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SME Request/Need:

Graduate students taking this online management course often struggle with navigating complex project-based assignments, especially when analyzing emerging technologies and disruptive industry trends without ongoing support between class sessions. During previous versions of the course, the faculty would meet one on one with each student to discuss interests and help guide the students using current disruptive trends in their chosen industries, but this solution could no longer sustain with the growing number of students. The faculty also wanted the activities/projects to be engaging throughout the semester and have an ongoing familiar consistency.

Design Decision/Choice:

Our Instructional Design team developed a custom GPT-4-powered AI chatbot to act as a virtual project coach. Integrated into the course, the chatbot provides real-time guidance on industry research, innovation concepts, and weekly deliverables—enhancing student autonomy and engagement while reducing instructional overhead. Each chatbot was built weekly and given resources such as readings, current trends, and applicable guidance in coaching strategy. 

Each week, the students would turn in a reflection of their coaching experience with the AI chatbot. This was guided by specific questions to be answered that would be assessed and discussed via rubric.

Tools Used: ChatGPT, Canvas, Word
Created by: Larry Hess

Project Overview

This chatbot supports the Innovation Strategy Project, a two-part capstone where students analyze a disruptor’s impact on an industry and design a hypothetical venture around it. The chatbot helps students select topics, define innovation types (disruptive, sustaining, creative destruction), and structure their research. The project showcases how AI can be effectively embedded into instructional design to scale support, personalize learning, and elevate the online classroom experience.