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Primary Alignments

Primary Alignment competencies have strong, direct alignment across multiple courses.

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• Critical Thinking 

  Students need structured opportunities to move beyond surface-level AI awareness toward genuine analytical reasoning such as evaluating claims, weighing tradeoffs, and forming defensible positions.

  Activity type	Example assignment	Suggested courses
  Case-Based Analysis Present real AI deployment scenarios with ethical or social complexity. Students analyze the situation, identify competing interests, and recommend a course of action with justification.	The Hiring Algorithm Case: Provide students a documented case of algorithmic bias in hiring (e.g., Amazon's discontinued recruiting tool). Students identify what went wrong, what ethical principles were violated, what the organization should have done differently, and how they would advise a company facing a similar decision today. Debrief focuses on how they evaluated competing interests — efficiency, fairness, legal risk, reputational harm.	PHIL 326, CYBR 304, ISCI 215
  Socratic Seminar Assign a contested AI ethics reading. Students come prepared with a position and must defend, revise, or challenge it through structured dialogue. No slides — reasoning must be demonstrated live.	Should Generative AI Be Used in Hiring Decisions Students read two short opposing pieces — one arguing for AI-assisted screening, one arguing against. In seminar, students must articulate their position, respond to direct challenges from peers, and demonstrate whether or how their thinking evolved. Faculty assess reasoning quality, not the position taken.	PHIL 326, CYBR 302, ISCI 203
  Claim Evaluation Exercise Give students a set of statements about AI (some accurate, some overstated, some false). Students must assess each claim, identify the evidence needed to evaluate it, and explain their reasoning.	AI Myth or Fact? Provide 10 common AI claims from news headlines (e.g., 'AI is objective because it uses data, not opinions'). Students rate each claim, identify what makes it misleading or accurate, and rewrite it more precisely. This builds the habit of evaluating AI narratives rather than accepting them which is a skill employers increasingly value.	CSCE 180, ISCI 203, CYBR 304

   

• Technology

  The goal is not to make students developers, it is to make them confident, informed users and evaluators of AI tools. Activities should build hands-on familiarity alongside conceptual understanding.

  Activity type	Example assignment	Suggested courses
  Guided Tool Exploration Students use a specific AI tool to complete a task, then reflect critically on what the tool did well, where it failed, and what its limitations mean for professional use.	Prompt Engineering and Limitation Mapping: Students are given a professional scenario (e.g., drafting a client summary, screening resumes, writing a marketing post) and must use a generative AI tool to complete it. They then document: what worked, what the tool got wrong, what they had to correct, and what risks a professional would face if they used the output uncritically. Reflections are submitted as a short memo,not a tech tutorial, but a professional judgment document.	BADM 302, BADM 305, SPTE 350
  AI Tool Audit Students select an AI tool used in a specific industry and evaluate it across a structured rubric: capabilities, limitations, ethical considerations, and professional use guidance.	Industry AI Audit: Each student (or team) selects an AI tool relevant to a career field they are interested in healthcare AI, legal research AI, sports analytics, marketing automation, etc. They research the tool, attempt to use a free version or demo, and produce a one-page professional brief that could be handed to a hiring manager: what the tool does, what it cannot do, and what an employee should know before using it. Presentable format reinforces professional communication alongside technology competency.	BADM 302, BADM 305, CSCE 180, SPTE 350
  Concept-to-Application Bridge After introducing a technical concept (e.g., machine learning, NLP), students are immediately asked to connect it to a real-world scenario in a field relevant to them.	How Would This Work in My Field? After a unit on natural language processing, students write a 1-paragraph response: 'Describe one way NLP is or could be used in a field you want to work in. What would it do? What would it get wrong? What would a professional need to know?' Low-stakes, frequent, and forces ongoing application rather than passive notetaking.	CSCE 180, BADM 305, ISCI 203

• Professionalism

  Professionalism in an AI context is about more than compliance — it is about developing the judgment, integrity, and accountability to make principled decisions when the rules are unclear. Activities should put students in situations where they have to exercise that judgment.

  Activity type	Example assignment	Suggested courses
  Ethical Decision Simulation Students are placed in a professional role and given a scenario where using AI would be expedient but ethically questionable. They must decide what to do and defend their reasoning.	The Manager's Dilemma Students are told: 'You are a marketing manager. Your team is behind on a campaign. A colleague suggests using an AI tool to generate customer testimonials that sound authentic but are fabricated. Your boss is supportive. What do you do?' Students write a 1-page professional memo explaining their decision and reasoning. Class discussion surfaces the competing pressures of efficiency, loyalty, and integrity which professionals may face.	PHIL 326, BADM 302, ISCI 215
  Policy Drafting Students draft a workplace AI use policy for a hypothetical organization. This requires them to anticipate risks, balance competing interests, and communicate expectations clearly — all professionalism skills.	Draft an AI Use Policy Assign students to draft a 1–2-page AI use policy for a specific organization type (hospital, law firm, university, sports franchise, media company). The policy must address what AI tools are permitted for what purposes, what is prohibited, who is accountable when AI causes harm, and how employees should disclose AI use to clients or stakeholders. Peer review round requires students to evaluate a classmate's policy for gaps and unintended consequences.	PHIL 326, CYBR 302, BADM 302, ISCI 215
  Reflection Journal Regular low-stakes writing that asks students to connect course content to their own professional values and developing identity. Builds the habit of self-aware, principled reasoning.	Professional Values Check-In Three times per semester, students respond to a prompt like: 'Describe something you learned this week that changed or challenged how you think about using AI in your future career. What does this mean for how you want to show up professionally?' Ungraded for correctness but graded for depth of reflection. Over a semester, these become a record of professional identity development students can draw on in interviews.	PHIL 326, CYBR 304, ISCI 203, ISCI 215

Supporting Alignments

Supporting Alignment competencies have meaningful, specific alignment. Faculty may find activities in supporting competency sections useful for reinforcing career readiness in targeted ways without overloading the course.

