Professor encourages generative AI for university projects

Employers are increasingly citing the need for students to be trained in generative artificial intelligence tools as more companies integrate the technology’s capabilities into the workplace.

Some instructors have implemented AI into their classes to demonstrate quick technique and demonstrate AI’s research and writing skills. Entrepreneurship professor Mark Lacker at Miami University in Ohio encourages students to use generative AI tools to complete projects, boosting creative and critical thinking skills that can prepare them for a career.

How it works: Whether it was talking to employers or students while interning or reading recent research, the theme of generative AI in the workplace was made extremely clear to Lacker last summer.

So on the first day of class, Lacker told his students what he had learned: that a majority of graduates wished they had learned AI, that companies were aggressively investing in AI tools, and that if they did not join the AI ​​train, it would be without them to leave the station. The students bought into it right away, he says.

The rapid evolution of AI has shown Lacker that it is not enough to teach students how to use tools, but to teach them to use those tools while learning. “It has to be in the workflow,” he explains.

The course, which covers startup marketing and finance, is a 200-level course taken primarily by first-semester sophomores representing a variety of majors and disciplines.

Lacker views his course as an internship, where he plays the role of supervisor and his students act as interns, receiving and submitting project applications. Each class, students are tasked with working with a small group of peers to use AI to solve a problem.

An example is building an understanding of what a landing page is, how to build one and when it is useful, and best practices. Students are assigned a quick strategy that they must implement, take its outcome, and continue to refine until they reach their goal.

From there, each week a group is randomly selected to present their findings for approximately five minutes, demonstrating their learning to their peers and highlighting their thinking.

How it goes: The course is still in a pilot phase, with students halfway through the semester. “I told them, ‘You’re in the guinea pig class,’” Lacker jokes. Although he considers it experimental, the class has met and exceeded many of Lacker’s expectations.

An unintended consequence of the new course: Lacker no longer uses his slide deck to teach, because students teach and learn from each other.

The short presentations at the beginning of class often lead to new questions and follow-up questions, some answered by fellow students, but others answered by Lacker. The environment has become more active and involved, which he believes better suits workplaces and well-functioning teams.

What’s next: The overarching goal is to prepare students to get started quickly in whatever workplace they find themselves in, whether that’s an internship or a post-graduation position, making them competitive candidates and efficient employees.

After students return from fall break, they will begin more advanced levels of AI learning, not through a prompt structure created by Lacker, but instead they will have to write their own prompt strategies and outline their thinking. Lacker will assess students based on the processes, and he hopes to see deeper thinking and applied learning in new ways.

Three other members of Miami U’s entrepreneurship faculty are also integrating AI into their courses, two 100-level courses and one 200-level course, a sign for Lacker that the department is embracing AI and learning to equip students with the career skills they need .

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