Technology adds a new dimension to learning

The use and misuse of new technology is a common basis of case  studies at business schools around the globe. But how are the schools  themselves using technological innovations to educate the next  generation of corporate leaders?

With five campuses in Boston,  San Francisco, London, Dubai and Shanghai, Hult International Business  School faces a constant battle to sustain a worldwide MBA community. It  is aiming to tackle the challenge by creating its own TV network,  HultTV, which will allow students and alumni to watch professors and  students debate live or catch speakers presenting on new trends and  developments on a dedicated channel. Once up and running, the channel  will provide a centralised knowledge management system which will remain  open to graduates throughout their working lives.

Warwick  Business School has addressed a similar problem by introducing wbsLive, a  virtual learning environment which allows distance-learning MBAs to  interact with other students and academics as if they were in the same  classroom instead of on different continents. The system has been so  well received it is now also being used as the basis of an interactive  mentoring project involving alumni and current students. “Many of our  current mentors are based in the UK, whereas our mentees range from  Canada to India, France to Malaysia,” says Tracy Lynch of Warwick’s  alumni relations department. “WbsLive helps to sustain the personal  aspect of the mentor/mentee relationship.”

Other major schools  have used the communications revolution to make lectures, seminars and  case studies accessible through such platforms as the education-specific  area of iTunes, iTunes U, and YouTube. This summer, Apple announced it  had exceeded 300 million downloads in just over three years from iTunes  U, with more than 800 universities contributing to a range of audio and  video files. Eddy Cue, Apple’s vice president of internet services,  said: “iTunes U makes it easy for people to discover and learn with  content from many of the world’s top institutions.” Harvard, MIT and  Cambridge are among those taking part, with business schools such as  Saïd Business School, University of Oxford encouraging users to don  headphones to access lectures.

A pioneer in the field is HEC  Paris, which began experimenting with podcasting as early as 2005 and is  now an enthusiastic contributor to iTunes U. From April to June this  year, the school reported more than 300,000 downloads of its materials.  “Video podcasts are particularly useful in preparing students for a new  course,” says Valérie Gauthier, associate dean at HEC. “If a whole class  has viewed a recording of frequently asked questions before the session  starts, for example, the professor will not have to answer the same  questions over and over again and the quality of course interaction  increases.”

HEC has also been at the forefront of providing  technological tools to students to enable them to make the most of  online libraries and networking platforms. The school was one of the  first in Europe to build a relationship with Apple which allowed it to  equip its MBA students with an iPod touch.

As Gauthier explains:  “Millennials are accustomed to getting information when and where they  want it, and this enables them to do just that.”

As yet, the  take-up of the next generation of communication devices such as the  Kindle and the iPad has been patchy. IMD in Switzerland was one of the  first to supply programme participants with an iPad, allowing them to  carry around course content which previously occupied more than 1,000  pages of print. Hult is also equipping MBA students with Apple’s latest  gadget, preloaded with all course materials. It has also set up a team  of “virtual tutors” who offer optional online coaching sessions for  groups of up to 15 students at a time focusing on all aspects of the <a href=”http://www.hult.edu/mba-program/admissions/financial-aid” target=”_blank”>Scholarship MBA</a>.

However,  one of the most innovative uses of the iPad can be found in the Apps in  Business project on the newly relaunched MBA programme at Nyenrode  Business Universiteit in the Netherlands. Partnering with ICT company,  Sogeti, the school gives each student an iPad and encourages them to  develop their own apps which can then be road-tested in the classroom  and the workplace. “The project gives students the opportunity to work  with Sogeti to undertake practical research into the wider use of apps  in business strategy and education,” says Nyenrode’s Professor Désirée  van Gorp. “It will be invaluable experience, putting them way ahead of  their peers in an area of huge commercial potential.”

Sometimes,  however, technology doesn’t live up to its initial promise. When two US  schools, University of Virginia – Darden and the University of  Washington – Foster, ran a pilot programme equipping students with  Kindle e-readers last autumn, the initial response was enthusiastic. But  by the middle of the trial period, nearly a third of the Foster group  and more than 80 per cent of the Darden guinea pigs had dropped out with  many complaining the file management system made the storing and  searching of information too difficult.

The most successful use  of gadgets and new media seems to be based on a cautious approach which  may be the reason why there are still more schools assessing their use  than actually implementing them.

Above all, thought leaders in  the sector are highly conscious that new technology can never be a  substitute for good teaching and good communication. As Jennifer George,  dean of the Melbourne Business School in Australia, puts it: “The  teaching model devised by Plato in ancient Greece has been serving us  pretty well for over 2,000 years. And while we must always move with the  times, we should also remember the old adage that if something isn’t  broken you may not need to fix it.”

Hult International Business School provides business education to  students around the world. Hult offers Scholarship MBA, Financial Times  MBA and Undergraduate degrees at. London Grad School for students who  wants to make their career in <a href=”http://www.hult.edu/news/MBA/CompetitionforMBACandidates.html” target=”_blank”>Europe MBA</a>.

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