Have you ever used an artificial intelligence (AI) software? Sacred Heart University’s new concentration in the Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) focuses greatly on the impacts and uses of AI.
Recently, the university offered students interested in the MBA Program the ability to specialize in AI training. Students participating in the program will learn about the future of AI in the workforce as well as the legal and ethical implications of using AI.
These students will follow a curriculum that blends AI with business and management principles while gaining communication skills to manage and lead teams through AI initiatives.
“An AI certificate and AI concentration in an MBA program equips future business leaders with the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate in a rapidly changing technology-driven business landscape,” said Nadene Koliopoulos, a director in the Jack Welch College of Business and Technology (WCBT).
“The certificate and concentration is ideal for business professionals interested in gaining a broader perspective of the new kinds of challenges with the application of AI in business practices.”
As for the policy on use of AI for academic assignments, the university maintains a strict academic integrity policy.
According to the SHU academic policy, the university standards, “…require independent work by a student, except for those contexts where professors have specified forms of permitted collaboration with other students or with external sources, such as artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots.
If no form of collaboration has been specified, students must assume that none is permitted.”
Professors are now left with the decision of whether or not they will allow their students to use AI in their classes. Some professors are more open to it while others aren’t.
“I teach a class called Democratic Technologies [CM 224] and AI is the latest and greatest one of those, that’s for sure. In the class we analyze the uses of AI, and we also use it to craft several projects,” said Prof. Gregory Golda, clinical instructor in the School of Communication Media and the Arts (SCMA).
“Generally, students see some time-saving benefits to it or they’re able to expand into fields where they felt they had no talent before like drawing or musical composition. So, in that regard it does democratize art and music and other fields. But the core issue is reliability, quality and theft,” Golda said.
Unless stated otherwise by professors, students who use AI in their coursework are considered to be cheating and/or plagiarizing and will face the appropriate disciplinary action.
Although AI can be harmful and unethical when used to plagiarize or cheat, the usage of AI in an educational setting is beginning to evolve and proving to be beneficial to students.
For example, AI can be used by students to develop study outlines, generate practice questions, summarize notes, and spell check papers amongst other uses.
“As a biology major, I use AI to come up with different practice questions or quizzes for my different science classes,” said senior Jillian Bradley. “I also use it to help me come up with different problem-solving strategies for my physics class.”
AI usage is also evolving in workplace settings. According to Microsoft’s research and statistics, regarding the usage of AI in the workplace, it was found that “75% of knowledge workers use AI at work today, and 46% of users started using it less than six months ago.”
Additionally, Microsoft found that, “Users say AI helps them save time (90%), focus on their most important work (85%), be more creative (84%), and enjoy their work more (83%).”
