Teaching Tip: The 15th Edition Ties AI Into Your OM Class

Our new 15th edition, just released, brings the topic of artificial intelligence into the course with AI in Action boxes and new material throughout the text. But we have gone a step further through our Instructor’s Resource Manual, a fantastic teaching tool. If you are new at teaching the course, you will find this 400 page guide an invaluable resource. Each chapter now contains an AI in the Classroom section, created by Prof. Jon Jackson at Providence College, providing 15-20 minute exercises. Here is a sampling from 3 early chapters:

Chapter 1
All firms, regardless of industry, can use productivity measures to track process performance. This exercise is designed to explore relevant productivity measures for different industries with the help of an AI-powered chatbot. Student groups can explore the following types of
facilities/firms (each group will pick one):
 Manufacturing facility  Market research firm
 Warehouse facility  Accounting firm
 Retail store  Financial services firm
 Restaurant  HR department
Students can use the following AI prompt structure: ROLE: I am a manager in a [insert facility/firm here]. GOAL: I want to measure productivity (an output divided by an input). REQUEST: generate 5 measures of productivity.
In groups, students can compare AI responses, evaluate the validity of the productivity measures (connecting to Chapter 1 definitions), and identify the best productivity measures to implement.

Chapter 3
A work breakdown structure (WBS) can provide a hierarchical description of a project into more and more detailed components. This activity is designed to practice this process for fictional projects around campus with the help of an AI-powered chatbot. Student groups can explore the following projects (each group will pick one):
 College graduation party  Student art exhibition
 Charity 5K event  Entrepreneur shark tank
 Intramural sports tournament
Students can use the following AI prompt structure: ROLE: I am the project manager for an upcoming [insert event here]. GOAL: I want to create a work breakdown structure to break the project into more manageable components. REQUEST: generate a work breakdown structure with 4 main tasks, each with 2 subtasks. For each subtask, also provide a short description and an estimated duration to complete the subtask.
In groups, students can compare AI responses, identify if any main tasks are missing (or unnecessarily included), and evaluate the accuracy of duration estimates.

Chapter 4
AI-powered chatbots can be helpful to enhance our understanding of confusing topics, but it isn’t guaranteed to provide accurate information. This in-class activity (15-20 minutes) is designed to get us in the habit of being critical of AI output, and if necessary, re-prompting the AI-powered chatbot to give a better answer. Student groups will try to answer the following questions with the help of the AI-powered chatbot:
 When does a 2-period weighted moving average equal the Naïve approach?
 When does the exponential smoothing method equal the Naïve approach?
 When is it best to use MAD vs. MAPE?
In groups, students can critically assess the accuracy of the AI responses (referencing material in Chapter 4) and identify more effective ways to prompt AI-powered chatbots.

For a desk copy of the 15th edition, please click on this link.