BIOGRAPHIES Seun Kolade is a professor of entrepreneurship and digital transformation, as well as interim head of research at Sheffield Business School, Sheffield Hallam University. His research spans digital transformation, circular economy, transformative entrepreneurship and business strategy in turbulent environments Sam Giove is director of Sheffield Business School. She has worked in higher education for more than 25 years, holding several senior academic posts, in addition to gaining substantial experience in industry and as an entrepreneur. Giove is a recognised authority in developing authentic and inclusive strategies in higher education, with a passion for how the sector can enable transformational change
of official plagiarism checkers. Of course, such students will still grapple with some problems, because generative AI continues to have difficulties in generating and listing appropriate and recent scholarly citations. However, a student can still use the technology to generate an ‘original’ essay and augment it with a sufficient number of relevant citations to receive an ‘A’ grade, according to our recent research paper published in peer-reviewed journal Heliyon . This is the nightmare scenario for higher education and a major source of consternation for practitioners across the world. In the eyes of many, generative AI is an affront to the integrity of learning, the credibility of assessment and should simply be banned. But even if concerns of this nature are warranted, is a Luddite opposition (ie one that stands against the introduction of new technology vis-à-vis the 19th‑century movement of English textile workers) to generative AI justified? After all, the 21st-century knowledge economy is shaped by the increasing ubiquity of digital technologies across all aspects of life and their presence will continue to transform economic activities and social interaction for the foreseeable future. In this context, running against the current of digital transformation is a fool’s errand and higher education practitioners must embrace this reality to gain the
power to shape it. This is especially important for business schools that aspire to be at the forefront of developing leaders for the future. Such leaders must be skilled in leveraging data-driven insights to navigate complex challenges, innovate within a dynamic marketplace and make strategic decisions in a globally interconnected business environment. It goes without saying, therefore, that technology is not the enemy. opportunities, so educators must do the same. To achieve this, an important starting point is to rethink the structure of learning and assessment. For the most part, business school assessment models have traditionally oriented towards testing knowledge. Educators have increasingly prioritised critical reflection and the ability of learners to co-produce new knowledge, drawing from what they have been Today’s businesses are required to meet the challenges presented by digital transformation and frontier technologies to leverage their
taught and what they have researched. This is fundamental and will continue to be a cornerstone of assessment. But it is also, by its very nature, foundational. Business school programme directors and leaders in learning and assessment
32 | Ambition | NOVEMBER 2024
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