Deliberation & Discussion

The best learning
happens in the
argument.

Kova's deliberation boards put students in real debates — with each other, or against an AI agent that pushes back on their specific argument and refuses to let weak reasoning slide. Run them live in class as a shared debate tuned to where the room actually stands, or assign them out of class. Either way, every student has to think and defend — not just listen.

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FIN 301 · Deliberation board
Week 6 · Capital structure
"Should NovaPay raise its Series B through equity dilution or convertible debt?"
Maya R.
Equity makes more sense here — at $8M ARR they're not yet profitable and debt would add a repayment burden that constrains the runway they need to hit product-market fit.
⚖️ AI Advocate
That reasoning assumes debt is always a burden — but convertible notes defer repayment until a trigger event. At NovaPay's growth rate, that could be 18 months away. What's your model for how dilution affects founder incentives over that same horizon?
James K.
Disagree with Maya — convertible debt lets you set a valuation floor now. If you raise equity at $8M ARR you might be underpricing the round entirely.
3 of 18 students responded
Due before class
See it live

Two minutes of
live deliberation.

Two modes

Peer debate or
AI sparring partner.

Use whichever fits the moment. Both can be assigned before class, run during it, or used as standalone assessments.

01
🧑‍🤝‍🧑
Peer
deliberation
Students post positions, respond to each other, and build arguments across an asynchronous thread — all before class. You arrive with a live record of how the class is thinking, not a blank slate.
  • Students must take a position before seeing others' responses
  • Threaded replies keep arguments connected and traceable
  • AI evaluates the quality of reasoning, not just participation
  • Professor sees who changed their mind and why
  • Thread becomes the foundation for in-class discussion
02
⚖️
AI
deliberation
A student takes a position. An AI agent takes the opposite side and argues it — not as a hint-giver, but as a genuine intellectual opponent that won't back down until the student's reasoning actually holds up.
  • AI always argues the opposing position, regardless of correctness
  • Socratic method at scale — every student gets challenged individually
  • AI uses course-specific context, not generic arguments
  • Session transcript shows the full exchange for grading
  • Students can't just agree with the AI — it switches sides
How it works

From prompt
to discussion
in minutes.

You set the question. Kova runs the deliberation, evaluates the reasoning, and hands you a class-ready summary.

01
You post the prompt
Write a deliberation question or pick from Kova's AI-generated suggestions based on your course material. Set a due date and choose peer deliberation, AI deliberation, or both.
02
Students take a position
Students commit to a position before seeing anyone else's response. No free-riding on existing arguments. Every student has to think first.
03
The debate unfolds
In peer mode, students respond to each other. In AI mode, the agent challenges each student's position individually — pushing on weak points, introducing counterexamples, and refusing easy agreement.
04
You get the summary
Kova surfaces the strongest arguments on each side, flags who changed their mind and what convinced them, and gives you a reasoning quality score per student — ready before you walk in.
Use cases

Works across
every discipline.

Deliberation isn't just for ethics class. Any topic with two defensible sides is a deliberation prompt.

📈
Finance
Capital structure trade-offs
Students argue equity vs. debt financing for a real company scenario — forced to defend assumptions about dilution, runway, and investor incentives.
"Should NovaPay raise its Series B through equity or convertible debt given its current burn rate and growth trajectory?"
🗺️
Strategy
Market entry decisions
Two sides of a market entry decision — first mover vs. fast follower, organic vs. acquisition, domestic vs. international. Students defend their position against classmates or AI.
"Should Apex enter the Southeast Asian market now, or consolidate its North American position first?"
📣
Marketing
Brand positioning debates
Should the brand go premium or mass-market? Lean into a niche or broaden? Students argue positioning trade-offs grounded in the course company's real data.
"Should Meridian reposition as a premium brand at the cost of volume, or defend market share with a lower price point?"
🧑‍🤝‍🧑
Human Resources
People & policy decisions
Layoffs vs. hiring freezes, remote vs. in-office, performance management approaches — students deliberate the human and organizational trade-offs.
"Given NovaPay's cash constraints, should the CEO implement a 15% headcount reduction or a company-wide salary freeze?"
⚙️
Operations
Build vs. buy vs. partner
Students argue the operational logic behind sourcing decisions — when to own a capability, when to outsource it, and what it costs to get it wrong.
"Should Apex build its own logistics infrastructure or partner with a 3PL to scale faster at the cost of margin?"
🎓
Ethics & leadership
Values under pressure
When the ethical choice costs the company, what does a leader do? Students argue competing values — stakeholder vs. shareholder, short-term vs. long-term, transparency vs. stability.
"Should the CEO disclose the data breach publicly before the investigation is complete, or wait for the full picture?"
AI deliberation

An opponent that
never backs down.

