Business education is evolving with an emphasis on technology, flipped classrooms and industry-ready graduates – BusinessToday

Technology has disrupted every sector, even education, and especially higher education. It was one of the last bastions to remain largely untouched. However, the pandemic has also accelerated the disruption of higher education. During the pandemic, things like moving classes online were introduced out of compulsion. Now, with the rise of large language models and Gen AI becoming increasingly powerful in helping students learn, we are seeing a deeper transformation. The role of faculty in the classroom is not what it once was. The fundamental change I foresee is the rise of high-quality, curated content that will be widely available beyond the classroom. A student who is hungry to learn will find that content.

The concept of a flipped classroom model has been around for a while and now has the potential to become a reality. In this model, students learn as much as possible before attending the physical class. The in-person sessions are then used by faculty members to help students with areas they do not yet fully understand and to work on applications. This is especially important in a business school environment, where practical use cases are of great value. More classroom time can be spent showing students how to apply what they have learned, rather than just teaching concepts and fundamentals.

The fundamentals can be learned before class through a variety of high-quality, curated content. Professors need to do more than just teach theory in the classroom. Traditionally, they focused on covering the curriculum, often not having enough time to delve into applications. The goal was to equip students with knowledge—concepts, theories, and fundamentals—in the hope that students would take the initiative to work on applications and practice problems independently.

Now the professor’s role is shifting to arranging content for students to consume before coming to class. This reduces the need for students to search for resources themselves. Ideally, much of this content should be in video format, as this fits well with students’ media consumption preferences. There is a large amount of video material available, filled with high-quality content from top professors worldwide. Rather than creating new material, the job of a business school professor should be to select the most relevant issue. They can refer students to specific videos and contemporary readings, use class time to clarify any doubts and, most importantly, guide them through practical use cases and applications.

Companies now hire people for the ability to apply knowledge, and not just for the knowledge itself. There was a time when companies hired knowledge and then taught employees how to apply it to their work. Today, there is no longer the luxury of time to learn application skills. Companies want people who can get started. If classroom time is spent on practical applications, recruiters interviewing students will see that these graduates are already job-ready, giving them a competitive advantage.

Another major shift I see happening is related to students’ media consumption habits. They don’t like to read as much anymore. Providing them with extensive reading material or case studies no longer works as it did ten or fifteen years ago. Instead, students are more likely to consume video content. If you ask them to watch an hour of videos before class, they are much more likely to do so than to read several pages. That is the change in mentality that needs to happen. The goal is to get them to learn, not get them to read. It’s just a different approach to achieving the same goal. Platforms like Coursera and edX, the two largest MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses in the world, offer high-quality video content that perfectly suits the preferences of this generation. This is one way technology has disrupted education.

While we are one of the pioneers in adopting this approach, there are only a few others doing so, and unfortunately only the more progressive ones are embracing it.

Partnerships with MOOCs will go a long way in democratizing education, especially for B-schools that struggle to attract top teachers. Even lower-tier B-schools that cannot hire high-quality professors can benefit from these collaborations. MOOCs can help curate content specifically for these schools, giving students access to the same level of learning resources as those from top institutions. This approach will help bridge the gap and create a level playing field, giving students in lower schools access to the same learning resources as those in higher schools. Until now, all students had access to the same textbooks. Now they also have access to the same high-quality digital learning content.

Finally, the curriculum should be revised at least every two to three years. But what’s crucial is how to revise it. Business leaders should be brought in to review the curriculum. At least some of the revised curriculum that focuses on contemporary applications should be taught by the industry practitioners who assisted in its revision. This will ensure that students’ learning outcomes align with what the industry wants, making them more attractive to recruiters.

The author is Director General of the International Management Institute. Opinions are personal