Enhancing Business Pitching Skills through Teaching Innovation: Leveraging Microsoft Team Speaker Coach

Abstract

In today’s fast-evolving agribusiness landscape, the ability to deliver a persuasive business pitch is no longer optional; it is essential. Agropreneurs must be able to communicate innovative solutions clearly and confidently, particularly when seeking funding or entering competitive markets. Yet, agricultural education often lacks sufficient tools for real-time feedback and iterative improvement. To address this pedagogical gap, this study employed a within-subjects pre-post experimental design to evaluate the effect of Microsoft Teams Speaker Coach, an AI-powered communication feedback tool, on students’ pitching performance. A total of 33 Diploma in Agropreneurship students from the Faculty of Plantation and Agrotechnology, UiTM Sabah Branch, participated in this study. Descriptive analysis showed a significant improvement in performance; the mean pitching score improved from 27.97 (pre-test) to 30.76 (post-test) with a statistically significant difference confirmed by a paired samples t-test (t = 6.11, p = < .001.), indicating that the integration of AI-powered feedback produced a meaningful enhancement in students’ ability to pitch agricultural business ideas effectively. Beyond offering empirical evidence for AI’s role in education, this study aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education) by embedding innovation, digital literacy, and learner-centered strategies into skill-based curriculum design.  Nonetheless, the study recognises a key limitation: research on AI coaching tools for pitching remains scarce, with limited scientific validation and evidence to confirm their sustained impact. This highlights the urgent need for future studies to expand the empirical base and rigorously test AI-assisted pedagogies to ensure that their adoption in education is both evidence-based and transformative.