Serve a person.
Create useful work.
Listen. Agree. Build. Check. Deliver. Improve. Complete one small project that responds to a real need—and keep evidence you can explain.
Free public self-study · Adults and supported older learners · No coding required
Build on what you already know.
This course turns DTU’s humanization and practical learning into a complete service project. Adult Foundations helps with clear messages and work habits; AI in Action helps you make and check a deliverable; Adult Core provides the broader work and service foundation. You may begin here with the fictional case below.
Work or volunteering
Turn approved public information into a useful guide or checklist. Ask the task owner to review it before use.
Family or everyday support
With permission, organize a simple schedule or set of instructions. Keep unnecessary personal information out of the exercise.
Small business
Make a clear product-information sheet or a bounded service checklist using verified facts. Choose work you can appropriately provide.
Learning or creative work
Make a study guide, activity plan, or project brief for a willing learning partner. Test whether it answers their actual question.
Start small: choose one everyday task you can do with appropriate permission. Use the fictional project if a real task is unavailable. You control any real sharing or action; this page does not submit your workbook.
Listen for a useful need
You will leave with: A need statement that the other person can confirm.
Begin with a person and a practical need. Ask what would make one task easier, clearer, or more reliable. Listen before offering a solution. Choose a small everyday task you can do with appropriate permission: organize public information, make a checklist, clarify instructions, or prepare a simple plan.
Do this now
- Ask: “What are you trying to do? What is getting in the way? What would a useful result look like?”
- Restate the need in one sentence: “You need ___ so you can ___.” Invite a correction.
- Separate what the person said from your assumptions. Do not collect private details that the task does not need.
- Choose a result within your ability. If the need requires expertise, authorization, or access you do not have, ask for an appropriate next step instead of pretending you can provide it.
Worked example
Fictional case: Alex coordinates a workshop at Example Community Center. Visitors keep asking when it begins, where to go, and what to bring. Need statement: “Visitors need a short arrival guide so they can find the workshop and bring the right item.” Assumption to check: Would a three-step guide work better than a long paragraph? Useful question: “Who will read it, and which facts may I include?”
Your turn
Use the fictional case first, or ask a willing person about a small task. Write their need, your assumptions, and one clarification question. If you rehearse, label it as a rehearsal.
Record this lesson’s work ↓Check before continuing
Does the statement describe the person’s need rather than your preferred tool? Have they confirmed it, or have you clearly marked confirmation as pending?
Stretch exercise
A person asks for “a fancy AI website,” but their real difficulty is that visitors cannot find opening hours. Write a clarifying question and propose a smaller result. Explain why that result addresses the need.
Agree on one small deliverable
You will leave with: A clear task brief with scope, facts, deadline, and review owner.
A service becomes workable when both people understand the same task. Define what you will make, what is outside the task, who checks it, and how a change will be handled. A task brief for this exercise is a learning record, not a legal contract.
Do this now
- Name the deliverable, intended reader, and observable finish line.
- List the approved facts and identify who can confirm changes. Turn missing facts into questions.
- Set a realistic draft deadline and a review step. Do not confuse a proposal with an accepted arrangement.
- Restate the brief and ask the person to confirm or correct it before you build.
Worked example
Fictional approved brief Deliverable: one-page visitor guide with three arrival steps. Public facts: Example Community Center workshop; Saturday, October 24, 2026; 10–11 a.m.; Room B; bring a notebook. Audience: workshop visitors. Draft due: Thursday, October 22 at 5 p.m. Review owner: Alex. Only Alex confirms changes. Not supplied: street directions, fees, registration rules, or accessibility arrangements. Do not invent them. Finish line: date, time, room, and notebook are correct; a reader can find them quickly; Alex reviews before distribution.
Your turn
Write your task brief in the workbook. For a real task, include only verified information and use the person’s appropriate review process. If confirmation is missing, mark the brief “proposed.”
Record this lesson’s work ↓Check before continuing
Can the other person tell what they will receive and what you are not promising? Is every important unknown visible?
Stretch exercise
The request grows from one guide to a guide, a website, and daily social posts. Write a respectful response that identifies the added work and asks which small deliverable should come first.
Build the smallest useful version
You will leave with: A first version that directly answers the agreed need.
Now make the work. Choose the simplest format the reader can use. Start with the essential facts and action. AI may help draft or format, but the task brief remains your reference. You can complete this course with paper and a learning partner.
Do this now
- Place the reader’s main questions first. Use short labels, plain wording, and an obvious next step.
- Create one complete first version from the approved brief. Do not add impressive but unsupported detail.
- If using AI, provide fictional or approved non-private facts, the exact task, the audience, and the limits. Record meaningful help.
- Save version 1. Identify one question a reader might still have rather than polishing endlessly.
