In a nutshell
To help students grasp entrepreneurial mindsets in a more engaging, memorable way, AI-generated comics were used in a large undergrad course – with mixed but enlightening results.
Instructors have long known that getting students to read course materials is a tough sell. In large, introductory entrepreneurship classes, this problem is only magnified since many students are taking the course as a requirement and not out of interest. To tackle this, researchers Gedeon and Huber tested a more visual, hands-on alternative: replacing dense readings with AI-generated comic narratives.
They wanted to help students genuinely understand and retain key entrepreneurial mindsets – like curiosity, resilience, and self-leadership – by turning abstract ideas into something more concrete and relatable. By embedding these concepts into character-driven stories with dialogue, visuals, and emotional hooks, they hoped to make learning feel less like passive absorption and more like an active experience.
Using tools like ChatGPT for writing and Midjourney for image generation, they created short comic book chapters and wove them into an online learning platform used by over 2,000 students each year. The comics were included as part of a weekly online module, alongside interactive tasks and visual elements that reflected key course themes. Each chapter followed a fictional student navigating the ups and downs of building a venture, giving students a narrative thread to connect with as they progressed through the course.
Of course, working with generative AI came with its challenges. The image creation process was messy and time-consuming, often requiring dozens of iterations to get usable results. Characters changed appearance between panels, and scripts generated by ChatGPT had to be heavily edited or rewritten to make sense. Its narrative stories were “weak and simplistic” and it couldn’t quite pull the entrepreneurial ideas into a working story, leading the researchers to end up having to write most of the story themselves. But despite these limitations, with a lot of human intervention the result was a working, story-driven teaching tool that could be adapted and reused.
Publication Date: July 2025
Authors: Steven A. Gedeon (Toronto Metropolitan University) & Florian Huber (Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt)
Institutions: Ted Rogers School of Management; THI Business School
Study Type: Learning innovation report using design science research (DSR)
Sample Size: Over 2,000 first-year students enrolled annually in the course
Research Focus: Using AI-generated comic narratives to increase engagement and retention in entrepreneurship education
Research Methodology: Development and classroom integration of interactive, AI-enabled graphic novels embedded in an online learning platform
Main Findings: AI tools can help educators create engaging visuals and narratives, but without links to assessment, student engagement may remain low. Still, the approach offers a practical and replicable way to bring abstract concepts to life.
Citation: S. A., & Huber, F. (2025). Using AI-Enabled Images and Comic Narrative to Enhance Entrepreneurship Education. Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy. Link
The students, while not wildly enthusiastic, responded with interest – especially to the novelty and effort behind it. Based on informal classroom conversations and observations, some described them as a welcome change of pace, while others barely noticed them with so much else going on in the course. They didn’t seem to mind the visual quirks like characters changing clothes or hairstyles, and a few even said the effort made the course feel more current and creative, seeing the use of AI tools as a sign that their instructors were experimenting and keeping up with new tech. While it wasn’t enough to shift learning outcomes on its own, the innovation seems to have made a small impression – if not in test scores, then in classroom atmosphere.
Another key takeaway was that unless these kinds of materials are clearly linked to assessments or grades, many students will skip them. As it stood, the comics blended into the background of an already content-heavy course, making a lot of the students see them as just optional extras. But the authors believe that with deeper integration, perhaps building a full series, linking it to weekly quizzes, or assigning marks, this approach could have a stronger impact.
While the study isn’t a rigorous evaluation, it offers a detailed and practical look at what it’s actually like to use AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney in course design. On the plus side, they made it possible to create visual, story-driven content without needing a big budget or design team. On the downside, the process was clunky, required a lot of manual editing, and didn’t automatically lead to better student engagement. The big lesson might be that if new materials aren’t tied to marks or assessments, many students won’t pay attention – no matter how creative they are. That said, the paper includes practical steps, examples, and open-access resources, which makes it a useful reference for anyone thinking of trying something similar.
