The Wired MBA

A Rich Experience

Thomas Hanson, executive director of university marketing at Concordia University in St. Paul, believes that there are problems with traditional classroom discussions where the fastest and loudest talkers get all the attention. Concordia University’s MBA programs are cohort-based with groups of about 10 to 20 people taking every class together, on line and face-to-face. “In the online environment, if you’re a more thoughtful student, you can think about it, write it down, go back to the text, look up legal cases, and post a link to a case,” Hanson says. The results are richer discussions with deeper and more complete thoughts.

Catherine Truchinski works at Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wisconsin, as a senior financial analyst. She is enrolled in the health care MBA program at St. Thomas and uses online classes to avoid the commute. “I like being able to split the learning into smaller bites,” she says. “I think spreading the learning experience over the entire week rather than a once a week class helps me absorb the information better.”

Truchinski can also avoid noisy classrooms, which is a big advantage for her. “I am hard of hearing. I don’t wear a hearing aid yet, and it does not interfere with my learning on line, but would in a classroom,” she says.

While the online components are meant to enhance the learning experience, they are not meant to make it easy. “A common misperception about online learning is that it is somehow easier than attending a brick-and-mortar institution,” Krysiak says. “Students tend to underestimate the time commitment and academic rigor involved in online learning.”

Brennan agrees: “We want serious students. This is a rigorous program that requires time and energy to be able to complete.”

The Virtual Blackboard

There are several programs that schools use to manage online learning. One is a software called Blackboard. In the program, each student can have his or her own space called a portfolio where he or she can keep track of academic records, goals, and projects.

In the learning module, or online classroom, students view the course’s table of contents (or syllabus, for us old-timers). The professor releases lessons, discussion topics, and quizzes in the proper order, and provides spaces to collaborate on projects and sign-up sheets for group projects. Students check to see if other classmates are on line, post questions on concepts talked about in class, and turn in assignments.