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• Communication

  The ability to translate AI concepts for non-technical audiences is one of the most in-demand and underdeveloped skills in the workforce. Activities should require students to communicate AI ideas clearly, accurately, and for a specific audience.

  Activity type	Example assignment	Suggested courses
  Audience Translation Exercise Students take a technical AI concept and explain it in writing or verbally for a specified non-technical audience such as a CEO, a community member, a journalist, a grandparent.	Explain It to the Board Students are given a 2-paragraph technical summary of a recent AI development. They must rewrite it as a 1-paragraph briefing for a corporate board with no technical background, followed by a 2-sentence recommendation. Graded on accuracy, clarity, and whether the audience could actually act on it. Mirrors what professionals in consulting, policy, and management are asked to do regularly.	CYBR 304, BADM 302, BADM 305
  Stakeholder Presentation Students present an AI-related analysis or recommendation to a simulated professional audience. Emphasis on structure, credibility, and handling questions.	AI Recommendation Pitch: Teams of 3 are given a scenario: a mid-size company is considering adopting an AI tool for a specific function (HR, marketing, operations, legal). They must present a 5-minute recommendation — adopt, adapt, or reject — with rationale. One team member must field a 'hostile question' from a skeptical stakeholder. Post-presentation self-assessment asks students to identify where their communication was clear and where it broke down.	BADM 302, BADM 305, SPTE 350

   

• Career and Self-Development

  Students often do not connect coursework to their own career story. Intentional reflection activities help them recognize and articulate the professional value they are building — which is foundational to career readiness.

  Activity type	Example assignment	Suggested courses
  Competency Portfolio Entry At the end of a major assignment, students write a brief reflection connecting what they did to a NACE competency and a career-relevant skill. Builds the habit of translating academic work into professional language.	What Did I Just Build? After any significant project, students complete a structured reflection: (1) What skill or competency did this assignment develop? (2) Name a job or role where this skill would be valued. (3) Write one sentence you could say in an interview about this experience. Faculty collect these; over the course of the certificate, students accumulate a set of interview-ready talking points grounded in actual coursework.	All certificate courses
  Industry Landscape Scan Students research how AI is reshaping a career field of interest — what roles are emerging, what skills are being asked for, and what the outlook is for someone with AI literacy.	AI and My Career Field: Students select a career field and produce a 1-page brief: How is AI currently being used in this field? What roles are being created or changed? What skills are employers asking for that relate to this certificate? What is one thing a student should do before entering this field to demonstrate AI readiness? This connects the certificate directly to job market awareness and positions students to speak credibly about their field in interviews.	BADM 305, CYBR 101, CSCE 180

   

• Leadership

  Leadership in AI contexts means being willing to raise concerns, influence decisions, and advocate for responsible use — even under organizational pressure. Activities should simulate these moments.

  Activity type	Example assignment	Suggested courses
  Advocacy Role Play Students are placed in a professional scenario where AI is being deployed in a problematic way. They must decide whether and how to raise concerns, and practice doing so constructively.	Speak Up or Stay Quiet? Students are told: 'You are a new analyst at a company. In a team meeting, a senior leader proposes using an AI tool to monitor employee productivity in ways you believe are ethically questionable. The room seems supportive. What do you do?' Students first write their response individually, then practice a 60-second verbal version with a partner. Debrief explores what makes speaking hard, what makes it effective, and what responsibility professionals have in these moments.	PHIL 326, CYBR 302, BADM 302
  Governance Design Challenge Teams design an AI governance structure for an organization that includes deciding who has authority, what safeguards exist, and how accountability is maintained. Develops systems thinking and organizational leadership perspective.	Build the AI Ethics Committee: Teams are asked to design an AI ethics review process for a specific organization. They must answer: Who sits on the committee and why? What decisions require review? What happens when the committee disagrees with leadership? How are affected communities represented? Teams present their design and must defend their choices. This develops the kind of structural thinking that distinguishes leaders from individual contributors.	CYBR 304, PHIL 326, CYBR 302

A Note on Integration 

These activities are designed to be additive, not burdensome. A few principles for integration: 

• One well-designed reflection activity per unit is more valuable than multiple low-engagement checkboxes. Depth over volume.
• Name the competency explicitly. When students know they are developing Critical Thinking or Professionalism, they can represent it. Tell them what they are building.
• Connect to the job market concretely. 'Employers in this field ask about this exact skill' is more motivating than abstract competency language.
• The portfolio entry reflection (Career & Self-Development section) can be attached to almost any assignment across all six competencies — it is the single highest-leverage addition. 
• Faculty interested in connecting these activities to the Carolina Career Ready ecosystem or the Career Champions program are encouraged to reach out to the USC Career Center.