The Five Most Key Takeaways from This Article
- The University of Louisville (U of L) College of Business has detailed a number of offerings for students to learn more about A.I.
- Gen A.I. is a big focus here, with some classes by design meant to introduce students to Large Language Models (LLM) such as ChatGPT in a business context. The undergraduate classes MKT 203 – A.I. in the Marketplace and MBA graduate-level elective options Business Applications of A.I. and Managing in the Future.
- Some law, economics, and finance classes at U of L are including A.I.-related coursework to prepare students for a more A.I.-centric future.
- Faculty instructor Jose Fernandez, PhD, is making use of A.I. T.A.s that can answer a student’s questions about, e.g., the syllabus, at any time of day. Even and especially during all-night study sessions.
- In fall 2024, the University of Louisville will be launching the Masters of Science in Business Analytics (M.S.B.A.) with a concentration in A.I.
Epidemiology and A.I. Systems
The College of Business article (here is the link again) gave insight into an interesting educational approach by one of U of L’s faculty instructors, Nat Irvin, Ph.D, who is Assistant Dean for Thought Leadership and Civic Engagement.
In the above-linked article, he is quoted as saying “I teach the history of epidemiology as part of [this course]…because disease helps you to understand systems, how human beings respond in the face of uncertainty.”
The course is the MBA elective Managing in the Future, which you may have recognized from the Key Takeaways section that opened this article.
A.I. systems, in particular gen A.I., is what Irvin is focusing on for his MBA students. His unique approach of connecting A.I. to other, unexpected subjects teaches a valuable lesson.
The lesson, which this writer independently asserts, is that A.I. connects with almost everything, including disease.
A.I. is not as difficult to understand as business students without STEM backgrounds may assume. Even if the math equations and First Order Logic sentences look like some alien language to a student, inroads to understanding get built when the student sees that most A.I. systems are just that–systems. And, like all systems, they can be somewhat easier to understand if you are given analogies and bird’s-eye-views of how they work.
A.I. T.A.’s
As if the ever-competitive graduate student side-hustle market and adjunct crisis needed any more competition in the candidate pools, some U of L instructors are using gen A.I. chatbots as like a T.A.
These A.I. T.A.’s are available to answer questions about the syllabus around the clock. So, when it is 3 A.M. and a bleary-eyed student is hammering away at a tomorrow-due paper or project worth more than or equal to 30% of the final grade, the A.I. T.A. can be on hand to answer any pressing questions that the instructor may have trained the chatbot to answer. Questions such as, “if I turn in a paper late, what penalty or penalties may I suffer?”
So, the instructor may be asleep as the midnight oil burns, but that does not mean that a pressing syllabus-related question cannot be answered at that time.
A.I.-focused Degrees
As one may expect, University of Louisville is even offering degree tracks for business students with a specific focus on A.I.
The Masters of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) with a concentration in A.I. is a good example of this. It will be available starting fall 2024.
What this specific M.S.B.A. offers is the chance for data analytics graduate students to learn about machine learning. There will also be a focus on showing how generative A.I. in particular could have an impact on the field of data analytics.
The Final Key Takeaway
Overall, U of L is doing what most business schools around the world should be doing. That is, preparing students to enter a workforce where A.I. is already an inextricable part of many companies’ operations.
To teach, for instance, graduate students studying data analytics, how A.I. will have an impact on the specific careers that they are seeking can be an excellent way for preparing the next generation of business leaders how to adapt to A.I.
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