From classroom to boardroom: harnessing AI in business education

‘The transformational impact of artificial intelligence is impossible for business schools to ignore’, according to the Financial Times.

Indeed, at the recent AMBA & BGA Global Deans and Directors Conference, the application of AI in executive business education was a key topic of discussion.

We spoke to Andrew Bates, Chief Product Officer at Kortext, for an exclusive insight into Kortext’s relationship with AI and the exciting plans for future developments.

Starting the journey

For the last five years, Kortext has been researching the potential of generative AI. ‘Our starting point was how do we improve the student experience and student engagement with the content that we’re supplying in a way that makes it easier to learn?’ says Andrew.

The process was significantly accelerated following the public release of ChatGPT in late 2022. ‘We’d used machine learning algorithms in our platforms for a while, for example to predict students who might be at risk of dropping out,’ he explains, ‘but a whole new range of possibilities emerged with LLMs’.

This early work became the foundation for Kortext Premium (now known as Kortext study+), integrating AI-powered tools like Summarise, AI study notes and Q&A into our smart study space.

Leading the way

The transformative potential of AI for efficiency gains, product enhancement and revenue generation will be apparent to business leaders, but the need for standardisation and ethical considerations (such as copyright infringement and the introduction of bias) remain ongoing concerns for many, along with fears about security.

So, how can business education providers implement AI safely? As a leader in the edtech market, Kortext is at the forefront of technology-enhanced learning and is pioneering the integration of AI capabilities into the sector by working in close collaboration both with institutions and its key technology partner, Microsoft.

Andrew explains, ‘where there are concerns about the technology, we want to learn about and address those through research and further innovation so we can inform and evolve’.

The impetus for this comes back to the original motivation behind Kortext’s initial AI research and development: to drive better learning and engagement, supporting students worldwide throughout their education and helping them to achieve more.

Benefiting students and educators

Kortext’s cutting-edge AI-powered tools are included in an exclusive teaching and learning package for MBA providers.

Students and educators alike can save time with Summarise, creating a concise outline of selected text in seconds, while AI study notes produces short bullet-points encapsulating key information from chosen content. Meanwhile Q&A generates interactive questions and answers, helping to reinforce a student’s understanding and identify gaps in their knowledge.

Further, institutions can offer an inclusive learning experience to diverse, international MBA cohorts with Translate. Now students for whom English is an additional language can instantly translate selected content into over 120 global languages.

All these tools only operate on trusted academic content, enabling MBA programmes to leverage GPT-based capabilities within a safe, ringfenced environment.

Andrew reveals there are more AI-powered study tools, again developed in partnership with Microsoft, being released later this year. The goals remain focused on enabling greater efficiency and better student engagement, but he remains tight-lipped on the exact details, so watch this space…

Innovating for the future

As a company, Kortext is always looking to innovate and Andrew was keen to share about two projects, currently in development, aiming to support the education process as a whole.

The first involves personalised learning experiences for students and time-saving teaching methods for educators, all powered by AI.

For students, this means creating richer study environments and more responsive feedback mechanisms. Whether through visual aids, multimedia content or interactive exercises, AI can support the delivery of an adaptive experience to support diverse learning styles.

Andrew points out this approach would be ideal for time-poor MBA students who may be juggling work, study and family commitments, leading them to study ‘late in the evening when you’re not going to get hold of a real person’, making a trusted, assisted experience invaluable.

For educators, it means empowering them to create a guided learning environment for students where they ‘set it and forget it’, using AI to provide engaging tasks based on vetted content, pre-selected by the academic, that test a student’s understanding of specific learning objectives.

The second development is broader – using AI to provide insights into student engagement, with data gathered from multiple touch points across an institution.

This knowledge will enable educators to adjust programmes and university leadership to create policies in response to engagement trends – fostering retention, progression and overall better student outcomes, while facilitating early, targeted intervention for at-risk individuals.

Moreover, the two developments will interconnect to provide institutions with a more holistic understanding of students. Andrew explains, ‘the more online and AI-powered learning experiences we can enable institutions to provide, the more understanding we help to build around engagement and what that engagement translates to in terms of educational gain and outcomes’.

The way ahead

This is just the tip of the iceberg, according to Andrew. AI is here to stay and it’s a game-changer.

That’s why Kortext is ‘engaging with it and embracing it in terms of our overall strategy’ in order to provide time-saving tools delivering personalised, inclusive experiences at scale for students and educators worldwide.

If you’d like to collaborate with Kortext on the future of business education, click here to start a conversation.