# The method: four prompts

From "Using AI to Align Your Program, Courses, and Syllabi With Industry AI," Caryn M. Stanley, DBA, ACBSP Region 4, October 16, 2026. carynstanley.com/acbsp-align

These work in any AI tool (ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini or Claude). AI does the searching, sorting and drafting; a person sets the rules and makes every call that matters. The rule that makes it trustworthy: nothing counts on the AI's word alone. If a source can't be opened and the exact words found, it doesn't count.

---

## Prompt 1: Gather (Step 3)

Turn on your tool's web search or browsing first. Run this once per field, and fill in the brackets.

```
You are my research assistant. For [FIELD, e.g. HR], find 5 or 6 concrete ways AI is being used at work right now: specific tasks such as "AI resume screening", not tools and not broad trends.

For each use case, give me:
1. A name, and one or two plain sentences on what the AI does and what the person still does
2. One to three sources: publisher, title, date, the direct link, and the exact sentence from the page that supports it, word for word, in quotation marks
3. Any published figure (time saved, accuracy, cost), copied exactly as the source states it, with what it measured. If the number is not in the sentence you quoted, leave it out.
4. Whether each source sells the kind of product involved (mark it "vendor")

Small company examples and case studies are fine. Do not use a page you did not open yourself. Finding fewer is fine. At the end, list anything you left out and why.
```

Save what comes back in a spreadsheet: one row per use case, with columns for the sources, quotes, figure, vendor label and status (waiting, checked, rejected).

## Prompt 2: The skeptic (Step 4)

First, check each item yourself: the link opens and is the publisher's own page; the exact quote is on the page; the date matches; the claim says no more than the quote; you know who published it and what they sell; it isn't the same study as another item.

Then run this in a **new chat** (or a different AI tool), so it isn't grading its own homework:

```
You are a skeptical reviewer. Try to disprove each item below. For each one:
- Does the quote actually support the one-sentence claim, as worded? Name any words that go too far.
- Is the tier right? Does the publisher sell what it measured?
- Is it really about the ability it's filed under, or only the same topic?
- Check every number and date in the claim against the quote.
Answer KEEP, FIX (with corrected wording) or DROP for each item, with a one-sentence reason. Do not add sources of your own.

[PASTE THE ITEMS]
```

## Prompt 3: What students need (Step 5)

Only use cases that passed Step 4 go in. Run this per field, then run the skeptic prompt on the result.

```
Using ONLY the checked use cases below, write for each one:
- 3 to 5 lines on what undergraduate business students need: K = "Knowledge of...", S = "Skill in...", A = "Ability to...". Tool-agnostic, at most 25 words each, and at least one about checking or overseeing the AI.
- What the human adds: one or two sentences on why a person stays in the loop for this task, drawing on the sources where you can.
- A classroom idea in four moves: students use the AI on a realistic version of the task, check its output, improve it, and show what they added that the AI did not.
Name products only as examples. Never add a number that is not in the quotes.

[PASTE THE CHECKED USE CASES, WITH THEIR QUOTES]
```

Step 6 is yours: approve each field before anyone uses it, decide on vendor numbers, and open three checked sources at random yourself.

## Prompt 4: Review a syllabus (Step 7)

Ask the instructor first, and follow your institution's rules for what may go into an AI tool.

```
Review this syllabus for a [LEVEL, e.g. introductory] [FIELD] course against the approved AI use cases below. The reader is the instructor, a busy colleague.

1. Start with 2-4 things the course already does well, quoting the syllabus word for word.
2. For each use case, say whether the course already covers it, has a topic it would fit beside, or leaves it to another course.
3. Design AT MOST 3 assignments. Each one:
   - is built on one of the use cases, in four moves: students use the AI on a realistic task, check its output, improve it, and show what the human added
   - builds 2-3 of that use case's skills, copied word for word
   - fits an existing week, topic or assignment, and says what it replaces, with grade weight
   - suits the course level
4. For each assignment give: a title, where it goes, what students get, 3-5 steps, what they turn in, a rubric (3-4 rows with points, one for what the student caught or added that the AI did not), and class time.
5. List what you set aside, with a one-sentence reason each.

Rules: Quote the syllabus exactly or not at all. Use only the use cases and sources given; never invent a source, number, law, date or company example. Never write "should", "must" or "need to". If nothing fits, say so; that is a good result.

APPROVED USE CASES:
[PASTE]

SYLLABUS:
[PASTE]
```

Before sharing the result, search the syllabus for each quote, and confirm every source it cites is on your approved list.