Creative narratives in the age of AI – The speculative future of short story writing at ESSEC and beyond

By Michael Kouklakis,  Director – Department of Languages & Cultures. 

On a sunny day in the first week of June, as the academic year of 2023 was coming to an end, several students, teachers and staff made their way to the Learning Center where they gathered for an awards ceremony to celebrate the 15th edition of the Short Story Contest – one of our most important and long-standing pedagogical initiatives. In nurturing the art of storytelling amongst our bright, talented students and encouraging the writing of original, creative fiction, this endeavour has carved out a unique space in higher education in general and in business schools and the Grandes Ecoles of France in particular. This much is stated proudly on the back cover of each copy of the short story book we publish every year and distribute during the end-of-the-year event we organize. The blurb on the back cover touts this initiative’s longevity and success and ends confidently with ‘There are many more tales to be told…’ However, with the sudden emergence of AI platforms in our daily lives and accelerated development of their capabilities, an unexpected question has arisen which never had to be asked before for the simple reason that the answer would have seemed so self-evident. Yes, there are many more tales to be told … but who will be telling them?

Lire la suite »

Training the leaders of tomorrow with the Sustainability Case Factory

By Mathilde Cocherel, librarian. Mathilde works at publishing ESSEC Cases within the K-lab, she provides support to professors in several forms.

ESSEC and all the partner institutions involved in the Sustainability Case Factory project, including CY University, are committed to environmental and social transition, with the aim of training 100% of students in sustainable development issues by 2030, using new teaching methods, tools and content. 

As case studies are widely used in graduate and postgraduate management studies, transferring this approach to the field of socio-ecological transitions, and developing new cases and teaching materials related to these issues, is a key strategic focus.

Lire la suite »

ESSEC’s Digital Pedagogy on Display at MoodleMoot Global

By Natalie Berkman, Instructional Design Manager at ESSEC K-lab

Every year, “Moodlers” from all over the world meet up at the MoodleMoot Global Conference to share best practices, explore new solutions, and design learning experiences together. Given ESSEC’s commitment to pedagogical excellence and more specifically to Moodle, our LMS of choice, several members of the ESSEC staff attend every year. This year marks an important milestone for our team: the first time we shifted from being inspired to inspiring others. 

Lire la suite »

‘Mini Cases’ for a ‘mini-attention-span’ world!

By Javaiz Parappathodi, a PhD candidate in Operations and Data Analytics at ESSEC since 2019. Javaiz has recently joined Durham University, UK as a teaching fellow this September. His research interests are humanitarian logistics, modern slavery and ‘co-opetition’ between firms.

Javaiz taught Operations Management for ESSEC Global BBA students.

How was your experience? Did you enjoy it?

I absolutely loved the experience. Reaffirmed the feeling that, for a change, I picked the right career this time.

How did you prepare?

Preparation was the most difficult part in the whole process. I had all the freedom that I wanted in deciding the course content and direction, thanks to the confidence shown by ESSEC on my capabilities. So, I wanted to completely design the course from start to finish.

I started from the scratch. I prepared the content for each and every session by myself and thoroughly enjoyed the process as well. I also devised my own evaluation strategy (obviously within the guidelines established by the program). I learnt as much as the students at the end of the process.

Lire la suite »

Top 3 of the most popular articles published in 2022-2023 on Pedagolab

By Pauline Delécaut, librarian at the K-lab, Pedagolab administrator

In 2022-2023, the Pedagolab blog showed that it was in tune with the current issues by covering topics closely linked to the evolution of pedagogy at ESSEC and in higher education at large. This can be seen in the Top 3 most consulted articles published during the year.
The addressed topics include diversity, equity and inclusion, with an interview with Maylis Balyan, sign language teacher at ESSEC. The inauguration of ESSEC’s new gymnasium, a year ahead of the Paris Olympics, provided an opportunity to promote sport and pedagogy in “Lessons learned from sports“, written by Professor Karoline Strauss. Finally, Estefania Santacreu-Vasut, Deputy Dean of Pedagogy, reported on the ChatGPT advent, which fueled a wider reflection on the place of AI in pedagogy, bringing together all ESSEC’s teaching communities.

