Columbia Business School Professors Grapple With ChatGPT in Classrooms
Dan Wang noticed the change immediately in his Columbia Business School class during fall 2022. Students stopped arriving with prepared arguments about case studies. Instead, many had asked ChatGPT to summarize the material for them.
The shift forced Wang and other educators to confront a practical question: how do you teach critical thinking when students can offload analysis to an AI tool in seconds?
What's Changing in the Classroom
Business school case method instruction relies on students wrestling with messy, real-world problems before class. The expectation is that students develop their own reasoning, then debate it with peers. AI for Education tools short-circuit that process.
When students use ChatGPT to generate summaries, they skip the cognitive work that makes case study learning effective. They show up to class with answers instead of questions.
Faculty and Students Divided
Reactions to AI in education fall into two camps. Some educators and students see potential value - AI could function as a tutor or study aid that enhances learning and helps students think more critically about material.
Others worry about dependency. If students lean too heavily on AI summaries and analysis, they may not develop the skills the course is designed to teach.
The Practical Challenge Ahead
Business schools now face a design problem. Syllabi and assignments written for a pre-ChatGPT world no longer work as intended. Professors must decide whether to restrict AI use, redesign assignments to require original analysis, or accept that students will use these tools and adjust expectations accordingly.
The answer likely differs by subject and learning objective. What matters is that educators make the choice deliberately, not by default.
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