Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Sambalpur recently became the first business school in India to introduce Artificial Intelligence (AI) in classrooms in the capacity of a faculty member. The younger IIM is the first such institute to experiment with the technology — which is a relatively new global phenomenon — in its classrooms. The institute announced the new initiative at its 10th foundation day on September 23. The first such AI session at the institute is to kickstart from October this year.
News18 spoke to IIM director Professor Mahadeo Jaiswal on what integrating AI in classrooms means, how faculty members and students are responding to the experiment, the role of AI in future, cost involved, and why, with all the leading work, younger IIMs are still missing from the list of top management institutes in the National Institutional Framework Rankings (NIRF).
Edited excerpts:
What does introducing AI as faculty in the classroom mean and is it aimed at improving quality of teaching-learning processes?
So, the limitation of traditional classrooms is that students attend and the teacher just teaches. Now, with AI platforms, things are different. Articles or case studies, videos, and other formats are provided to students before class. For example, if you have a Harvard case or any other case study or article, it can be given to students in advance. This could be in video or text format, helping them understand the context better.
Students will be given time, say two days or a week, to prepare. Then, in class, there are two types of interactions — individual and group. This is a common practice in management schools: we assign group tasks alongside individual assignments. For the same topic or case, students form groups of six, making up 20 or 30 groups. These groups collaborate and are supposed to come prepared, which improves the level of learning.
Before coming to the virtual class, they interact within their groups to prepare presentations or articles. In the class — lasting about 90 minutes — they won’t be physically present. Instead, they log in individually, and there’s no professor physically present. The professor’s role is to structure the class, specifying the learning outcomes and the topics for discussion, and they also prepare quizzes and other materials, which are loaded onto an AI-driven LMS.
The AI, with machine learning, deep learning, and data analytics, essentially becomes the professor. All the information is fed into the system, and it begins the session. For instance, if the class starts at 9am, the first 15 minutes are for individual introductions and initial discussion. Afterward, a quiz is taken by the AI in the form of a poll, testing if the students have understood the material.
Following that, the class proceeds with subtopics of the article or case, with structured group discussions. The AI assigns each group specific points to discuss, and the session progresses with another quiz or analysis every 15 to 20 minutes. By the end of the class, AI evaluates and grades the students, analysing who contributed well and who did not, ensuring there’s no bias, as everything is based on facts. Often, there is a common complaint by faculty members that students don’t come prepared. Now, with AI handling this part, they will have to come prepared after reading their concepts and ready for answers.
So, are you saying this will replace the traditional classroom setting and replace teachers?
No, this would supplement the physical classroom. In India, we use Bloom’s Taxonomy, which includes six layers of learning: information, understanding, analysis, evaluation, application, and creation. However, our focus is usually only on the first four — information, understanding, analysis, and evaluation.
The application of knowledge in real-life situations and the creation of new ideas is generally not addressed in our system. That’s why even after completing an MBA in finance, some graduates struggle to create a balance sheet, for example.
AI will handle the first four layers and the remaining two will be for the faculty, thereby improving their quality of work. Currently, faculty is engaged in explaining concepts, which can be done better by AI. The faculty’s role will then shift to facilitating application and creation, allowing them to focus on higher-order thinking skills. Once the AI-led class ends, the faculty will conduct a physical session, diving into application-based and creative discussions.
So, AI handles the basics, and the professor focuses on more advanced concepts in the physical class. This will elevate the learning experience because professors won’t have to repeatedly teach basic concepts every year. The level of classroom discussions will automatically be higher, and evaluations will be more precise and objective.
How has the faculty responded to this? Are they comfortable with the idea?
Initially, the faculty was anxious. Some were afraid that they might lose relevance. However, after discussions, they became excited about the potential of this approach, especially the younger faculty members. They understood that their role would be elevated, focusing more on applications and innovative thinking. Young faculty are eager to adopt this method, whereas older faculty are more resistant because they are used to traditional methods, but we are holding sessions with them.
Implementing this approach in older institutions like the established IIMs would be difficult. In newer institutes, where there’s more direct involvement from the director, it’s easier to implement. Faculty members in older institutes might resist and block such changes.
Is this happening in other IIMs or other institutions in India or abroad currently?
No, from what we know, we’re the only Indian institute working with this AI platform. Globally, top institutions like Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, and MIT are also experimenting with similar concepts, but they are all at the pilot stage, just like us. It is a globally new phenomenon.
The world is changing, especially with the rise of AI. It’s a phenomenon that no one anticipated would develop this quickly or in this way. It’s a huge shift in education. For this AI project, we’re partnering with an AI-based platform.
Implementing AI-based teaching in a relatively younger institute like IIM Sambalpur is a major initiative. What does this mean for newer IIMs?
Newer IIMs are innovators. We need to experiment and come up with new methods. Think of us as start-ups in the education space; we can try new things and, if successful, others will follow. I’m confident that this AI system will be adopted by other institutes as well. Even the older IIMs will have to adopt it. If it enhances student-learning outcomes, why wouldn’t they?
While it sounds exciting and challenging, do you think AI-enabled teaching can be sustained and is it the future?
I believe this will make the system easier. One of the main complaints from our faculty is that students don’t come to class prepared. Only a few do and it’s difficult to evaluate everyone equally since professors can’t interact with each student individually. With this system, every student will be engaged, which solves the issue of many students not being prepared.
So, has an AI-enabled session taken place yet? Are you discussing the new initiative with students as well?
Initially, we won’t be using it for every session. For instance, if a course has 20 sessions, we’ll start by integrating AI into five of them. So, AI will handle five sessions, and the faculty will manage the remaining 15. We have identified five faculty members for the session, with whom we are training. We will engage students as well in discussions after the training is completed. It is important that they understand and are prepared for this change. The AI system needs to structure all the questions and content, which will take about two to three weeks. We plan to start the first session in October.
Is there a cost factor involved?
Yes, there’s a cost element, but it’s not as expensive as you might think. Currently, we purchase cases from Harvard at $5 per case per student. When we move the same case to this AI platform, it costs around $10 per student. However, if we factor in the reduction of faculty costs for those five AI sessions, the overall cost evens out. Once the system is rolled out on a larger scale, the cost per session will reduce as well due to economies of scale. Right now, the cost is higher because the system is still in its introductory phase.
Has there been any discussion with the government regarding this initiative?
No, this is purely our experiment. We have academic autonomy, so we can innovate and experiment on our own.
While IIM Sambalpur is doing well, the NIRF rankings in the management category are dominated by IITs. What’s your take on that?
We’re more focused on international rankings and accreditations, like AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business). The NIRF rankings have certain criteria, such as research publications, where IITs get a significant advantage because they consider the research output from the entire institute and not just the management department. This can skew the results. This is one lacuna in the Indian rankings.
Have you raised this concern with NIRF or the ministry?
Not directly. We’re focused on our own goals. We participate in NIRF, but our priority is quality education, placements, and research. We’re working towards international rankings and accreditations.
What about placements? Last year, many institutes, including the younger IIMs, faced challenges. How did IIM-Sambalpur fare?
Last year was difficult for everyone due to global economic factors like the recession in Europe and the US, the war, and advancements in AI. However, we expect things to improve going forward.
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