New · Free & Self-Paced

Your First Hour with Claude

A fast-moving 60-minute intro that takes you from "I've heard of Claude" to "I've talked to it, watched it build a working app, and set it running on its own." The gentle on-ramp to the AI Learning Hub — no jargon, no setup pain, nothing assumed.

60 minutes
6 Lessons
Total Beginners Welcome
Free & self-paced
Start Learning Preview the Hour Start Presentation FAQ

What You'll Walk Away With

Six quick wins in sixty minutes — each one a real thing you've seen Claude do, not just heard about.

Meet Claude

Understand what Claude is and its three modes — Chat, Cowork and Code — and when to reach for each.

Have a Real Conversation

Learn what makes a great request, so you get a clear answer and a recommendation — not a wall of text.

Watch Claude Build

See Claude make a real, filterable app — Artifacts — live in front of you, and tweak it on request.

Put Claude to Work

Discover Cowork — Claude acting on real files and connected apps to produce actual deliverables.

Set It on Autopilot

See Scheduled tasks run jobs while you sleep — a morning brief or the weekly shop, done automatically.

Know Where to Go Next

Leave with the big mental model — more capability, more trust — and a clear path to keep going.

A Peek at the Hour

Real screens from the session — exactly what you'll see Claude doing, live.

A School Holiday Activities app Claude built — a filterable board of family activities
Artifacts

Claude builds a real, filterable app — live.

The output of a Cowork morning brief summarising today's calendar, inbox and what needs attention
Cowork

Claude works on real files and connected apps.

A grid of scheduled tasks — recurring jobs Claude runs automatically
Scheduled tasks

Recurring jobs that run while you're away.

New · Living Book

Read the Hour as a Book

The First Hour with Claude Handbook — the whole mini-course rewritten as a short, friendly read. Six chapters, one per lesson, each ending with a small thing to try.

3 sections · 6 chapters · read online or download as a PDF · kept up to date as Claude changes

Read the Handbook Download PDF

The Hour, Lesson by Lesson

Six short lessons that build on each other — from what Claude is, to talking to it, to it working on its own.

01

Meet Claude

5 min · what Claude is and the three modes
Claude is an AI assistant from Anthropic (Opus, Sonnet, Haiku)
Chat = ask and answer · Cowork = work on your computer · Code = build software
The big idea: the more Claude does, the more trust and setup it needs
02

Your First Chat

10 min · talking to Claude and getting good answers
Start a new chat and type plainly — no special syntax needed
Give context, a specific goal, and the format you want
Claude can take a position and give a clear recommendation — refine with follow-ups
03

Claude Makes Things: Artifacts

12 min · Claude builds interactive apps & pages live
An artifact is a working app/page — buttons, filters and views all function
Live example: a filterable School Holiday Activities planner for a real family
Tweak it on request, and re-open it later — artifacts persist
04

Claude on Your Computer: Cowork

12 min · acting on real files, apps and connectors
Cowork = Claude with hands: it reads/writes files and uses connected apps
You give it a task; it does the work and reports back (e.g. a morning brief)
Connectors (Calendar, Gmail…) pull from your real life — with your permission
05

Claude on Autopilot: Scheduled Tasks

12 min · recurring jobs that run while you're away
A scheduled task = a saved instruction + a cadence (daily, weekdays, weekly)
Claude runs it automatically and leaves you the result, with a full history
Great starters: a morning brief, a news digest, the weekly supermarket shop

Who This Hour Is For

Absolute Beginners

Never opened Claude? Perfect. We start from zero, with nothing assumed and no jargon.

The AI-Curious

You've heard Claude is powerful but never gone past a single question. Time to see what it really does.

Busy Professionals

Short on time? One hour gives you real, day-to-day wins you can use immediately.

Returning Learners

Planning to keep going with Claude? This is the gentle warm-up before the deeper courses.

RC

Your Instructor

Rupert Chesman

Filmmaker turned AI educator with years of experience teaching AI and creating AI courses — with over 700 students taught in the past year alone. Rupert combines deep technical understanding with a gift for making complex ideas accessible, fun, and immediately useful.

700+ Students This Year
70+ Countries
200+ Workshops
Filmmaker + AI Educator

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need any experience with AI to join?

None at all. This session is built for complete beginners. If you've never opened Claude, you're exactly who it's for — we start from the very beginning, with no jargon and nothing assumed.

Do I need to install or pay for anything beforehand?

A computer and a Claude account are all you need, and Claude's free tier is perfectly fine to follow along. Installing the Claude desktop app beforehand means you can try Cowork and Scheduled tasks yourself, but it isn't required — you're welcome to just watch.

What will I be able to do afterwards?

You'll understand what Claude is and its three modes, you'll have had a real conversation with it, watched it build a working interactive app, seen it work on real files with Cowork, and seen it run a job automatically on a schedule — plus a clear sense of what to explore next.

About the Expert

Rupert Chesman

Rupert Chesman

AI Educator · Filmmaker · Author of The AI-Native Playbook

Rupert has taught over 700 students this year across corporate workshops, online courses, and live intensives — turning complex AI concepts into practical, immediately applicable skills. As a filmmaker and creative technologist, he brings a unique perspective that bridges technical capability and real-world application.

More about Rupert →

Spend an Hour with Claude

The easiest possible start with Claude — six short, hands-on lessons you can do at your own pace, any time.

Browse the Lessons