ROUNDTABLE REVIEW
PARTICIPANTS CHAIR Colette Doyle Head of editorial, AMBA & BGA PANELLISTS Kevin Johnson MBA director, HEC Montréal Turki Al Masaeid Director of the Academic Support Centre, Abu Dhabi School of Management (ADSM) Detlev Kran Senior manager education management/quality management, KMU Akademie & Management AG Harihara Natarajan Vice-dean, Miami Herbert Business School Donald Lancaster MBA director, Exeter Business School
“I think there are certain aspects of pedagogy that are beneficial when held in person, whether that be seminars, debates, networking or cohort-building events; they need to be in person. But some other aspects of programmes can benefit from being taught online.” “What we thought of as hybrid pre-pandemic was a mix of in-person and classes designed to feature online components. “One programme in our portfolio, which is the Global Executive MBA, has a design where for seven weeks students take online content, both synchronous and asynchronous, and then in the eighth week they come to campus for three days for in-person learning. “So, essentially the way each module is designed, the more lecture-oriented Harihara Natarajan, vice-dean, Miami Herbert Business School
working for an institution that offers its programme 100 per cent online. That’s something that our customers are looking for. The majority of our students are about 35 years old, they are working in middle management roles and they don’t want to go to a brick university. “For them, it is important to have flexibility in terms of when they start their modules. From the data, the responses we have had from external examiners and from accreditation bodies, the programme works really well in this 100 per cent online format.” Donald Lancaster, MBA director, Exeter Business School “We’ve got to be very careful with language because ‘hybrid’ is an ambiguous word. I’ve heard hybrid used where we’re trying to combine some people being in person with others online – that is a disaster in my experience. “It is very difficult for the professor to control both the online and the in‑person environment. It’s also hard for the students to integrate across that divide. “Hybrid can mean ‘mixed methods’ – so on some programmes, some parts of it could be taught entirely online, with other parts in class. I think smarter schools are trying to retain the good things that came out of the pandemic and going online, but also trying to return to some of the things that were working well beforehand. “In my view, there is a problem with trying to run large classes online, or at least with mixed methods, because very often this reduces attendance when you try to go back in class. Students ask why they can’t watch it online, so that’s a bit of a problem.
material, frameworks, definitions and so on are delivered online. All the case discussions, simulations and live negotiations happen during the three days the students are on campus in week number eight. “Curating content in this
manner has helped us to achieve the best of both worlds. We’ve had the benefit of being able to fine tune this over a long period of time (since 2014). We think we’re at a point where we’re quite comfortable with how it’s being delivered. “In contrast, when changes in delivery modality are a reaction to the pandemic, it may not achieve the same level of excellence, especially in its early iterations.”
Ambition | DECEMBER 2022/JANUARY 2023 | 23
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