The integration of AI-aided, instructor-driven mentoring into online marketing education offers a promising solution to the challenges of fostering engagement, perceived connectedness, learning, and career readiness in asynchronous learning environments. This study introduces Caring Mentoring Guidance (CMG)–a blended method of combining instructor expertise with AI-aided insights to provide personalized and scalable career coaching within course materials. Across two studies, students exposed to course content augmented with CMG, reported higher engagement, satisfaction, connection, performance, and career confidence compared to control groups. The effects persisted throughout the course. Findings highlight CMG as a scalable, low-cost strategy leveraging the integration of AI and human mentorship in marketing education.
Raška et al. (Tue,) studied this question.