep humans in the loop. Clearly identify AI assisted content where appropriate and retain accountability for final decisions.
  • Respect accessibility and inclusion. Ensure outputs meet AODA aligned accessibility practices (clear language, proper structure, alt text, readable contrast).
  • Use existing support pathways. If you’re unsure, ask—start with ITS Client Care and the AI Guidelines & Resources site.

More best-practices can be found on the Responsible Use page.

These best practices reflect the College’s responsible use guidance and our security posture—centralized here, with deeper, role specific resources linked from the owners so information stays current.

  • Don’t analyze sensitive content (e.g., personal, health, student, or restricted operational data) into public generative AI tools.
  • Don’t “trust and post.” Never publish or email AI output without your review and contextual checks.
  • Don’t install unapproved AI apps or APIs on College devices or in our tenant. Use approved channels for integrations.

For in-depth information on Algonquin’s AI guidelines review the Generative AI Guidelines for Institutional Use website.

Always Remember

  • Classify before you share. Internal, Confidential, and Restricted data must not be entered into public AI tools. Use approved College tools and channels.

Learn more on the Information Security and Privacy website.

More best-practices can be found on the Responsible Use page.

Use Cases and Templates

  • Email triage & drafting: Have Copilot summarize a long thread and propose a concise action-oriented reply. You finalize and send.
  • Meeting prep & follow-up: Ask for a summary of a meeting you were invited to and a todo list you will validate with attendees.
  • Document first drafts: Provide a brief (purpose/audience/key points) and let Copilot draft a page you’ll edit for accuracy and tone.
  • Data exploration: Use natural language in Excel to surface trends; verify formulas and calculations before sharing.
  • Prepare and present: In PowerPoint, have Copilot turn a document outline into slides, then add your context and verify accuracy.
  • Catch up and coordinate: In Teams, use Teams Premium features to summarize meetings, and to propose actions or follow-ups you’ll confirm with the group.
  • “You are my writing assistant. Draft a one page summary for [audience] that explains [topic], with three bullet recommendations and a short call to action. Use a professional, plain language tone.”
  • “Analyze the attached spreadsheet. Identify three notable trends and any outliers and suggest two follow-up questions we should ask.”
  • “Turn the attached document into a five slide outline with title suggestions. Keep it factual and flag any missing information I should add.”

The Prompt Gallery is a built‑in library of ready‑made prompts that help you get better results from Microsoft Copilot (for example, writing emails, summarizing documents, creating presentations, or analyzing data).

How to Access the Copilot Prompt Gallery

  1. Go to Microsoft Copilot or open the Microsoft Copilot app if it’s installed on your device.
  2. Sign in with your Algonquin College credentials (ensure you see the green Enterprise Data Protection icon).
  3. Under the prompt entry field, locate and select “Show more”
  4. At the bottom of the “Show more” items, select Prompt Gallery.
  5. Filter prompts by Task or Job type.
    • If you would like to save a prompt click the bookmark icon associated with it. You can find saved prompots in the “Your prompts” tab.
  6. Click a prompt to:
    • Use it as‑is, or
    • Customize it before running Copilot

Available Training Opportunities

Frequently Asked Questions

It is okay to use public AI tools (i.e. ChatGPT), so long as you adhere to the established guideline based whether you are a student/faculty/employee in Guidelines for your Role Under no circumstance should you enter Internal, Confidential, or Restricted information into public AI tools.

Yes—after you review for accuracy, context, and confidentiality and ensure it meets accessibility and brand standards.

Other Areas to Explore

College Approved ToolsResponsible UseStudentsFacultyEmployeesApplied Research AI Hub

AI at AC

"The true power of AI lies not in replacing humans, but in working alongside us to achieve what neither can do alone." — Sebastian Thrun

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