11:15 AM – 2:15 PM

Artificial Intelligence for Global Virtual Teams
Peter Cardon, Carolin Fleishmann, Jolanta Aritz, University of Southern California

Disruptive changes to digital communication technologies, are profoundly impacting team member interaction. Participants will explore these trends in the context of the Virtual Business Professional Project (VBP) to learn how teams can leverage artificial intelligence (AI) for communication.

The goal is to co-create a draft white paper around workshop topics.

To prepare students for a rapidly changing workplace, we developed a Virtual Business Professional Project (VBP) that has students using the latest technology and collaborating in global virtual teams. Our goal is to generate research to inform practice of using AI in virtual collaboration.

In this workshop, we will explore the trend of augmented communication that is driven by AI and learn how teams can leverage the opportunities of AI (bots, intelligent assistants, machine learning, and more) for their communication. Topics of discussion include:
• The roles and tasks of machine teammates
• The machine teammate and team communication implications
• The machine teammate and team performance implications
• New skills needed by team members to collaborate effectively with AI
• New communication strategies in the light of AI
• Costs and benefits of human-machine-collaboration

11:15 AM - 2:15 PM

Creative Problem Solving Process in Business Communication
Becky Crews & David Eyman, Miami University, Ohio

In this highly interactive workshop, participants will learn the theory and practical implementation of the creative problem-solving process into the business communication curriculum. Participants will build a toolkit which can be implemented in class to stretch students’ thinking in new ways to critically communicate in business.

We can take the opportunity in our business communication classes to infuse creative thinking into our curriculum. We can teach students to embody the creative mindsets such as: curiosity, divergent thinking, risk / failure, and ambiguity. Our students will learn to think, speak, and write critically - outside of a template. Faculty from the Miami University Farmer School of Business will share what they teach in the innovative and distinctive First Year Integrated Core (FYIC). The FYIC combines four classes to teach cohorts of students six key skills: communication, creative thinking, computational thinking and coding, ethical thinking, collaboration, and critical thinking.