Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/58065
In the past, we viewed the Internet as a one-way channel that feeds users information. But that view is incredibly out of date. —Diana Oblinger, EDUCAUSE where users are creating and sharing information. The online environment has become a web of co-creation and informa- tion sharing. This development has empowered all users. As more schools develop online learning options, they must keep this cultural shift in mind. As students take con- trol over their own learning processes, educators are asking three important questions: How can we make the online learning environment an engaging environment, in which students are active participants in the learning process? How do we create learning activities that help them truly master the information? And how do we adapt the learning envi- ronment to suit students' different learning styles? To engage students more fully in the process, many edu- cators are following a pedagogical concept called "learning to be." This concept is an apprenticeship model of learning that teaches students how to be a manager or investment banker or accountant, not just learn the subject matter behind the disciplines. This concept is about more than delivering course content; it's about developing the habits of mind inherent in a professional field. To design activities that truly teach students "to be," many educators are using a blended model of online and face-to-face opportunities that offer students greater flex- ibility in when and how they master the material. Students may listen to an expert speaking about a subject online, and then take part in an online simulation that puts them in a situation similar to the one the expert describes. Then, they may do exercises that allow them to reflect on the material or work in small groups to share their observations. Such experiences not only expose students to new ideas, but also allow students to try out the concepts for themselves. Finally, to address different learning styles effectively, schools need to make sure that the technology they choose for each learning objective is appropriate for what they want to achieve. Too many people attempt to replicate a textbook's content on the computer screen, but this doesn't serve any purpose. Some material is best distributed on paper; other materials, such as video, audio, Web sites, online forums, and blogs, are best presented in the digital environment. Most of us, including business schools, have not yet grappled with the fact that we're seeing a significant cul- tural shift. We're moving from the 1990s vision of the Internet as a content delivery system to the present-day vision of the Internet as an immersive environment, where learners have a great deal of control and exercise a tremen- dous amount of choice. Business schools need to recognize students' growing empowerment. Schools with the most effective online pro- 28 BizEd JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2007 grams will emphasize faculty development, tech support, and integrated approaches that accommodate different skills and different ways of thinking. They'll set high expectations for student involvement in the process. They'll go beyond content delivery to offer experiences that help students "learn to be," not just watch and listen. Adopting a 'Work-Based Pedagogy' Lee Schlenker Affiliate Professor of Information Systems Management EM Lyon Lyon, France device to attract new students. The potential value proposi- tion of information technology today isn't found in its fea- tures and functions, but in how we can use IT to enhance management education itself. To a large extent, business educators' reliance on both P traditional lectures and classroom settings has distorted their view of management education. We too often focus on mod- els, rather than on reality. We teach to individuals, rather than to teams of people who work together. We offer best practices, rather than explore the behaviors that exceptional managers share. When it comes to technology, we ask our students to work in course management systems and virtual classrooms that have no resemblance or relevance to busi- ness beyond their courses. As a result, we're often better at teaching content than challenging our students to develop their own competencies. With this in mind, my colleagues Adam Mendelson of IESE, Toby Wolf of MIT, and I suggest a model of manage- ment education that we call "work-based pedagogy," which focuses on how people actually use technology in the work- place to achieve their objectives. The value of technology isn't in technology itself—it's in how managers use technology to deal with their business challenges. How do we use informa- tion technologies to capture client challenges, aggregate the costs and benefits of change, and communicate our proposi- tions to our sponsors, teams, and customers? Whether stu- erhaps the time has passed for business schools to view technology as a cost-cutting measure or as a marketing