The Online MBA Comes Of Age

KelleyDirectFor now, however, these programs make most sense for managers and executives who don’t want to leave their jobs. The more common hurdle in an online business program is how to recreate the kind of dynamic class interaction that occur when a business school professor leads a case study discussion. UNC believes it has discovered a very good solution from its online partner, 2tor Inc., an educational startup backed by venture funding. 2tor has brought to Kenan-Flagler a way to do case studies from its partnership with the law school of Washington University, which now offers an online master’s degree in United States law for lawyers practicing overseas.

“They had to figure out how to teach the Socratic method with their law program, and it became evident to us that this would be a good way to do case study classes,” explains Shackelford. The school records a professor engaged in a rapid-fire exchange with two scripted students who have already taken the course. “At a certain point, the professor looks straight into the camera and asks the live students a question,” adds Shackelford. “Then, the student has to type in an answer. The decision might be, ‘Do you buy a company or not?’ Once you make your choice, and it could require further work, the discussion resumes. It may sound kind of corny but when you watch the video, you feel you are involved in an intellectual exchange. It is really slick and really effective. If you are a student using it, you are very engaged.”

A lot of the prep work required of teachers in an online MBA program is also finding its way into traditional MBA teaching. Many schools are using their recorded lectures, the so-called asynchronous course sessions, to “flip the classroom,” adopting a model in which professors do the basic lecture on video and use the classroom time for more interactive learning. “It has changed the culture of the school,” insists Shackelford. “I don’t believe we could think about doing education in this building without thinking about doing online now. Professors are using stuff in on-campus classes developed for the online program.”

If the once skeptical professor now sounds like an online evangelist, he is. What’s going on is a revolution in learning, says Shackelford. “There are some who are in denial that the world is changing in a big way. But  the train has left the station and I think it’s really exciting.”

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