Worked example
Example version 1 EXAMPLE COMMUNITY CENTER WORKSHOP Saturday, October 24, 2026 · 10–11 a.m. 1. Find Room B at Example Community Center. 2. Bring a notebook. 3. Join the workshop at 10 a.m. Optional AI instruction: “Draft a short three-step visitor guide using only the approved brief. Preserve every date, time, and room. Do not invent directions, fees, registration rules, or access arrangements. Flag missing information separately.”
Your turn
Build your first version. For the fictional case, make the visitor guide. For your own project, make the agreed checklist, message, plan, or information sheet. Keep the brief beside it.
Record this lesson’s work ↓Check before continuing
Does the version exist as usable work? Can you point to how it answers the need? Can you explain every factual statement?
Stretch exercise
Create a phone-readable version and a printable version. Keep the facts identical. Explain one change you made for each format and one detail that must never change.
Test it with the facts and a reader
You will leave with: A quality check and at least one explained correction.
Check the work before handing it over. Accuracy and usability are separate checks: a clear guide can contain a false fact, and a correct guide can still be hard to use. Use the task brief for facts and a learning partner for a simple reader test.
Do this now
- Compare each date, time, place, quantity, and claim with the approved brief. Remove unsupported additions.
- Ask a partner to locate three answers: when, where, and what to bring. Let them read without coaching. Record each question, their answer, and whether it matches the brief. Do not record names or private details.
- Ask: “What was unclear? What would you need next?” Record the response or mark the test as not yet done.
- Revise one issue and explain the reason. Recheck the facts after changing wording or layout, then repeat the missed question. If no issue appears, explain a deliberate improvement and recheck it.
Worked example
Faulty version: “Friday, October 23, 10 a.m., Room A. Supplies provided. Free registration required.” Facts check: the date and room are wrong; “supplies provided” and registration rules are unsupported. Correction: restore Saturday, October 24, 10–11 a.m., Room B, and “bring a notebook.” Remove the invented rules. Reader test: “Where is the room stated?” If the reader cannot find it, give the room its own clear line. A single reader test is useful feedback, not proof that every visitor will understand the guide.
Your turn
Check every fact. Run the reader test with a partner, or label your own review as self-review. Record a before-and-after correction and what it improves.
Record this lesson’s work ↓Check before continuing
Did you check all material facts, not just the most visible error? Is the reader-test record honest about who tested it and what happened?
Stretch exercise
Translate or simplify one sentence. Compare the date, time, room, and action with the original. If you cannot evaluate the translation, ask a fluent reviewer or keep it marked as needing review.
Deliver it with a clear handoff
You will leave with: A handoff checked for clarity, with an honest version, status, and next action.
Deliver the work to the appropriate reviewer or recipient. Explain what you are handing over, which version it is, what was checked, and what still needs a decision. “Sent,” “reviewed,” “approved,” “used,” and “helpful” are different statuses.
Do this now
- Check the recipient and channel. For the fictional exercise, draft the handoff without sending it to a real organization.
- Identify the deliverable and version; state what you checked and any open question.
- Ask for the specific review or next action you need. Do not describe approval or success that has not happened.
- Record the actual handoff status and retain the work in an appropriate place. Ask before sharing someone else’s details or feedback publicly.
Worked example
Draft handoff to fictional Alex “Hi Alex, here is version 1 of the workshop arrival guide. I checked October 24, 10–11 a.m., Room B, and the notebook instruction against your brief. I left out directions, fees, and registration rules because they were not supplied. Could you review the guide and confirm whether it is ready for distribution?” Honest record: “Handoff drafted; not sent.” Or, in a real agreed project: “Sent for review; approval pending.” Do not record “distributed” or “visitors helped” without evidence.
Your turn
Draft or perform the agreed handoff. Clearly mark whether it is a real action or rehearsal. Record who owns the next decision and what you are waiting for.
Record this lesson’s work ↓Check before continuing
Could the receiver identify the version and next step without guessing? Does the status match what actually happened?
Stretch exercise
Your draft deadline is at risk. Write an update before the deadline: what is done, what remains, the issue, a proposed next step, and the decision needed. Do not unilaterally declare a new agreed deadline.
Improve, explain, and transfer
You will leave with: A revised project, an honest evidence packet, and a fresh independent attempt.
Use feedback and confirmed changes to improve the work. Then show that you can apply the method to a new situation. The finish line is useful work you can explain, not a claim that a tool or a worksheet proves your readiness for every task.
Do this now
- Open the confirmed update below only after completing version 1 and its handoff. Identify what changed and what stayed the same.
- Create version 2, recheck every affected fact, and describe how it replaces the earlier version.
- Assemble the brief, versions, check, correction, handoff record, and help disclosure. Review against the five criteria below.
