2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The rapid development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents both opportunities and challenges for engineering education. As AI tools like ChatGPT become more accessible, students increasingly use them to complete assignments, prompting educators to evaluate whether to integrate AI as a learning aid or restrict its usage. This study explores the potential of AI to enhance student learning outcomes in an engineering economics course.
Specifically, we utilize ChatGPT's AP Microeconomics bot, which provides detailed explanations of economic theories, guidance on microeconomic principles, example problems, and real-world economic insights. In this case study, we compare two sections of an engineering economics course at our institution. One section incorporates AI-enhanced teaching methods, while the other serves as a control group with traditional instruction. Both sections are taught by the same instructor, with identical lectures and assignments. However, in the AI-enhanced section, students engage with AI-generated supplementary assignments and decision-making scenarios, allowing them to explore the consequences of economic decisions through AI-driven feedback.
This paper presents several case studies demonstrating how AI tools were integrated into the classroom and examines the impact on student learning outcomes. We also highlight student perspectives on using AI in their coursework. By leveraging AI, this study contributes to ongoing discussions about innovative teaching methods and the future of engineering economy education.