Missions are short, guided projects designed to help you build practical AI skills. Here’s how to complete a mission from start to finish.
AI Skills Studio is currently in Beta and may not yet be available to all students. Availability may vary by school as we continue to expand access.
Step 1: Go to AI Skills Studio
From your student account, click AI Skills Studio in the left navigation, or go directly to app.joinhandshake.com/learn.
Step 2: Find a mission
The AI Skills Studio home page gives you several ways to find a mission:
- Month’s Challenge — A featured mission with a deadline, shown at the top of the page
- Featured missions — A rotating selection of curated missions
- Partners — Browse missions created with a specific company
- Topics — Find missions based on the type of work you’re interested in
- Career Paths — Follow a role-based series of missions designed for a specific type of job
- Explore all missions — Browse the full mission catalog
Each mission card tells you who the partner is, what you’ll build, and how long it should take. There’s no required order and no prerequisites, so choose any mission that interests you.
Tip: Read the mission details before you start. Some missions use third-party tools that may require you to log in or create an account.
The estimated time (usually 20–60 minutes) is a guideline, not a limit. Missions may take longer as you choose a topic, wait for AI tools to generate results, or refine your work. You can always leave and return to a mission later.
Step 3: Start the mission
- Click Start this mission.
- Review the mission's goals, then click Let's go.
- Make sure you have access to any required third-party tools listed on the page.
Note: Some missions may require access to a paid third-party tool. In some cases, the mission partner will provide an offer for accessing that tool. To learn more, refer to Partner Offers in AI Skills Studio.
Step 4: Choose how you want to work through it
You can complete a mission in either of two ways:
- Use the AI Skills Instructor — Work with Ace, our AI instructor, who guides you through each step by voice and responds to you in real time.
- Follow the written instructions — Work through the mission at your own pace using the step-by-step instructions on the page.
If you use the AI Skills Instructor
Click Launch AI Skills Instructor to start a session with Ace. A few things to know:
- Microphone permission: You'll need to allow microphone access in your browser to talk with Ace.
- Controls and objectives: Mute/unmute, captions, and start/pause controls are at the bottom of the screen. The Objectives panel on the left shows what the mission covers, and checks off items as you complete them
- Recording: Session audio is recorded and transcribed for debugging purposes, and deleted within 30 days.
- Pause and resume: You can pause any time. If you close the instructor and come back later, Ace gives you a brief recap of where you left off before continuing.
Instructor screen controls: A few controls are available in the upper-right corner of the AI Skills Instructor screen:
- CC (captions): Click this to turn captions on or off during your session.
- Gear icon (settings): Click this to confirm which microphone and speaker are selected. If Ace can't hear you or you can't hear Ace, check here first.
Running into an issue with the instructor? Refer to Troubleshooting AI Skills Studio.
Step 5: Build
This is where most of your mission time is spent, and it happens outside of Handshake, in the partner tool the mission calls for. Handshake gives you the instructions and guidance; you do the actual building in the other tool, typically in a separate tab. Follow the prompts to move through each part of the mission.
The Build step usually includes:
- A project brief describing what you're making
- Worked examples
- Step-by-step instructions with checkboxes that are completed as you go
Note: Your progress saves automatically. If you leave partway through, reopening the mission takes you right back to where you left off. The page URL also updates to reflect your current step, so you can bookmark it to pick up later.
To review where you are in the mission:
- Using the Instructor: Your current section is listed in the upper-left corner of the screen. Hover over it to see which sections you've completed and where you are in the mission.
- Using written instructions: The list of sections appears on the left side of the page.
Step 6: Submit your project
Once you've finished building, move to the Submit project step to add your work to your Handshake profile and AI Showcase.
Note: Submitting a finished project currently requires the desktop version — this step isn't available on mobile.
To learn more about submitting your project, refer to Submit Your Project from a Mission.