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AI in the classroom

Faculty from across the business school are testing new ways to integrate AI with teaching and learning.

Molly Loonam

2025-09-26

In the two and a half years since Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning Dan Gruber created the "Coffee, Tea, and ChatGPT" series in partnership with W. P. Carey faculty teaching leads, dozens of faculty and staff from across the university have gathered to share insights and learn from colleagues about how generative AI is affecting teaching and learning at ASU.

"It's phenomenal to see this engagement, and it speaks to how AI is having a continuous impact across what we're doing here at ASU and W. P. Carey," said Gruber during the series' Sept. 16 meeting — the first of the fall 2025 semester — which drew nearly 100 ASU employees in person and virtually.

During the meeting, Gruber introduced the AI Enhanced Teaching Initiative, a new committee of W. P. Carey faculty and staff who are part of a pilot designed to support faculty across eight academic units in exploring the responsible integration of artificial intelligence into business education using Practice Principled Innovation, an ASU design aspiration, as a guiding lens.

Gruber, who serves as a College Catalyst alongside Jared Byrne, clinical professor of entrepreneurship and Director of the Center of Entrepreneurship and New Business Design, shared that Principled Innovation encourages us to ask the question, 'Just because we can, should we?' The W. P. Carey team is partnering with the ASU Enterprise Technology’s AI Acceleration Team on the implementation of ASU AI tools, the Learning Engineering Institute to assess the effectiveness of AI interventions and tools, and working in alignment with the Office of the Provost.

The goal of this pilot initiative is to provide a data-driven approach that informs the broader school-wide strategy to enhance teaching and learning using AI. With eight faculty serving as fellows in the initiative, they are the explorers and innovators for this critical effort.

"This is about enhancing teaching. It's an opportunity, within the AI space, to focus on ethical, inclusive, and innovative AI to support faculty and students," said Gruber, who is also the co-founder of the Teaching and Learning Leaders Alliance. This consortium connects business school leaders from around the world.

Several other schools have thoughtfully implemented similar models for learning communities to explore the impact of AI on teaching and learning, and Gruber and Dean's Office Coordinator Nancy De Loa, alongside the W. P. Carey Center for AI and Data Analytics for Business and Society, also participated in the university's recent AI Day, where they shared takeaways from the "Coffee, Tea, and ChatGPT" series with the greater ASU community.

The event featured presentations by Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship Chris Neck and Clinical Assistant Professor of Economics Susan Tang on implementing AI into their classrooms and how their opinions on technology have changed since ChatGPT became available to the public in 2022.

Neck, who teaches over 900 students in multiple sections of the same Management 300 course, is participating in the AI Enhanced Teaching Initiative this fall. He described implementing AI into several aspects of one course while teaching the other two classes using traditional methods. He will observe the difference between his conventional and AI-enhanced classes throughout the semester to determine if the AI enhancements improve student grades and end-of-semester evaluations.

"This experiment has forced me to think: How can I use AI to make what I do better in class? My whole objective with teaching is to connect in the classroom," said Neck. "Because if I'm not connecting, I'm not teaching. And if I'm not teaching, I'm not inspiring."

In his AI-enhanced course, Neck uses feedback from ChatGPT to refine his lectures, course curriculum, and exams. He is also leveraging an ASU-designed syllabot — a chatbot that allows him to upload his syllabus to help answer student questions related to exams, homework, and course expectations. He hopes the bot will help students locate the information they need faster, and wonders if AI assistance could help close achievement gaps.

Neck says that while the course material is the same, the AI-enhanced class is an entirely different lecture.

"The research won't be perfect, but I think it will answer a question for me, which is, is AI helping me as a teacher, and is it helping my students? I think the results will be helpful, not just for me, but for other folks," said Neck.

Tang described being initially skeptical of AI and its potential benefits to academia.

"Through this initiative, I see not just the pain of AI, but its potential and the power it can bring to higher education if we use it wisely," she said.

While ChatGPT stands for "generative pre-trained transformer," Tang also thinks of it as meaning "general purpose technology" since, like railroads, electricity, and computers, generative AI has the potential to change not just one thing, but whole industries across the world.

"The question is not whether change will come or not — it has already arrived, and we have already seen the fast adoption of AI in various industries, including higher education," said Tang. "The question is, how will AI evolve and affect us, or change higher education?"

Tang discussed how AI can either create transformative change by replacing whole industries or move society forward in incremental steps without replacing work, but by reshaping or automating it. She also touched on the many ways technology is transforming education today, including how educators assess skills, like critical thinking and applied and creative tasks, and the critical need to teach digital and AI fluency to students. Technology is also changing the student experience by offering personalized learning and tutoring opportunities, instant feedback, and enriched content for learners.

Though AI has the potential to cause transformative change, Tang emphasized its potential to aid in human learning and expression.

"AI can reduce barriers for many, so overall, I think AI is not our replacement, but our multiplier," said Tang. "Of course, there are challenges, but that means we need to use AI strategically and with a clear purpose."

The next "Coffee, Tea, and ChatGPT" meeting will take place on Nov. 12 and will feature two more of the AI Enhanced Teaching Initiative faculty. Read about past events to find out more about how W. P. Carey is leveraging AI to improve learning and work.

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