Generative AI Acculturation Initiative

The generative AI acculturation initiative (GAI) is designed to bring the entire NEOMA community into the daily and exponentially evolving realm of generative AI.

Call to Action

Artificial intelligence (AI), or more precisely, generative AI, is becoming an integral part of our lives, whether in our personal or professional practices. The release of ChatGPT in November 2022 has dramatically increased the speed of AI’s adoption by individuals and organizations.

At NEOMA, we believe AI will have a powerful impact on all jobs, including those in higher education. It is therefore important to promote smart, efficient interactions by training not only our students but also our staff and faculty members on the possibilities and limits of the technology. NEOMA Business School feels a duty to support its stakeholders by responding to the generative AI shift. We also hope to inspire other universities throughout France and Europe to explore AI, helping the higher education sector evolve with emerging technologies.

Generative AI naturally took hold in our digital transformation department, and more specifically our Learning Lab, but we have since gathered all departments of the school around our initiative. The goal of our plan is to successfully endorse and disseminate information, bringing the subject of generative AI into discussion in departments throughout NEOMA to enhance the quality of learning and teaching experiences.

We are first addressing NEOMA’s community, and through our executive training of decision-makers and managers, we will also address companies and organizations.

Innovation Description

Our students were given a presentation on generative AI on the first day of the academic year, led by our associate dean for digital. The students have access to an open course created by and dedicated to generative AI. This course broadly covers GAI in an experiential and entertaining way, using gamification, and students are provided with 10 detailed cards instructing them in how to produce different content. The game invites students to improve their skills using writing prompts and exercises we’ve designed to train them on each tool. In addition, we give them a list of 50 generative AI tools, used worldwide, and access to a continuous flow of up-to-date information on GAI.

Prior to the start of the academic year, professors received training in two workshops; additional training continues via mandatory camps on GAI. A faculty taskforce of GAI Champions has been launched and meets regularly to invite teachers to make the most of generative AI in their teaching approach: we want them to push the limits of AI in the learning experience, and we provide them with the support to do so.

As another means of assisting staff, our pedagogical innovation team meets every 15 days to take stock of the GAI tools they’ve explored and which of those could be used across NEOMA. In addition, three AI training courses will be offered to staff in the 2024 training plan. A taskforce has been created as well, and it meets every month to coordinate all AI-related work to be performed by the school’s various departments. The aim is to get each of the departments committed to the use of generative AI.

Innovation Impact

The project’s goals are for NEOMA staff and students to be able to understand, use, and, more generally, live with generative AI. All who are involved with NEOMA Business School, whether they are professors, students, or staff, should feel interested in the subject of generative AI and be able to use it in their fields of application. In the near future, today’s students will be using AI in business and in their personal lives.

The over 9,000 students of NEOMA will soon have access to the generative AI training course, and once active, it will be available continuously on our Moodle platform. Students will be able to learn with an interactive and gamified course, train and practice with existing tools, and stay current with AI news and developments. The platform, as the heart of the training program, was designed especially for student use.

Among the NEOMA community, all students will become aware of the challenges raised by generative AI. While more than 40 of our professors have already been trained via our generative AI camp, 100 percent will be trained by the end of the year. Altogether, 105 staff members are enrolled in the generative AI training courses offered in our training plan (including professors and administrative staff). The staff task force is composed of 18 people, and each of the NEOMA BS departments is represented.