AI & learning in my bachelors course

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Imagine a classroom where every student’s individual needs are met… even when there are 450 of them! As a professor of strategy at HEC Lausanne, one of the most exciting challenges I face is fostering engagement in a large auditorium full of bright minds—like in my Bachelors course: Innovating for the Grand Challenges, where creativity and critical thinking are paramount. But when you're working with large groups, individual engagement often becomes difficult. This is where AI comes in, not just as a topic of study but as a game-changing tool for personalizing the learning experience itself.

I’ve always been passionate about tailoring learning to fit individual needs, but with large classes, it’s simply impossible to sit down with each student one-on-one; to understand their needs, their motivations, and their personalities. I can usually engage with the 10-20 students who sit on the 5th row - at my eye level; unfortunately the rest remain a mystery. That’s why, alongside a team of three co-founders, we’re building an AI-driven tool that can interact with students between in-person course sessions, offering personalized learning pathways, examples and feedback tailored to their needs. Its called Hoja.ai. Essentially, we developed an AI teaching assistant trained on the material of the course who can walk students through the content in a personalized way. Rather than replacing professors or TAs, AI complements our teaching to make it more tailored and effective.

In many ways, AI is bridging the gap between scale and personalization, two goals that are traditionally at odds in education. Using Hoja is like having a 24/7 mentor available—one that can offer real-time advice, curate resources, and even quiz students to reinforce key concepts.

So far, we’ve heard: “"Great content and quick tests make using this app for the course much more interesting than regular assignments - plus I have my learning buddy there with me for the ride." And we are running surveys throughout the course to track results on learning and engagement. We’re seeing how AI can go beyond being just another technology trend and actually transform the educational process, enabling a deeper connection between students, content, and the learning objectives.

BUT, the semester just started a few days go. For now, I have developed the course manually without yet using our course creator that we are developing as we speak! As a professor, I don’t believe AI can fully understand our research and the connections between different theoretical concepts YET. While it is important to remember that while AI can offer personalized pathways and immediate feedback, it doesn’t truly ‘reason.’ AI emulates patterns based on the data it’s trained on, which is why it still needs the guiding hand of a professor to ensure that deeper, conceptual connections are made. AI can’t replace the critical thinking, creativity, or expertise of human educators… at least not yet anyways. However, it serves as a powerful assistant, helping bridge the gap between individual attention and large-scale teaching.

As we continue to develop and fine-tune this tool, I’m excited by the potential it holds not only for my course but for education as a whole. Personalization at scale isn’t just a lofty ideal anymore; it’s becoming a reality…

Stay tuned to my blog as I get into telling you the story of how I met the other co-founders. About how we roll out this tool in my course - all the gritty failures included. And for more updates as we explore how AI can help tackle the grand challenge of innovating education itself! And of course, my own personal thoughts on data, ethics and beyond :)

Contact info

info@hoja.ai

Company

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