The Shape of Things to Come: The Attention Economy, AI Disruption and Confluence of Business Thought

When it comes to preparing students for the evolving business landscape, a firm grasp of AI is essential, no matter what course of study an aspiring Terp may choose. That is why Assistant Dean for Civic Engagement Henry C. Boyd III and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs Joseph Bailey partnered to launch a new, unique course for Smith students at our satellite campus located in Rockville, MD, at the Universities at Shady Grove (USG).

The Future of Business, BMGT498X, an interdisciplinary offering, brings marketing, accounting and management undergraduate students together in an active learning forum. Bailey noted that this fledgling course allows participants to become immersed in both decision science and marketing thought.

While putting the finishing touches on this course, serendipity would strike in that corporate social responsibility was extended to USG. Working in tandem with the National Association of Higher Education Systems, Google hosted a series of Coursera AI training modules. Thanks to the benevolence of this Big Four tech giant, access licenses are free for all students. This timely initiative enables participants to earn sought-after certification focused on AI essentials and prompting.

“It’s going to make students very marketable when it comes to getting a job,” said Boyd. He added that knowing about AI is a must going into interviews these days. “We had access to these free licenses [from Google], so all 82 students were able to get this grounding.”

Bailey agreed that giving students an edge in things like prompt engineering, hallucination detection and how to improve algorithms as business leaders will set them apart from their peers.

“We know the future is going to be in the hands of the students. They’re helping us create the course and the best way to do it is basically have them exposed to these simulations where they’re making decisions,” Bailey said, adding he was really impressed with how students managed the amount of information and their responses, reflecting the complexity of today’s business environment. 

By design, the course is interactive. It’s one of the many things junior accounting major Christopher Williams ’27 liked, in addition to working in groups to tackle a specific prompt and when the class would come together to discuss the work. 

“This class is trying to teach you practical skills. Whether it is with different software or with learning different concepts,” Williams said, who also praised the simulations practice in the class as well as the Google certification. “The fact that one of our assignments is getting a certificate and using AI is kind of unprecedented.”

“You’re speaking a lot with your peers in this class. You're learning about a new side of business and how AI is impacting business,” said Hamdan Khan ’27, highlighting the unique aspects of the course.

Khan and Williams also praised Boyd and Bailey’s classroom presence. "They're great at teaching and they are great at what they do. Dean Boyd and Dean Bailey are both professional, but they also bring a lot of energy to the class,” said Williams.

“We wanted something interactive; we wanted the students to get in there and really do some heavy lifting. So it's nice in the sense of moving from lecture into something that feels very real,” Boyd said. “We’ve done it through simulation, and we’ve done it through a lot of teamwork, and the students have really jelled.”

“I love working with Dean Boyd on this class and I love the idea that we’re trying to be innovative, not just in terms of content but in terms of delivery,” Bailey said. “We have such a great community of students here at Shady Grove, we wanted to make sure we were giving them something that was unique, bringing those three majors together, and getting them to really think about what the future of business is going to be.”