Business School Teaching Forum 2025: Teaching and Assessing with Generative AI
25 July 2025Practical perspectives and experiences with Gen-AI in teaching were front and centre at the Business School’s forum.
Held on 10 July 2025, the University of Auckland Business School’s annual Teaching Forum brought staff together for a day of discussion and practical exploration of generative AI in teaching and assessment.
It’s no secret that Gen-AI is everywhere in higher education right now. For many, the sheer pace of change and the constant ‘Gen-AI conversation’ can feel both exciting and exhausting. This forum acknowledged that reality—focusing on practical case studies and lessons learned as educators across the Business School are experimenting with, and responding to, generative AI in the classroom.
Presentation overview
Fostering Academic Integrity and Responsible AI Use in Assessments
Dr Nadia Dabee
Nadia shared an inclusive assignment design that asked students to actively engage with generative AI and the University’s guidelines. Students participated in a hands-on workshop exposing common errors in ChatGPT outputs, then reflected on their own use of Gen-AI in a structured way. Peer feedback was facilitated anonymously using FeedbackFruits, fostering a supportive and critical student community. Nadia contextualised her approach with key principles from the new AI in Education Action Plan, and demonstrated how Part A of the assignment (reflection and peer review) laid the foundation for a subsequent, content-focused assessment. The case illustrated both practical strategies and institutional alignment for supporting academic integrity in the age of AI.
The results? Reflection made a small but meaningful difference in how students think about using Gen-AI in their studies.
“ChatGPT, Your Honour?” Using Generative AI to Rethink Legal Assessment for Non-Lawyers
Dr Mark McConnell
Mark explored how legal assessments might shift when students (inevitably) use Gen-AI tools. Rather than focus on preventing cheating, his small-class case study encouraged students to leverage AI outputs—critiquing both the content and reasoning of responses generated by ChatGPT, then reflecting on their own process. This two-part assessment design aimed to maximise learning and critical thinking, not just test content recall.
Student feedback indicated the AI-based assignment fostered deeper engagement with legal reasoning and encouraged more independent thinking than traditional tests, though not all found it more engaging.
Future Ready: Exploring AI, Prompts, and Digital Personas
Dr Nina Brosius and Dr Saima Qutab
Nina and Saima described how the Future of Work module (BUSINESS 202) uses Gen-AI tools to prepare students for a technology-driven world. With 900+ students per semester, the module covers prompt engineering and the development of AI-powered digital brand personas. Assessment tasks include crafting prompts for LinkedIn and working in teams to design inclusive, ethically-aware digital personas for real-world organisations.
The presenters discussed both the benefits and ethical considerations, including the risk of bias and the importance of authentic, accessible digital engagement.
Mark Smarter, Not Harder: Reusable Feedback and Generative AI in Action with Mqrker
Joe Wuthrich and Dr Udayangi Muthupoltotage
Joe and Udayangi introduced Mqrker, a tool designed to streamline marking and improve feedback quality at scale. The system combines reusable feedback comments with AI-generated suggestions to support timely, consistent, and personalised feedback—especially valuable in large courses with multiple markers. The discussion highlighted the importance of making feedback actionable for students, and suggestions were made to expand the databank to include practical next steps.
Attendees also explored how Mqrker’s analytics could be used transparently with students, for example, by sharing which feedback is most commonly given and what it reveals about learning challenges. The session demonstrated the potential (and challenges) of aligning technology with pedagogical aims.
Bridging the Creative Gap: A Practical Approach to Design Thinking, with and without AI
Dr Wender Martins
Wender outlined how INNOVATE 100G—a large, multidisciplinary GenEd course—has shifted its stance on Gen-AI. Where Gen-AI tools were once restricted, they are now actively incorporated into ideation, prototyping, and storytelling. Students work on real-world problem spaces and are encouraged to use Gen-AI for visualisation and brainstorming, while being transparent about their prompts.
Reflections highlighted both the opportunities (levelling the playing field for students with different skill sets, fostering creativity) and the challenges (such as the time it can take to refine prompts and images, or the need to build students’ skills in directing AI).
Prompt to Prototype: Co-coding Classroom Widgets with ChatGPT
Dr Charlotta Windahl and Dr Guy Bate
Charlotta and Guy demonstrated how co-coding with ChatGPT can make interactive classroom tools accessible to non-programmers. Their session unpacked practical lessons from using Gen-AI to build, test, and debug custom learning widgets for use in Canvas. The approach supports meaningful reflection and encourages teachers to see Gen-AI as a collaborative problem-solving partner—while also highlighting the importance of clear instructions, iterative testing, and learning some coding basics along the way.
More information about the event can be found in the forum’s H5P presentation. Presentation slides available at Business School’s ILT Seminars and Events page.
Business School has two annual events: the Teaching Forum in the first semester, with its wide-ranging focus on innovations and best practice in teaching and learning, and Learn Do Share in the second semester, with its more specific focus on the use of technology to support teaching and learning. This year’s Learn Do Share takes place on Thursday 4 September 2025.
What lies ahead
If it feels like every conversation comes back to Gen-AI lately, you’re not alone. The forum highlighted the very real questions and opportunities facing teachers and students alike—how do we uphold integrity, encourage creativity, and harness these tools thoughtfully? There are no easy answers, but sharing experiences and challenges with colleagues is more important than ever as we all find our way forward.
Need support?
Request a consultation with the Ranga Auaha Ako | Learning and Teaching Design Team via TeachWell Consult.