Expanding Bloom's Two-Sigma Tutoring Theory Using Intelligent Agents

This article describes how management education is engaged in significant programmatic reforms in response to the business community's call for web-savvy, problem-solving graduates. Web-based intelligent tutors provide a readily accessible vehicle for enhancing business students' learning performance as well as prepare them for the rigors of the global marketplace. A primary goal of these AI-based systems is to approach Bloom's two-sigma learning performance standard. Bloom found that average students tutored one-to-one with mastery learning techniques performed two standard deviations better than students who learned via conventional teaching methods. Intelligent tutors can also be used to identify students at risk, to formulate appropriate intervention plans, and to support team learning. The purpose of this article is to highlight the growing potential for using intelligent tutors to enhance student and team learning opportunities and outcomes and to outline strategies for implementing this revolutionary process throughout the management education community of practice.