May 12, 2025 — Faculty from CSUMB’s College of Business gathered on May 12, 2025, for a dynamic and highly practical AI workshop focused on integrating ChatGPT and other generative tools into business education. Led by Dr. Leslie Boni, Professor of Finance and Chair of the Business Department, the session offered a thoughtful mix of guided exercises and open discussion to help faculty harness AI in alignment with the college’s unique focus on Responsible Business and the Quintuple Bottom Line (QBL).

The workshop opened with a simple but empowering goal: set up participants to use ChatGPT—even if they never had before. Within the first 30 minutes, faculty walked through their first AI prompt using the Spring 2025 BUS 200 syllabus from Lecturer Georgia Acosta’s course, Personal and Professional Responsibility in Business. The prompt asked ChatGPT to summarize the QBL-related topics and deliverables embedded in the course.

“What we’re doing today is more than exploring a tech tool,” said Dr. Boni. “This is about creating alignment between how we teach and how we measure learning outcomes tied to our mission.”

That mission—centered on the Quintuple Bottom Line—goes beyond profit, people, and planet to also emphasize ethics and equity. It’s a hallmark of the CSUMB College of Business and featured throughout BUS 200, a required course in the BSBA core curriculum.

In the second activity, faculty took on the challenge of creating a Responsible Business learning exercise for an upper-division core course, like BUS 307 (Finance) or BUS 309 (Marketing). Participants used ChatGPT to draft student instructions for a 60-minute, in-class critical thinking activity that would engage students with real-world business dilemmas and stakeholder perspectives.

Dr. Boni shared her own iterative experience using ChatGPT prompts to design better assignments: “I was curious how we might use ChatGPT not just as a research shortcut, but as a tool to teach discernment, reflection, and deeper thinking. I found that prompting ChatGPT to suggest ways to teach with ChatGPT actually gave me some of the best ideas.”

One proposed activity used a scenario involving a public company considering mass layoffs to boost its stock price. Students were asked to identify stakeholders, assess tradeoffs, and compare their own analysis to ChatGPT’s output. Faculty also explored methods to avoid passive copying by asking students to complete the assignment both with and without AI, then reflect on the differences in approach.

Chris Beem, instructional designer and assessment expert at CSUMB, met with Boni in advance of the session and encouraged this comparison-based method. “I don’t care whether a group can do the activity,” he noted. “I care whether each student can.”

Workshop participants were also introduced to the CSU’s new resource hub on generative AI: https://genai.calstate.edu. The site offers tools, templates, and policy guidance to help faculty navigate the rapidly evolving AI landscape in education.

As the session progressed, faculty engaged in lively discussion, sharing use cases for AI in both teaching and research. Topics ranged from responsible integration into syllabi to potential risks around student dependency, academic integrity, and equity of access.

Dr. Boni emphasized that the workshop was both a response to real accreditation feedback and a proactive step in shaping the future of business education at CSUMB. “When AACSB consultants visited for our Mock Peer Review, they asked: How do you assess learning tied to your mission? How do you teach Responsible Business in the core? This workshop helped us prepare to answer those questions with clarity and confidence.”

Indeed, BUS 200 offers a model of how QBL values are taught and assessed through real assignments. Students engage in weekly reflections, participate in Biz Lingo presentations, and complete team practicums tied to QBL pillars like profit, people, planet, ethics, and equity. They also attend co-curricular events, including the mandatory Ethics and Responsible Business Forum, which further reinforces the college’s mission in experiential ways.

“Uploading your syllabi to ChatGPT can help surface the alignment between your course design and the college’s values,” Boni suggested. “It’s a great place to start for anyone curious about how AI can strengthen—not replace—the work we already do.”

The workshop concluded with an open sharing session where faculty discussed how they’ve used AI tools in their own courses, research, and professional development.

“This was only the beginning,” said Dr. Boni. “As we explore AI’s place in business education, we’re also recommitting to what makes our college distinctive—responsibility, innovation, and impact.”