Evolution and revolution: why business schools need both
Words by Jyotveer Singh Gill, associate director of education technology and web development at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.
In my experience, technology development in higher education is often pulled between two extremes: incremental improvement and bold transformation. For example, automating administrative workflows while exploring entirely new models of digital learning. For institutions to succeed in periods of technological acceleration, they must pursue both – deliberately and at the same time.
At the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School (Oxford Saïd), we have had the opportunity to shape our approach to technology innovation around a simple tension: evolution and revolution.
When it comes to constructing our technology research and development (R&D) portfolio, the central challenge is a common one for any organisation investing in the future: how do we balance short-term return with long-term impact? How do we deliver visible value now, while investing in capabilities that may not fully mature for several years?
I ask these questions every day as a technology leader at the business school, where I oversee digital education, web development, audio-visual services and the recently launched Saïd R&D and Innovation Unit, a new programme that looks to ensure our operational excellence today and to build the institutional capability to compete tomorrow.
The danger of imbalance
Too much focus on short-term efficiency creates stagnation. Too much focus on disruption creates instability.
To address this, we have organised our approach into three horizons of delivery. Each carries a different risk profile, reward timeline and institutional purpose.
1. Continuous improvement: evolutionary advantage
Our first horizon is continuous improvement, enhancing what already works. Most of our applied AI efforts sit here: automating admin tasks, structuring learning materials and using data to optimise student journeys in our virtual learning environment (VLE). These are low-risk, cost-effective initiatives delivered quickly with partners like Instructure, maker of the Canvas VLE.
Canvas acts as the secure backbone that lets us add intelligent features without disrupting academic workflows. As early adopters of Instructure’s roadmap, we also help shape future learning technologies.
Across the school, we’re streamlining workflows with AI agents that dramatically reduce manual effort. Processes like contract evaluation now take minutes instead of months and real-time market-monitoring tools surface insights that previously required hours of research. The impact is clear: faster decisions, reduced administrative burden and more capacity to pursue ambitious innovation.
2. Structured innovation: validating what is new to us
Our second horizon focuses on structured innovation, initiatives that are new to Oxford Saïd and require deliberate testing before wider adoption.
This includes working with Alex Connock, senior fellow at Oxford Saïd, to pilot AI avatar clones in education, co-creating generative AI study tools with partners such as Kortext within the Canvas environment, and piloting augmented reality experiences that create new ways for learners to interact with academic content.
The University of Oxford offers an extraordinary concentration of intellectual capability. But we are equally clear that meaningful innovation often emerges beyond institutional boundaries.
To accelerate innovation safely, we have established sandbox environments that bring together colleagues from across the institution alongside trusted partners such as Microsoft, OpenAI, Cloudforce and Instructure, enabling rapid experimentation without compromising governance or stability.
These initiatives carry uncertainty by design. Not every experiment will scale, and that is intentional. We apply structured validation frameworks to ensure we avoid novelty for novelty’s sake. Every exploratory project must demonstrate measurable learning benefit, operational feasibility and clear strategic value before progressing further.
3. Breakthrough: creating new markets and models
Our third and final horizon is where we work with partners to shape what comes next.
With Instructure and others, we are exploring new markets, new delivery models and fundamentally new approaches to teaching and learning. These alliances provide the scale, insight and technical depth required to turn early signals into institution-wide innovation.
Staying close to the market is essential. Whether through engagement with Instructure’s customer advisory board or participation in roundtable discussions with technology leaders globally, we actively test assumptions and validate emerging trends.
This matters because the future of business education will not be built in isolation. It will be shaped through collaboration between institutions and partners willing to experiment, learn and lead together, and that is precisely the journey we are on.
Explore how institutions are implementing AI responsibly and effectively in education in Instructure’s latest report, The Future of EdTech: Building Better AI in Education.
