BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
ROUNDTABLE REVIEW
engagement but also in achievement during this period. We now continue to do that, learn from it and make adjustments.” Thabang Mokoaleli-Mokoteli, MBA director, Wits Business School: “From my perspective, for students to be comfortable online, you need to reassure them constantly. “Keeping them engaged is also an issue. What has been working for me is to have students work in teams; give them 30 minutes to present and analyse a case study together. This has helped immensely in terms of getting them engaged over time. ROUNDTABLE ATTENDEES CHAIR Leonora Clement Head of marketing and communications, AMBA & BGA PANELLISTS Chinedum Ewuzie MBA director, Lagos Business School Thabang Mokoaleli -Mokoteli MBA director, Wits Business School Elena Beleska-Spasova Pro-dean for education and innovation, Henley Business School Javier Yanez-Arenas MBA director, Adam Smith Business School Debbie Kemp MBA director, Kent Business School Yasmina Kashouh Head of academics and innovation, College de Paris International Marika Taishoff MBA programme director, International University of Monaco Daniel Hill Regional vice-president for EMEA, Canvas
“We also had problems with infrastructure; for example, with sound systems in the classrooms. Here in Nigeria, we have issues with connectivity, we have students in locations where the connection is not good. “Another issue is the skillset of the faculty. It takes different skills to teach online and also to navigate the learning platform. It took a bit of time to get started. Finally, for many students, networking was a key factor for joining the programme, so we have tried to create some online networking opportunities.” Yasmina Kashouh, head of academics and innovation, College de Paris International: “It was challenging to shift face- to-face learning to online learning. It was even harder to help students and instructors to adapt to an online curriculum. We also found it challenging to help students accept the idea of opening up to other students over screens and share their concerns. “Change is always difficult and, especially with the pandemic, it was even harder. We tried as much as we could to manage and control online learning and to give students the best experience they could have.” Part two: Increasing engagement Having spoken about the challenges associated with moving online, the participants went on to consider some of the ways they had overcome these issues, mainly through the gathering of insights on engagement. Elena Beleska-Spasova, pro-dean for education and innovation, Henley Business School: “We have utilised the data in terms of gathering insights on engagement, but more importantly, on whether the level of engagement had any implications on attainment, progression and student achievement. We got some really good analytics out of the data from that time – it was clear that tracking logins alone was not enough. “We looked at how they engage through the login, how many pages/topics they’ve actually been through, what areas on Canvas they looked at and for how long. We also considered whether they contributed to other things such as discussion forums, group work, and so on. “There’s a long list of metrics we looked at which directly correlated between the level of engagement and the success of the student. What was really important to us was that we were able to look into the equity, diversity and inclusion aspects of our student population. “It was striking to see metrics from students in terms of diversity, minorities, gender, experience and age. There were differences in
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“There is a misconception in our industry that online learning is cheaper. I don’t think that is the right way to think about it”
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