College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management | April 2025
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Welcome to the April 2025 edition of our AI and Innovation Newsletter! This month, we will bring you the latest updates in AI, highlight exciting projects from our faculty and staff, and share useful resources to help you integrate AI into your work.
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Dean’s Innovation Fund: Read More
Congratulations to the College of HRSM Spring 2025 Innovation Fund Recipients.-
Sang-eun Byun, Joohyung Park and Terry Kim — "Transforming Retail Education and Research with VR and Metaverse Technologies"
- Keshav Gupta — "Design and utilization of gamified virtual reality (VR) spectatorship for research and teaching."
- Darron Kirkley — "Hospitality Loyalty Education - It's Just the Beginning"
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RECENT & UPCOMING AI TRAININGS
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Thinking & Teaching with AI Workshop with Jose Bowen, March 2025: Watch the recording
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Microsoft Co-Pilot Sessions Feb. 10 [Watch the recording] and March 25. Be on the lookout for more details about how to visit the HRSM AI Resource Hub on Blackboard for the meeting notes and other AI resources.
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Gen AI Community of Practice Ethical Use and Policy for Gen AI on April 22 at noon. Free course available exclusively for USC Columbia full-time faculty. Discuss practical implications and explore emerging trends. Develop integration strategies and share experiences. [Sign up]
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In this edition, we are excited to highlight faculty and staff members who have integrated AI into their courses and workflows to enhance student learning and HRSM operations.
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- Donald Pollard shares a specialized educational tool, RETL Insights Assistant, that he created to enhance student learning and bridge academic theory with real-world industry practices.
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Stephanie Richards is leading AI initiatives for the HRSM student services and advising center.
- Taylor Ramp is using AI podcast technology to keep her classes engaging for students.
- Terry Kim developed and is currently delivering a new course for master’s students, RETL 725, that integrates data analytics and AI tools.
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RETL Insights Assistant: Educational assistant for USC Retail, Fashion, & Merchandising students. SketchUp, Midjourney supported. Now includes Fashion Tech Pack Creator.
Summary: The RETL Insights Assistant is an educational tool designed to support students in the University of South Carolina’s Department of Retailing, focusing on retail, fashion and merchandising. It offers tailored, curriculum-aligned support through interactive learning modules, case studies and glossaries, integrating tools like SketchUp and fashion tech pack generation. The platform encourages exploration of contemporary topics and recommends trusted industry resources, aiming to prepare students for dynamic internships and careers in retail and fashion.
Three Key Takeaways:
Interactive Learning: RETL Insights Assistant provides interactive modules, case studies and glossaries to enhance student learning in retail, fashion and merchandising.
Tool Integration: The platform supports tools like SketchUp and Midjourney and includes a Fashion Tech Pack Creator for visual merchandising and product development.
Real-Time Industry Trends: Students can interact with live feeds on trending silhouettes, fabrics and sustainability shifts, applying theory to current market movements in real-time.
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| Stephanie Richards, M.S.E.M.
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Manager of Planning and Technology
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In Advising, we have been leveraging Microsoft Copilot to streamline advising workflows, enhance productivity and improve overall student experience. By integrating Copilot into our daily operations, we have automated routine tasks such as drafting emails, summarizing student meeting notes and creating advising materials.
Three Key Takeaways:
Time-Saving Automation: Copilot helps automate repetitive tasks like email responses, calendar scheduling and document creation.
Enhanced Communication: Copilot assists in generating clear, consistent messaging for students, improving outreach and follow-up communication.
Data-Driven Insights for Future Implementation: Copilot supports more informed decision-making and targeted support strategies. Our partnership with USC DoIT aims to implement a Copilot agent, similar to a chat bot, that can provide students with 24/7 information on common questions.
Specifically, in my role, I have been using Copilot to streamline workflows, enhance communication and improve my efficiency. I am most excited about Power Automate. When paired with Copilot, it will connect apps and services through automated workflows, reduce manual effort, minimize errors and ensure that key processes happen reliably and on time. Additionally, I strongly advocate for connecting staff to innovative technologies and training that significantly enhance organizational efficiency.
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In my sport and entertainment marketing class, we explore and integrate Google’s NotebookLM to create AI-generated podcasts to recap key course concepts providing students with a more accessible entry point of the material while prompting discussions for deeper critical thinking. We also integrate AI to assist in designing primary research tools and analyzing survey data.
Three Key Takeaways:
Creating Podcasts with NotebookLM: NotebookLM converts course content into engaging audio summaries featuring AI-generated voices that discuss material in a relaxed and engaging tone. The podcasts are used for in-class discussions where students are challenged to identify errors and ambiguities, fostering critical thinking and a memorable learning experience.
Data-Driven Insights and Content Creation: AI is used for designing research tools and analyzing qualitative data for unbiased results. Students also leverage AI for creating websites, website copy and marketing materials.
AI Generated Summaries: Customized and improved LinkedIn profiles summaries and headlines. Develops lists of personal keywords and skills from job postings to enhance profile visibility and engagement.
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Summary: In my customer experience optimization in the retail environment (RETL 725) class, I am incorporating AI-driven text analytics this semester.
Three Key Takeaways:
AI-Driven Text Analytics in Retail: The course introduces master's students to text mining and natural language processing (NLP) using Python. Students learn to analyze customer sentiment, detect trends in online reviews for products and innovative online platforms (e.g., metaverse platforms), and generate insights from unstructured retail data.
Application of Jupyter Notebook: Students use Jupyter Notebook to apply text-processing techniques, developing big data-driven strategies for enhancing customer experiences in retail.
Customer Experience Optimization: The course focuses on enhancing customer experiences in the retail environment through AI-driven text analytics, providing practical skills in customer experience optimization.
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SPOTLIGHT ON STUDENT PERSPECTIVES: AI IN HIGHER EDUCATION
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How AI Is Transforming Education Forever — and What it Means for the Next Generation of Thinkers: Read the article
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AI LEARNING HUB: TRAINING RESOURCES FOR FACULTY AND STAFF
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Soon, you will be able to visit our new AI Resource Hub on Blackboard for additional AI resources as well as for Short, Smart & Straight to the Point - HRSM Insights in 120 Seconds. Special thanks to Tammy Macek for creating the Hub and to the AI Advisory Group for helping to curate the content.
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UPCOMING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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How do we tell you about us? Watch the advertising appeals video in hospitality management shared by Drew Martin.
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Thank you for reading this month's AI and Innovation Newsletter. Stay tuned for more AI and Innovation updates by visiting the Office of Innovation webpage.
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