DK HHX Svendborg & Haahrs: “AI-support of business development”
The teaching module was conducted over 3 weeks (October–November 2024) in collaboration with Haahrs Lower Secondary School and Svendborg Business High School (HHX).
11 students from grade 13 (3.g, HHX) participated in the module as an extraordinary activity linked to their educational program. These students collaborated with and mentored 50 grade 10 students from Haahrs.
Teaching Design
The learning objectives for this module were not subject-specific, but related to the basic educational goals. The students were prompted to become able to identify crucial principles of AI-software, become able to apply business-related Ai-tools, and to consider ethical issues when using this kind of AI-tools:
• Explain what the program is and its primary use cases
• Demonstrate how to navigate the interface and locate key features
• Learn how to create and customize AI tools for business development
• Understand how to prompt
• Discuss the ethical implications and best practices for using AI-generated content responsibly
Content
The Haahrs students attended a 10-hour introductory session at HHX Svendborg, covering topics such as artificial intelligence (AI), budgeting, entrepreneurship, presentation techniques, target group segmentation, and business plan development.
Following this, the Haahrs students spent 20 hours at their own school applying their newly acquired knowledge and skills. During a 2-hour session, student mentors from HHX Svendborg acted as “business consultants,” providing guidance and support. This mentoring was supplemented by email dialogues and feedback on the younger students’ learning products.
AI-tools were allowed in all phases. The students had to be inquisitive and choose the tools they preferred. However, critical awareness to data protection was a part of the module.
The teachers offered a range of freely available AI-tools.
A Padlet of the teaching module was used as a connective information platform for both educational levels.
Learning products
The students were asked to produce:
1) A written report – download example (10th grade, student Haahrs)
2) Mock-up or prototypes of business product
3) Stand design and decoration
4) Pitch and presentation of the business proposal
Pedagogical method: The 10th grade students worked in groups of 4-5 participants, each of the groups supported by a 12th grade student from the business college. Thus, the older students contributed both with their knowledge and skills, and functioned as role models for the younger students.
The students had a high degree of co-influence, in particular the 2 students, chosen for creating the information stand in Berlin. They participated in the planning of the teaching module and acted as co-teachers during their implementation. Together with the main instructor, they selected 3 software platforms and developed the course plan.
Evaluations
Evaluations were undertaken through a student survey, teacher-to-teacher dialogues, comments from company assessors, and an observation by an educational expert.
According to the assessors’ impressions, both the students’ learning outcomes and their motivation appeared to be exceptionally high.
Despite the necessity and positive impact of applying AI in teaching and learning processes, the teachers emphasized that AI is a highly energy-consuming technology. This should be carefully considered in the broader context of sustainability.
It worked well. It's important to establish a connection fairly early—seeing each other in person first and then communicating in writing. When they had to present the parts they found most difficult, I was able to help them. They got the support they needed. They actually used the advice I gave them. What they struggled with the most was the accounting aspects. Both of their ideas were better than anything I could have come up with myself. I would definitely say yes to doing it again. It was a great experience. It’s really cool to take on the teacher role—you learn a lot from it.
Joint plan and teaching materials
The teachers planned and conducted the teaching module in close collaboration, utilizing a freely accessible Padlet as a shared virtual infrastructure.
The Padlet offers teacher presentations, learning materials and resources, student tasks along with their quality criteria, and various other materials.
Learning products: Business ideas and plans
The learning products encompassed the fundamental elements of business development, including a trigger problem to be solved, an outline of the idea, and a product description.
They also covered distribution channels, target groups, personas, needs, and segmentation, as well as marketing and a SWOT analysis.
Financial aspects were included, such as pricing, expected sales, turnover, startup budget, loan requirements, and income budget.
Additionally, the products featured summaries in both English and German.
We helped guide them in the right direction. One group didn’t know what to do, and I learned how to get them started. There were some students in the group who needed a little extra support, and I made sure everyone was included. We would definitely do it again. It was also a great way to reinforce our own learning, especially in accounting and budgeting.
Digital Production
AI-technologies were selected from a list provided by the teachers. Apart from that, students used their daily devices and standard office software.
Methodologically, an experimental approach was adopted. There were no specific assignments, only goals for using the platforms. Students refined their work through multiple iterations based on their prompts and communicated their reflections in dialogue with the teachers. The teachers closely monitored the process, assessed the students’ progress and outputs, and provided guidance for further exploration.
Retrospective reflections
The approach to exploring and applying AI-apps was experimental rather than systematic and documentary-like. However, students were able to describe their work processes and the AI-apps they used to solve various problems.
Digital learning products
The students were asked to develop mock-ups or prototypes of the products based on their business ideas.
A student presents her group’s learning product, the app Klima Kompasset. The app tracks individual monthly climate emissions related to food and transportation. Additionally, it allows users to set personal goals and provides advice on how to achieve them.
Digital Literacy
The module naturally raised ethical considerations, many of which had societal perspectives. These included:
When applying AI to learning processes for business development, key topics included data storage, data protection, and data handling. Additionally, different AI systems operate based on varying principles, definitions, and biases—often differing from nationally agreed-upon standards.
Teachers emphasized the importance of ensuring the authenticity and individual relevance of students’ learning products.
Engaging with AI in an educational context encourages students to critically assess the ethical implications of technology. Using AI for creating avatars or commercials allows them to explore multiple approaches to achieving targeted outcomes. By working with AI tools, students learn to evaluate the benefits and limitations of different technologies, making them more informed decision-makers in their future careers.
At the same time, teachers highlighted the potential risks of over-reliance on AI tools, which may diminish students’ ability to perform tasks manually or develop foundational skills without technological assistance. Over time, critical competencies could erode if students consistently depend on AI solutions.
According to both teachers and company assessors, working with various AI tools enhanced students’ technological actionability, a crucial skill for developing responsible business models with ethical data handling practices.
I have concerns regarding AI, yes. But AI is the future, and it is important that our young people learn to master these technologies.
We have not sufficiently considered GDPR in this teaching module. We just had to gain a lot of experiences. In the next teaching module, we will focus on IT-security and ethical questions.
In Nov. 2024, the Danish Ministery of Education published recommendations for applying Generative Artificial Intelligence to teaching in upper secondary education: “Anbefalinger om brug af Kunstig Intelligens i undervisningen”
Environment
The module demonstrates how AI can create added value for commercial purposes by promoting and accelerating innovation processes while professionalizing outputs. This type of professionalization can take place early in young people’s entrepreneurship studies, facilitating their path to business development.
Entrepreneurs and other business representatives actively contributed by assessing students’ learning products from a commercial perspective.
Additionally, the local education chain was strengthened through student-to-student guidance and interaction.
Incorporating SDG #12 (Responsible Consumption and Production) was mandatory in the project. Evaluations show that almost all students were able to understand, relate to, and apply principles behind this sustainability goal.
We found a way to create an app that could help people use their food items in time.
Technology makes collaboration on sustainability easier. In our case, we see that AI supports sales processes and marketing.
Svendborg, HHX, 14th Nov. 24: Exhibition of students´ final results with students´ pitches of their business ideas to assessors from companies
In the education chain
These topics are at a first-year (1.g) level, so as long as you have a solid understanding, you can help others.
