The Role Of Technology In The Education System Of B-School

Dr Ramakrishnan Raman Oct 13, 2020

Technology has been playing a vital role in B School education. Right from including skill-based tools in the curriculum, to having high-end software labs for simulation, B Schools have always given importance to technology in the teaching-learning process. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced B Schools to adopt online platforms and offer education online. Some changing roles of technology in B Schools are listed here.

Emphasis on analytics and data science

Data is the new oil and organisations have been giving high priority to analysing data and driving strategic decisions based on the analysis. This has also made B Schools to give higher priority to analytics and data science. While a few B Schools have introduced analytics and data science as a separate master’s programme, a few others have introduced it as a specialisation. Only a few premier B schools have included subjects related to analytics and data science as core subjects, along with functional electives in marketing, finance, human resources and operations which are related to analytics.

Learning Management System (LMS) – a default requirement in B School

Several Indian B schools were using information systems for their academic processes and a few of them were using the Learning Management System (LMS) to manage all aspects of academics. An LMS is a software programme for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, automation and delivery of educational courses and training programs. Learning management system as a concept emerged directly from e-Learning. Although the first LMS for education was in the market during the 1990s, COVID-19 pandemic has made many B Schools to adopt one or the other LMS for effective delivery in the online mode.

Virtual technology and Simulations

Use of simulation-based tools for learning has been in practice at B Schools, especially to focus on the philosophy of “learning by doing”. As the world is becoming increasingly globalized, business schools are looking for ways to teach graduates the skills they’ll need to survive and thrive in the borderless business landscape. Virtual Reality enables the students to fully immerse themselves in a computer-simulated reality and Augmented Reality on the other hand adds a virtual layer to the real world. With soft skills becoming a fundamental requirement which corporate look for – when they recruit B School students - B Schools are using Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality along with simulation-based tools to train students on soft skills.

Gamification of education and evaluation

The gamification of learning is an educational approach to motivate B School students to learn by using video game design and game elements in learning environments. The objective of gamification is to maximize enjoyment and engagement by capturing the interest of the students and also inspire them. B Schools are using gamification techniques in teaching and evaluation to make them interesting and stress-free. There are several gamification tools which are free and paid which have been adopted and integrated into LMS of B Schools.

Application of AI (Artificial Intelligence) in Business

There is always a significant gap between the business conversations and the technology conversations around AI and it’s critical to bridge this gap. Democratizing AI within an organization is critical to boosting employee productivity, driving business agility, and improving customer experiences. B Schools include AI, application of AI and Machine learning. As AI becomes more prevalent in people’s businesses, there’s a need for every B School student to learn the relevance of AI to business and its application. It’s something that business leaders must know and management programmes across several premier B Schools are giving its students an option to dip into both the technical and business strategy content.