Innovation in teaching and learning
2024 Reg Litz Teaching Day explores student success in the age of AI
Rather than an agenda slide to give attendees an overview of the day’s material, Wenxi Pu started the 2024 Reg Litz Teaching Day with a podcast.
“It starts and ends with the Associate Dean,” the podcast hosts quipped as they led Asper School of Business faculty members, leaders, and students through the day’s programming.
The podcasters were enthused about Pu’s scheduled introduction to artificial intelligence, excited to hear Lukas Neville’s best practices for AI in the classroom, intrigued by Kiran Pedada’s Harvard-informed workshop, and utterly curious about guest speaker Xuan Zhao’s keynote address titled “Student Wellbeing in the Age of AI.”
Wenxi Pu, Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning
(The hosts and the podcast were—surprise—AI generated.)
Pu (Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning, Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems, and The Associates Fellow in Innovation) began the day with this demonstration, scratching the surface of what generative AI can do and encapsulating the theme of the 2024 Reg Litz Teaching Day: Student Success in the Age of AI.
Named in memory of beloved instructor of entrepreneurship, Reg Litz, the day is held annually and dedicated to helping Asper School of Business instructors develop their pedagogical skills to enhance student learning.
Pu explains why this theme seemed the perfect fit for the 2024 instalment.
“AI is transforming the business landscape at an unprecedented pace, presenting both challenges and opportunities for innovation in business education. Reg Litz Teaching Day is the perfect platform for Asper faculty and students to brainstorm strategies that empower students to achieve what once seemed impossible.
“At Asper, students are at the heart of everything we do, and we are committed to fostering not only their academic excellence but also their psychological well-being in this dynamic age of AI.” Pu said.
In his opening remarks, Bruno Silvestre (Dean, CPA Manitoba Chair in Business Leadership) echoed this sentiment, reminding participants: “AI is not the future for our students; it is the present.”
Featuring lively discussions and insights from Asper faculty members and students across departments, the day was spent volleying the implications, challenges, and opportunities of AI in teaching and learning. From questions of accessibility and privilege to considerations of the environmental cost of technology, the workshops encouraged open conversations and reflections.
Many teachers and students in the room noted that clear parameters are important—whether in individual AI use or in widespread academic AI usage.
To this point, Neville (Associate Professor of Organizational Behaviour) offered the following considerations for instructors navigating AI in the classroom:
- are we teaching students what AI tools are and how to use them?
- is AI usage augmenting or replacing learning?
- how can we ensure AI usage is ethical and sustainable?
- how does AI usage impact assessment?
- how will AI affect professional practice for students and grads on the job? and
- how do we foster critical thinking while embracing AI?
The discussions that followed centered on experience, with many instructors sharing both their successful and less successful forays into AI in the classroom. This experimentation, a tangible sense of play, reflected the intent and legacy of the Reg Litz Teaching Day itself—a decade after the first instalment in 2014.
Litz himself was known and loved for his unconventional teaching methods (and props) in the classroom, his creativity, his insight, his encouragement, and his compassion for students.
This last sentiment run throughout the day as well, culminating in Zhao’s (CEO and Co-Founder of Flourish Science, Behavioural Scientist at Stanford University) keynote discussion considering the value of AI for student wellness and wellbeing.
The 2024 Reg Litz Teaching Day focused on AI and emerging technologies because at its heart and despite its name, the day itself is about learning. It is a day when experienced instructors, who spend most of their time in classrooms at the front of lecture halls, instead sit where their students normally would. It’s a day that celebrates learning as part of any excellent teacher’s toolkit.
The late Dr. Reg Litz, respected alumnus and professor of entrepreneurship.
At the Asper School of Business, students thrive thanks to a strong commitment to teaching excellence. Asper’s intimate class sizes and dynamic course offerings provide opportunities to exchange ideas and dig deep into the issues and challenges of today’s business world. Learn more about programs of study, from undergraduate and research, to professional and executive programs here.