Prof. Adrian Zicari, ESSEC Business School, and Academic Director of the Council on Business & Society, shares his editorial which heads the latest issue of the CoBS Global Voice magazine #29.

Tech and its timeless Relationship with Education by Adrian Zicari.

When one sees the rapid and accelerating changes in information technology nowadays, one may ask oneself about the future of business education.  Many futurologists put forward different scenarios, some of them feasible, some of them worrisome.

Will business schools be supplanted by online providers? Will business professors will be replaced by AI? Will business education exist at all? This editorial cannot summarise all this ongoing and rich discussion. But, if the past holds some lessons for the future, one may still have some elements for reflection.

Tech innovation in education is constant and chalk still has its place

First, each technological breakthrough, powerful and amazing as it could have been at its time, has been merely added to a growing portfolio of pedagogical tools. New tools have always find their place in the context of already existing tools.

For instance, distance learning in higher education has existed for decades (admittedly, by post), without “disrupting” conventional schools. And many top business schools, while displaying their latest technology, still keep (and use!) old-style chalkboards. Digital projectors complement, instead of replace, the venerable piece of chalk.

Tech and Education: Keeping time-tested pedagogy and blending it with new ways of conveying it

At the same time, such an expanded portfolio of tech and pedagogical tools leads to newer forms of learning. The traditional lecture remains, but it can sometimes be replaced by recorded sessions. Which is never the case of case teaching, where different discussions among students and faculty arise during each session. In case teaching, each session is different!

The same happens with business simulations, where different outcomes appear for each simulation run. Both cases and simulations open the path for a more creative, adapted, learning path, without abandoning time-tested pedagogical approaches.

At the CoBS, we are doing our best to embrace digital technologies, while maintaining a balance with face-to-face interactions. Both are necessary, indeed indispensable for business education. Our Advanced International Certificate in Responsible Business Practices may be an example in that sense.

It intends to provide the advances of the latest digital technology (a global, online, digital Sustainability and Strategy simulation), the insights of top scholars (the collection of learning modules crafted by colleagues of different CoBS member schools), and the value of personal interactions (the intensive week study sessions and the student trimester exchange).

During this academic year, we are currently running a pilot test of this Certificate, with the generous participation of colleagues and students from CoBS member schools. We hope that this Certificate can contribute to train a much needed generation of responsible business leaders worldwide.  

Useful links:

• Link up with Prof. Adrian Zicari on LinkedIn
• Read a related article: ChatGPT – a paradigm shift for universities
• Discover the Council on Business & Society free downloads page.

Learn more about the Council on Business & Society

The Council on Business & Society (The CoBS), visionary in its conception and purpose, was created in 2011, and is dedicated to promoting responsible leadership and tackling issues at the crossroads of business and society including sustainability, diversity, ethical leadership and the place responsible business has to play in contributing to the common good.  

• Follow the CoBS on X and LinkedIn

Member schools of the Council on Business & Society.

• ESSEC Business School, France, Singapore, Morocco
• FGV-EAESP, Brazil
• School of Management Fudan University, China
• IE Business School, Spain
• Keio Business School, Japan
• Monash Business School, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia
• Olin Business School, USA
• Smith School of Business, Canada
• Stellenbosch Business School, South Africa
• Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
• Warwick Business School, United Kingdom.