Anand Nandkumar is rethinking how MBA students learn — by combining AI chatbots and virtual reality with traditional coursework. The Indian School of Business professor’s goal: help students ask better questions, think more critically, and apply strategy in real-world contexts.

Nandkumar’s approach, now gaining traction across ISB and beyond, could offer other business schools a practical model for using emerging tech to build sharper, more adaptable leaders.

“This is not about adding flash to the classroom,” he says. “It’s about using the right tools to help students learn more deeply and prepare more effectively for real-world challenges.”

A NEW KIND OF CLASSROOM COMPANION

In his Strategic Innovation Management course, Nandkumar equips students with a session-specific GPT chatbot that serves as a personal tutor. Primed with relevant cases, news articles, video transcripts, and readings, the bot helps students deepen their understanding — not by giving answers, but by encouraging better questions.

Before each class, students receive assignments along with guided prompts for the chatbot. Some stop there. Others use the prompts as a starting point to engage more deeply, asking additional questions, testing assumptions, and exploring alternate interpretations.

“It was a bimodal outcome,” Nandkumar says. “Some students stuck to the basics. But the ones who leaned into the chatbot came to class significantly better prepared. They’d engaged more deeply, identified key issues, and were ready to drive the conversation.”

That readiness matters — especially in a course built for working professionals navigating complex, real-world business challenges. For Nandkumar, the chatbot is not about offloading thinking to AI. It’s about practicing how to think through ambiguity.

“Managers may not always have the answers,” he says. “But they must know how to ask the right questions.”

BUILDING CRITICAL THINKING THROUGH AI

Beyond improving class prep, the chatbot helps students develop integrative thinking — linking disparate sources and perspectives to form coherent insights. This is especially valuable in a modern workplace where leaders must learn on the fly, often in unfamiliar domains.

To push that thinking further, Nandkumar also introduces AI-generated case solutions, which students must analyze and critique. The exercise highlights the strengths and limitations of machine-generated reasoning — and encourages students to go deeper.

“They quickly see that the AI’s solution may look polished but often misses important context,” Nandkumar says. “Critiquing those answers helps students sharpen their own thinking.”

The approach also addresses a common concern among AI skeptics: that tools like ChatGPT might weaken students’ critical thinking. Nandkumar argues the opposite — when used alongside reflective tools, AI can actually strengthen analytical skills.

“If students are taught to use AI critically, it becomes a way to improve — not replace — judgment,” he says.

IMMERSIVE LEARNING THROUGH VR

While AI supports inquiry and analysis, Nandkumar also wants students to experience business challenges firsthand. That’s where virtual reality comes in.

In his Competitive Strategy course, he has developed four short VR modules that function like immersive field trips. Students strap on headsets and step into complex environments — from Amazon’s last-mile delivery network in India to the offices of taxi unions navigating platform disruption.

Each module is linked to a core strategy framework. One focuses on Porter’s Five Forces, using Amazon’s expansion in India as a case. Another contrasts the car-buying experience for economy and luxury vehicles, asking whether automaker Maruti can succeed with a “stuck in the middle” strategy. Others explore the rise of ride-hailing platforms in Indian cities and telecom expansion by Indian companies in Africa.

“The videos are observational, not didactic,” Nandkumar says. “Students watch, take notes, and connect what they see to the case discussion and theoretical models.”

CHANGING PERSPECTIVES

Nandkumar says the VR content often shifts student opinions in real time. In one case, students begin by applying standard logic about economies of scale to Airtel’s entry into Africa. But after watching a VR module that shows rural communities, infrastructure gaps, and the everyday role of mobile phones, their conclusions change.

“They start to see that success isn’t just about price or scale — it’s about local context, user behavior, and demand conditions,” he says. “VR helps them see the nuance.”

That observational depth — something difficult to replicate in traditional teaching — has proven especially effective for helping students understand the limits of broad strategy tools and apply them more thoughtfully.

READY TO SCALE

Nandkumar’s use of AI and VR is no longer a solo effort. At ISB, faculty in other departments are adopting similar tools. The school has developed a standardized process for filming and deploying VR content across courses, and additional modules are in development.

ISB has also joined a global network of 30 business schools collaborating on immersive learning through Averis, a platform founded by INSEAD professor Itay Stern. The partnership gives ISB access to a library of international VR content — and allows other schools to use the materials developed in Hyderabad.

“This isn’t about replacing traditional teaching,” Nandkumar says. “It’s about enhancing it — giving students better tools to learn, reflect, and make smarter decisions.”

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