Lire la suite »

Harmonizing teaching and research: embracing the lecture-based method as a junior researcher

By Huali WU, 5th year PhD student in Economics at ESSEC.

Huali taught for the first time the course Growth and Development in the ESSEC Grande Ecole Program.

How was your experience ? Did you enjoy it ?

I enjoy sharing important knowledge with the students.

What tools or teaching methods did you use? ( Kahoo, Beekast, cases, …)

I used a lecture-based teaching method. In this course, it is crucial to understand the definitions, to know what questions are being asked, and to master the relevant frameworks to answer the questions. Therefore, when I taught, I always discussed the definitions in detail, described the facts with data that raised questions, emphasized the questions that each model or each theory answered, and presented the theoretical frameworks. Moreover, I also introduced additional reading material to show how good researchers have criticized or extended the existing understanding.

Lire la suite »

Lessons learned from sports

In the week of April 17th-April 20th, ESSEC is celebrating the inauguration of its new Sports and Recreation center on the Cergy campus. On this momentous occasion, ESSEC Sports Chair professor Karoline Strauss shares key lessons we can take from sport and apply to our professional and personal lives.

  • Sometimes you lose. What matters is how you bounce back. In the immediate aftermath of a loss, we can see top athletes and players at the best clubs in the world be genuinely upset. We would be, too. Years of preparation and complete dedication go into every sports performance. Part of the excitement of watching sports is in fact the raw emotion we see play out when fractions of a second or a single move make the difference between victory and defeat. Soon after, however, these sportswomen and -men seem to have put this loss behind them. While we may still be upset about our favourite team having lost the game, the players have moved on to thinking about the next game. Success in sport means not dwelling on your setbacks. Once you have analysed what went wrong, it is time to look forward.
Lire la suite »

The Handicap & Talents certificate, an educational tool “made in ESSEC” to promote inclusive management

Launched by Elisabeth Forget ESSEC group disability référent, the Handicap & Talents Certificate aims to train the ESSEC community to face the challenges raised by disability in the workplace and to strengthen their position as an inclusive manager, by following during a month a bilingual French-English program of 12 conferences 100% online.

Sponsored by Professor Junko Takagi, Director of the Leadership and Diversity Chair (author of the article Flip or Whiteboard: What’s your choice?) and Laurent Bibard, Professor of Philosophy and Management (author of two articles on Pedagolab), the Handicap & Talents certification program is structured around 4 themes: philosophy & diversity, legal framework, company disability employment policies & innovations and testimonials.

Since 2021, the certificate has been opened to students from CY Alliance schools, thanks a new partnership agreement.

Read the article in French

On the occasion of the launch of the 2023 edition, Laurent Bibard, sponsor since 2015, answered our questions.

Lire la suite »

‘Wednesday Night Live’: Socratic Method, Entertainment, and Deep Life Questions at room PA102

By Roman PAVLYUCHENKO, 4th year PhD Student in Marketing at ESSEC.

Roman taught for the first time the course Principles of Marketing in the ESSEC Global BBA program.

How was your experience? Did you enjoy it?

Loved it!

How did you prepare?

I read the textbook, and I read the slides prepared by the course administrator. And then, reflected on how every aspect can be ‘spiced up’ from my own research experience.

Lire la suite »

Collecting feedback on the anti-plagiarism solution Compilatio

Presentation of the survey results on the anti-plagiarism solution Compilatio, and the way it is used

The Compilatio anti-plagiarism solution has been used at ESSEC for several years. In recent months, however, usage has diversified, particularly due to the integration of Compilatio into Moodle.
Following the implementation of these new features, the K-lab team in charge of plagiarism issues wanted to get some feedback on the matter. They launched a survey aimed at professors and lecturers. The answers were gathered in January and February 2022. 

Lire la suite »