The newest Generative AI @ Pitt tool is now available to all faculty and staff with student access coming soon. Claude for Education is designed to go beyond simple answers to deepen understanding and spark learning — you know, what we do here at Pitt.
You may have heard that Claude isn’t like other GenAI tools, but what does that really mean? At Pitt Digital, we’ve been experimenting with the best ways to use Claude for Education and we’ve been impressed with just how effective it is for learning, working, and collaborating. So, before you get started, here are some helpful tips for getting the most out of Claude.
A Thinking Partner, Not a Search Engine
When you ask Claude a question, it analyzes the prompt to determine what you're actually trying to accomplish. This can feel different from other GenAI tools that often respond first and ask questions later.
Claude is designed to iterate with you rather than do all the work for you. It brings speed and data processing while you bring critical thinking and judgment. This means Claude works best when you approach it less like an answer machine and more like a colleague who's there to help you think through challenges. The difference shows up in how you interact with it, starting with the prompts you write.
Prompt Differently With Claude
Effective prompting means giving Claude the context it needs to help you. That means being specific and thorough — share where you are in the process, what you’ve already tried, and what specific help you need. Break complex requests into smaller steps, and don't hesitate to define roles or specify how you want the output formatted.
Here's what the progression from vague to specific looks like in practice:
- ❌ Vague: “Help me with my essay.”
- 👍 Specific: “I'm writing an essay about climate policy, and I have a rough outline, but I'm stuck on how to structure my argument about carbon pricing.”
- ✅ Most specific: “I'm writing a persuasive essay arguing for carbon pricing policies. My audience is policymakers who are skeptical about market-based solutions. I have three main points drafted, but I'm struggling to connect my economic argument in section two to the environmental benefits in section three. Can you help me identify what's missing in my logic?”
Remember that AI can sound confident even when incorrect. While Claude is designed to be thoughtful, GenAI tools aren’t perfect and may hallucinate. If you're not sure about a response, ask Claude to verify the information against trusted sources, request supporting quotes from documents you've shared, or tell it to answer only when it's certain.
Check out our tips for how to spot and avoid GenAI hallucinations.
Enter Learning Mode
A distinct feature of Claude is its ability to guide your learning, rather than simply generate responses. Learning Mode is made specifically for education, transforming Claude from a helpful assistant into an active teaching partner. You don’t need to be a student to benefit — Learning Mode is available to all Claude for Education users and is the best way to kick-start creative thinking with GenAI.
It's like a Socratic seminar where Claude encourages you to articulate your thinking, test your understanding, and connect concepts on your own. This takes more time than getting a quick answer, but the result is often a deeper understanding of the material that actually sticks.
To turn it on, click Search and tools at the bottom of your chat, navigate to Use style, then choose Learning. You'll also see other style options that change the way Claude responds: Formal, Explanatory, Concise, and Normal (the default style).
Tools for Education: Projects & Artifacts
Claude comes with two features that make it especially powerful for University work: Projects that remember your context across conversations, and Artifacts that let you build and iterate on interactive content. Together, these tools transform Claude from a one-off chatbot into a persistent workspace where your ideas can develop over time.
Front and Center: Study, Career, Research
Claude for Education puts learning front and center — literally. When you log in, you'll find three pre-set projects custom-made for university use: Study Project, Career Project, and Research Project. Each includes instructions written by the experts at Anthropic that direct Claude's responses to be relevant to each request. You can also create your own Projects with custom instructions (feel free to ask Claude to help you write those!).
Projects work as persistent spaces that maintain your documents, instructions, and context across multiple conversations. Unlike a regular Chat that starts fresh each time, a Project remembers what you're working on.
Use a Project when:
- You're working on ongoing initiatives or projects
- You need Claude to remember context from previous conversations
- You're collaborating with others who need access to the same knowledge base
- You're building institutional knowledge over time
Use a regular Chat when:
- You have a quick one-off question
- You want a completely fresh perspective without previous context
- You're brainstorming and want to start from scratch
Chats can be made into Projects at any time, so you never have to worry too much about how you start chatting.
Interactive Artifacts Made for You
Artifacts are where Claude's output comes to life. Instead of just text in a chat window, Artifacts appear in a separate pane where you can interact with what Claude creates. Ask for a set of study flashcards and you'll get an actual working flashcard deck you can flip through. Request a data visualization and you'll see an interactive chart you can explore.
The real power of Artifacts is iteration. Don't like how something looks? Ask Claude to adjust it and watch the Artifact update in real-time while keeping previous versions accessible. You can switch between versions to compare approaches, or open multiple Artifacts in one conversation to work on different elements simultaneously and keep refining until you get exactly what you need.
Start Exploring Claude for Education
The best way to see what makes Claude different is to try it yourself. Log in with your Pitt credentials at claude.ai, explore its built-in learning features, and start a conversation. From there, let Claude guide you to deeper, personalized learning.
— Pitt Digital