- Complete the fresh transfer case before opening the facilitator notes. Explain one improvement and your next useful action.
After version 1: confirmed update
Open the update after completing the handoff
Confirmed fictional update from Alex “Use Room C instead of Room B. Keep Saturday, October 24, 2026, 10–11 a.m., and the notebook instruction. Please revise the guide for review.”
Close this update and make your revision before opening the model below.
Compare with the model after your own revision
Version 2 must use Room C everywhere. The date, time, and notebook stay the same. Handoff: “Version 2 replaces version 1 for review. I changed Room B to Room C and rechecked the unchanged date, time, and notebook instruction. Distribution approval is still pending.” Evidence-based skill statement: “I created a guide from an approved brief, checked its facts, and revised it after a confirmed room change.”
Your turn
Revise your guide after Alex’s update, or respond to confirmed feedback on your own project. Complete the fresh transfer case below. Download the packet before leaving.
Record this lesson’s work ↓Check before continuing
Can someone inspect the work and understand your reasoning? Have you identified your assistance and the limits of the evidence? Is an older version clearly superseded?
Stretch exercise
Ask a partner to explain the work back to you. If their explanation exposes a gap, make one correction and retest. Record an unresolved limitation rather than inventing success.
New person. New format. Same judgment.
Complete this fictional case without copying the arrival-guide example. Access supports may help you read or write, but explain your own decisions. If AI or a partner supplies part of the reasoning, disclose it and try another case independently.
Stage A · Make your first attempt
The need: first-time visitors to fictional Example Library cannot easily find the craft session’s date, time, room, and item to bring. Morgan wants a short checklist they can read on a phone.
- Approved facts: Wednesday, October 28, 2026; 4–5 p.m.; Room Green; bring paper.
- Morgan requests exactly four lines. The draft is due Tuesday, October 27 at noon. Morgan reviews before distribution.
- No fee, registration policy, directions, accessibility arrangement, or outcome is supplied.
- A helper suggests “guaranteed learning results.” No evidence or approval supports this claim.
- State the need, audience, finish line, deadline, and review owner. Identify what you must ask or leave out.
- Write version 1 in exactly four lines, with one line each for date, time, room, and what to bring.
- Compare each line with the packet. Explain why you excluded the helper’s claim.
- Draft the handoff; mark it “drafted, not sent” for this rehearsal.
Stage B · Open only after recording version 1
Morgan confirms: “Use Room Blue instead of Room Green. Keep the date, time, and paper instruction. Please revise for review.”
- Write version 2 in four lines. Identify the changed fact and check the unchanged facts.
- Write a handoff that says version 2 replaces version 1 for review. Approval remains pending.
- Keep both versions and explain the correction. If you read the update before Stage A, disclose it and use the facilitator’s fresh case for reassessment.
Finish line: a source-matched four-line checklist, a justified exclusion, both versions, and an honest review handoff. A fictional rehearsal demonstrates practice; it does not prove real delivery or visitor benefit.
Can you show the useful work?
Inspect your packet, then choose a review status for each criterion. These are your own review decisions, not an automatic evaluation of your writing or an issued grade. All five need evidence. For each status, cite a workbook field and the specific line or observation that supports it. A status without an evidence note remains unreviewed. Accuracy and truthful permission/status are required before real distribution; a polished design cannot compensate for either gap.
Choose statuses only after inspecting your work.
Keep this packet: need statement, task brief, version 1, facts and reader check, explained correction, handoff record, version 2, fresh transfer attempt, and assistance disclosure.
Facilitator guide and transfer-case review
Ask the learner to explain the need, compare the work with the source packet, and justify one correction. Accept spoken, dictated, written, or typed evidence when the learner supplies the reasoning. Mark support and assistance. Harmless spelling or accent differences do not replace the accuracy and usefulness criteria.
Fresh-case review: The checklist must preserve Wednesday, October 28, 2026, 4–5 p.m., Room Blue, and bring paper. Room Green is superseded. The guaranteed-results claim is unsupported. A review handoff is not distribution approval. Check that the learner uses the requested four-line format and identifies Morgan as the review owner. Wording may vary while facts remain correct.
Reassessment: If the learner saw this review first, provide a new packet: fictional Example Learning Center, Saturday, October 31, 2026, 2–3 p.m., Room West, bring a pencil; the owner Taylor confirms Room East instead. Request a three-item checklist and a draft for review. Introduce an unsupported fee suggestion. Apply the same five criteria to the fresh attempt.
Give feedback on one inspectable part of the work: name the gap, explain its effect, and let the learner revise. Keep any formal learner records in your appropriate private system. This page issues no credential.
Keep the work. Keep the reasoning.
Notes are not submitted or saved automatically. Download before leaving or refreshing; paper works too. Use fictional facts for the practice case and keep private information out of this public learning page.