Yao Zheng
Associate Professor
Department of Finance
College of Business
Course(s) Targeted by this Innovation
UBUS 110: Business in Action
Development and Implementation
2026-2027
Purpose and Impact
UBUS 110 is an important candidate for redesign because it is a foundational course that helps shape how students begin to think, communicate, and perform as future business professionals. Serving 200 students each year, UBUS 110 not only teaches foundational college and career skills, but also provides practice in how to present ideas to companies and approach problems from a consultant’s perspective. That makes the course especially timely for AI integration, because today’s students are entering a professional environment in which consultants and other business graduates are increasingly expected to work alongside AI rather than apart from it.
Redesigning UBUS 110 to incorporate AI would help students learn how to use these tools productively, critically, and responsibly in research, communication, problem solving, and professional presentation. Rather than treating AI as a shortcut, the course redesign would position AI as a real-world business tool that students must learn to evaluate, question, and use effectively in order to remain competitive. This aligns closely with NIU’s grant goals of strengthening student learning, engagement, AI literacy, and workforce readiness, especially in high-impact undergraduate courses.
Description of Innovation
The proposed redesign will incorporate AI into UBUS 110 as a practical tool for professional development, communication, and critical thinking. Students will use AI to improve their learning tasks, including construction of their portfolio materials, resumes, and selected written assignments such as research papers. The goal is not for students to let AI do the work for them, but to help them learn how to use AI to improve clarity, organization, revision, and audience awareness while also checking for accuracy, relevance, and quality. This approach aligns well with NIU’s grant emphasis on AI-assisted research and writing, critical evaluation of AI-generated output, responsible AI use, and career-relevant skill development.
AI will also be incorporated through interactive class activities and presentation preparation. One class activity will use a World Café format in which students compare the strengths and weaknesses of human consultants versus AI consultants, including a SWOT-style discussion of where AI adds value and where AI-generated content becomes generic, shallow, or meaningless. In addition, students will use AI to support team presentations by generating practice questions, conducting mock Q&A sessions, refining slide content, and receiving critique on delivery and organization. These activities are designed to help students see AI not as a substitute for human judgment, but as a professional tool that must be used thoughtfully, ethically, and strategically in the same kind of business environments they are preparing to enter. This directly supports the grant’s goals of improving student learning and engagement, helping students understand how AI is used in professional contexts, and building scalable AI literacy and workforce readiness in high-impact undergraduate courses.