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BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
The degree of social learning Martin Boehm, Dean, IE Business School
respond to questions from the faculty at their leisure, or interact with students who have already responded to the question. ‘I think here lies the differentiation
‘Covid-19 has changed so many different aspects of our lives – professionally and personally as well as how we deal with students and faculty, and how we manage our Business Schools. ‘There has been fundamental change on the
between premium products and less premium products. The degree of interaction and the degree of social learning which is taking place.’
Retaining student quality when expanding into the digital sphere Lin Zhou, Dean, Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School
educational side, and I think that changes are here to stay. Some Schools have had to significantly limit their face-to-face interaction. This might go back to normal levels again, but I think that the mix [of formats implemented widely during the pandemic] is here to stay. [At IE Business School] we have created a strategy around this, which is called ‘liquid learning’, in which we try to provide as much flexibility as possible and many more options of personalisation, with an infrastructure of hybrid classrooms. ‘At the same time, we allow the faculty to make decisions about the most appropriate setting in which to deliver a class. We have learned over the past few years – and certainly over the past
‘The digitalisation of education, particularly the digitalisation of business education, is everywhere. Whether you are in India, the UK, Hong Kong, China – there are positive trends that are taking place. Even after Covid-19 subsides, many of these things will continue and that’s positive. ‘The virus situation in Hong Kong has improved tremendously but there are still students who are less willing to come and are more risk averse. Also, there are students in mainland China or in other parts of the world who cannot come physically.
few months – that some pedagogical approaches are simply better, or more efficiently, delivered through online platforms, than in the physical classroom. For us, the decision has been taken, this is here to stay, and it is becoming the new normal.
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Therefore, all classes will now be conducted in a mixed mode, so the students have the option, either to come to the classroom face to face, or stay where they are and take part online. ‘This synchronised, but digitally
‘We have learned that some pedagogical approaches are simply better, or more efficiently, delivered through online platforms’
‘To complicate things, I think the relevant dimensions [of teaching] are not just synchronous and
synchronised, learning is going to last for quite a while. This is something we must handle. 'Another dimension in the synchronised and asynchronised model, in addition to its educational delivery, is in the selection of students.
asynchronous. For me, it is about the degree of “social learning”. If I am in the physical space and I, as the faculty member, just stand up and deliver a PowerPoint speech, that is not very social, there is very little interaction. It is just one-way communication. That could be done in the typical asynchronous way, online as well. ‘In the physical classroom, I could also deliver case study discussions, which are much more social and we can sometimes refer to them as “social learning”. There is not only vertical learning taking place between the faculty and the student but also, learning among the students, through their interaction. ‘I think this could happen in a synchronous fashion online as well, using platforms like Zoom or Microsoft Teams. However, what we do at IE quite well, is doing this in an asynchronous fashion but [making it] equally social and interactive. We use discussion boards to discuss case studies that are managed by faculty over a timeframe of four days, where students connect and try to
Many Schools are trying to use the digital space to expand their market and go global. They will try to recruit as many students as possible from other parts of the world, who were previously impossible to reach. If you do that and expand through the digital world, you may lose the selection aspect. ‘As was said by Nobel laureate, Michael Spence,
there are two values of education, one is the learning and the other is signalling value. If your programme becomes less selective then the value of signalling becomes less. Even when online learning is introduced, you still want to keep the standard of student, then the value will still be there. ‘Most Schools want to use digital learning as a tool to add more value and enrich the learning experience of their students, instead of trying to expand their market too aggressively. That would dilute the value of the degree, not just the learning delivery part but also the signalling part. I think that is something most Schools have to
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