The AI agent isn't trying to be right. It's trying to make you defend your position more rigorously. It takes the opposite side, constructs the strongest version of the counter-argument, and keeps pushing until your reasoning actually holds.

⚖️
Always argues the other side
If you argue equity, it argues debt. If you switch, it switches with you. The goal is to stress-test your logic, not reach a consensus.
🎯
Course-specific, not generic
The AI knows the company, the financials, and the scenario. Its counter-arguments aren't textbook abstractions — they're grounded in the same data the student is working with.
📝
Full transcript for grading
Every exchange is logged. Professors see the full session, an AI reasoning score, and a summary of where each student's argument held up — and where it didn't.
See it in action
AI deliberation · Series B financing
You
I'd argue NovaPay should raise equity. At their current burn rate they can't afford the repayment pressure of debt, even convertible notes.
⚖️ AI Advocate — opposing position
Convertible notes don't require repayment — they convert to equity at the next financing event. So your burn rate argument doesn't hold for this instrument. The real question is: why give up equity now at what may be your lowest valuation? At $8M ARR and 3x growth, you're arguably underpricing this round.
You
Fair point. But a convertible note still creates an obligation — if they don't raise again, it converts at a discount that punishes the founders more than equity would.
⚖️ AI Advocate
Only if the company fails to raise again. You're now arguing about downside scenarios — but that's a different question from optimal financing given current trajectory. Are you changing your position to "equity is better because NovaPay might fail," or do you have a stronger structural argument?
You — revised position
You're right. The stronger argument for equity is signaling value — strategic investors bring network and credibility that debt can't. That's more valuable at this stage than preserving the valuation.
Session in progress
Reasoning score: 78 → 91
What's included

Everything the
board needs.

Not a discussion forum. A structured deliberation environment built to surface real thinking.

🔒
Blind-first posting
Students submit their position before seeing anyone else's response. Eliminates anchor bias and free-riding. Every student has to think independently first.
🤖
AI as intellectual opponent
The AI agent takes the opposing side and maintains it regardless of what the student argues. Purpose-built to stress-test reasoning, not agree with it.
📊
Reasoning quality scores
AI evaluates each response for argument strength, logical consistency, and use of evidence — not length or keywords. Scores update as the discussion develops.
🔄
Position change tracking
Kova tracks when students change their position mid-discussion and what argument convinced them. Often the most valuable data point in the room.
📋
Full session transcripts
Every peer exchange and every AI deliberation session is logged and organized. Professors can review any thread, see the arc of a student's reasoning, and adjust scores.
⚡
AI-generated prompts
Kova generates deliberation questions from your course material. Upload a reading, a case, or a simulation stage and get five debate-ready prompts in seconds.
Professor view

Walk in knowing
how the class thinks.

Before you step into the room, you have a complete picture of where the class landed, who made the strongest arguments, and what split them.

✓
Class split summary — how many students argued each side and why the split happened
✓
Best argument surfaced per side — the strongest reasoning that emerged, quoted and ready to use in class
✓
Position changes tracked — who changed their mind and what argument moved them
✓
Reasoning quality score per student — auto-scored, adjustable, posts to gradebook
✓
AI class insight — the single most important thing to address in today's class based on the discussion
Professor view · Discussion board
18
Responses
11 / 7
Equity / Debt split
4
Changed position
Student reasoning scores
92
Maya R.
"The signaling value of strategic equity investors outweighs the valuation dilution at this stage — especially for a company that needs distribution partnerships to grow..."
87
James K.
"Convertible note sets a floor on valuation and delays equity decisions until NovaPay has more leverage in the negotiation..."
64
Alex T.
"Equity is better because it doesn't require repayment..." ⚠ doesn't address convertible mechanics
AI class insight: 6 students conflated convertible notes with traditional debt — address the conversion mechanics before moving to the in-class debate.
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The best classes start
with a real argument.

See a deliberation board built around your course material — before the demo. No commitment.

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