2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is investigated in an engineering economy class. The class is offered as an elective at our university in the asynchronous online modality. This online course is developed based on the backward design method [1] similarly other courses described in our previous publication [2].

The objective of this paper is to present evidence that the student’s curiosity to investigate GenAI tools can be leveraged, with some investment from the faculty, to enhance learning while the integrity of the major course assessments can be maintained by proctoring major exams. In the presence of AI, people can interact and receive real-time feedback by creating and using effective prompts [3]. Students are increasingly aware of AI tools and some use it guiltlessly on homework assignments [4]. However, a professor is still responsible for offering authentic education so students can identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems [5].

Evidence from incorporating AI in the engineering economy class indicates that some reward (e.g., extra credit) from the faculty is needed before students engage with AI in a desired positive way. An assignment, using GenAI, is deployed based on a problem in the textbook [6]. If copied and pasted into ChatGPT [7], Copilot [8], or Gemini [9], the AI gives an acceptable solution methodology but does not consistently give the correct final answers (as of the date of writing this paper). In this assignment, the students are tasked with solving the problem manually and show their work according to the method they learned in the class. They are also asked to use GenAI to analyze the problem and provide a conclusion about their experience in using AI.

The online course is described in this paper along with its assessments: proctored exams, homework assignments, and quizzes. The AI assignment and its corresponding student work are highlighted, and conclusions are presented.

In summary, making students aware of the benefits and drawbacks of AI is considered a better alternative than simply locking AI out of the class. Specifically, engineering the AI prompts resembles teaching and leading the AI tool to achieve the desired solution method and answer. Since teaching is one great way to learn, this process is considered a valuable learning experience. The use of AI tools in the engineering economy class can help the students better understand the course concepts. Conclusions provided by the students indicate that this assignment helped them with the engineering economy concepts and with using AI responsibly. However, offering proctored midterm and final exams with no access to AI is needed for major assessments.

References are excluded since this is a blind submission.