Monash Finance Educators Forum 2024: Generative AI in finance education

Description

With the release of ChatGPT into the public domain in November 2022, generative AI has marvelled the academic world with its capabilities.

How has this technology transformed our students' learning? What strategies can we adopt as educators to embrace this disruption?

We invite you to explore these topics at our one-day forum on Generative AI in Finance Education.

We are pleased to host speakers from the University of Sydney, UNSW, University of Sydney Technology, Deakin University, University of Melbourne, and Monash University.

This event is the second Monash Finance Educators Forum, proudly presented by Monash University’s Department of Banking and Finance.

Reserve your complimentary seat today. Enjoy a delightful lunch and ample coffee! Please note, attendance may be capped as seats are limited.

Organisers/Hosts: Dr Binh Do and Dr Kym Brown, Department of Banking and Finance.

Presentations and speakers

Provocations around Integrating AI into Education

Associate Professor Tim Fawns, Monash Education Academy

Tim Fawns is Associate Professor (Education Focused) at the Monash Education Academy. His role involves contributing to the development of initiatives and resources that help educators across Monash to improve their knowledge and practice, and to be recognised for that improvement and effort. Tim’s  research  interests are at the intersection between digital, professional and higher education, with a particular focus on the relationship between technology and educational practice.

Balancing Risk and Innovation: Exploring unforeseen outcomes in AI decision-making systems within banking

Dr Van-Hau Trieu, Senior Lecturer, Deakin Business School

Dr Trieu, a Senior Lecturer in Information Systems and Business Analytics at Deakin Business School, specialises in harnessing digital technologies—including Business Intelligence, Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence—to maximise individual, organisational and societal benefits. Her research  extends  to the responsible application of these technologies for social good, with a focus on improving equality, encouraging social inclusion, and enhancing the well-being of both individuals and communities. Dr. Trieu is dedicated to integrating technological progress with meaningful social advancements,  aiming  to create a balanced approach where innovation meets organisational and societal needs. Dr. Trieu is the recipient of top global awards for her research and contribution to the Information Systems discipline, including 2017 ACM SIGMIS Doctoral Dissertation Award and the 2023 AIS Early Career Award.

SDG challenges for first-year students in collaboration with industry and student society

Dr Natalie Oh, Senior Lecturer, UNSW Business School

As a Senior Lecturer in the School of Banking and Finance, Natalie was awarded a Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) for her contribution to higher education. Her education approach empowers students to take ownership of their learning through practical experience and industry  partnerships.  She has also published in leading international finance journals including the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis (JFQA), the Journal of Banking and Finance and the Pacific Basin Finance Journal. She has served as a consultant for the World Bank in Washington, DC. She is also a director for a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to alleviating  poverty  and supporting low-income developing countries in Asia.

ExamBuddy!: Lessons and insights from the implementation of an anonymous peer-review program at scale

Associate Professor Sean Pinder, Faculty of Business and Economics, The University of Melbourne

Sean Pinder is an Associate Professor and Deputy Head (Teaching and Learning) in the Department of Finance and has a successful record of teaching at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels as well as in executive education programs domestically and internationally. His substantial history of  active  teaching and learning innovation has been underpinned by two central tenets: "Bring the markets to the classroom" and "Bring the classroom to new students" which has resulted in many programs involving incursions into the classroom by practitioners as well as the launch of innovative MOOCs which  have  provided quality educational experiences in the finance discipline to those that otherwise would not have had the chance.

Leveraging AI in teaching coding to finance students

Associate Professor Vitali Alexeev, University of Technology Sydney

Vitali Alexeev is an Associate Professor at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and the Director of the newly established graduate program in Applied Artificial Intelligence. His extensive academic background includes positions at the University of Guelph, University of Toronto, and University  of  Tasmania, as well as visiting appointments at the City University of London, Free University of Berlin, University of Bergamo, and University of Sydney.

Vitali’s research spans the broad domain of data science with a particular emphasis on its implications for economics and finance. His contributions in sentiment analytics, which includes textual and image analyses of news and social media as well as correlation estimation in the presence of noise  and  asynchrony, are particularly relevant for dissecting corporate (mis)communications. Vitali's combined expertise in sentiment analytics, financial econometrics, and machine learning, places him at the forefront of innovative research dedicated to enhancing corporate transparency and fostering sustainable  development.  His efforts not only contribute to academic discourse but also pave the way for practical applications that promote responsible corporate behaviour and informed investment decisions.

Vitali is deeply committed to the advancement of AI education. He has been instrumental in designing and implementing an AI curriculum at UTS, focusing on hands-on workshops that address real-world challenges, with a particular emphasis on ethical AI practices and AI-driven solutions for Environmental,  Social,  and Governance (ESG) issues, including fraud detection and compliance monitoring. His current work involves identifying instances of greenwashing by dissecting corporate communications to reconcile public statements with actual environmental actions. This research not only advances academic dialogue  but  also supports practical AI-facilitated solutions that enhance corporate transparency, encourage responsible business practices, and inform sustainable investment strategies.

Students' use of generative AI in their learning: Observations from the front line

Michael Ciaravolo, Tutor, Monash University

Michael (Trav) Ciaravolo, a Lead Teaching Associate in the Department of Banking and Finance at Monash University, will lead a sessional tutor panel discussion on how he has seen Generative AI play out in the classroom. Michael is an energised and passionate finance educator who is extremely popular  with  his students, helping them to overcome any fears in learning coding, statistical and financial modelling, forecasting, derivatives, risk and scenario analysis.

Sarah Allen, Tutor, Monash University

Sarah holds Honours degrees in economics and law and has been admitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria. With 22 years experience of teaching at Monash, Sarah's current focus is on student uses of AI in qualitative/extended response questions, particularly without guidance.

Tracy Zhou, Tutor, Monash University

Tracy holds a PhD in finance and a Masters in Accounting and Data Science. Currently teaching across multiple disciplines, Tracy has a keen interest in business cases and applications of generative AI.

Pioneering AI-Infused teaching and learning in finance

Jennifer Sun, University of Sydney

Jennifer's disciplinary research interest is in mutual fund family performance and empirical asset pricing. Her education research focuses on students' transition pedagogy, academic integrity, assessment and feedback design to encourage sustainable learning and student-staff partnership projects.

Associate Professor Doowon Lee, University of Sydney

Doowon is an associate professor in the finance discipline at the University of Sydney Business School. He currently serves as the Academic Director – Curriculum Strategy for the discipline. He has been involved in educational innovation through various strategic roles he has held at current and  previous  business schools such as the AD international, Accreditation Director, and Head of School – Teaching and Learning. For his contribution on teaching innovation, he was awarded the University of Newcastle Teaching Excellence award in 2020. For research, he has contributed to areas of corporate  finance,  corporate governance, executive compensation, loan markets.  He loves to share his research interest where his work has led to more than a dozen successful PhD supervision. He has been acknowledged as a dedicated supervisor by being awarded the 2019 Research Award for PhD supervision  by  the University of Newcastle.

Dr Danilo Lopomo Beteto, University of Sydney

Senior Lecturer and Deputy Head (Education) in the Discipline of Finance at The University of Sydney Business School

Danilo is a Senior Lecturer in Finance and has been serving as Deputy Head (Education) since 2022. He joined The University of Sydney in 2020 after having worked in a variety of tertiary education institutions in Australia, United States, and Brazil. He has been teaching at both graduate and postgraduate  level  with a focus on experiential learning. He was one of the recipients of the Dean’s Award for Teaching at The University of Sydney Business School in 2023 and one of the leads in a project funded by the university towards incorporating AI in Finance education.