Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/62215
Technology Online MBA Launches at ASU This January, W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University in Tempe will welcome the first cohort of stu- dents to its new, Web-based, 48- credit-hour degree program. By adding a distance education option to its offerings, the Carey School expects to draw students not only from the Tempe metropolitan area, but also from national and interna- tional markets. The AACSB-accredited program will begin with an on-campus, five- day orientation, which will introduce students to the technology they will use to access course content and integrate team-building exercises to create a community among their fel- low students and faculty. Then, stu- dents will return home to pursue required coursework at home, at work, or on the road. "This approach maximizes meetings, while they continue to foster a sense of community online. "A valuable lesson we have convenience, yet develops in stu- dents the ability to complete assign- ments on time," says M. Johnny Rungtusanatham, the program's fac- ulty director, who adds that the pro- gram will enforce "time fences"— deadlines to ensure that students move ahead at the same pace as their classmates. "For students, it will be as if they were working on a project deadline, analogous to scenarios they will face in the corporate world." Besides the use of time fences, the program incorporates several mech - anisms to minimize isolation, says Rungtusanatham. Students in the online program will develop relation- ships during the initial face-to-face New Course Aims to Thwart Hackers Any student who plans on protecting businesses from computer hackers would do well to sign up for a new course at Aurora University in Aurora, Illinois. "Principles of Information Security," taught by computer science professor John Gudenas, is designed to meet business's rising demand for students with the skills to defend against computer hackers and other information security risks. The course will teach students the basics of protecting information assets, setting protection levels, responding to security breaches, and designing information security systems with intrusion-detection and reporting features. A basic introduction to cryptog- raphy—the system of encrypting computer messages, information, and passwords— is also included. As business computer systems have become more sophisticated, so have computer hackers, says Gudenas. "In our current information age," he says, "this course is useful for the computer-literate business stu- dent, or other student who desires to understand current problems of securing corporate or laboratory information." 52 BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2003 learned is that students drop out if they have no intellectual or emo- tional support from peers. That issue is especially pressing in an online program," says Rungtusanatham. "Our students will realize that they are not alone 'out there.' They'll know that others are going through the same experience." edgelab Gives Students Experience in Real-Time In 2000, GE Capital created edgelab, a pro- prietary facility for the company, in partnership with the University of Connecticut's School of Business Administration on its Stamford campus. The facility is home to the Connecticut Information Tech nol ogy Institute, a development center that works closely with the Stamford busi- ness community. In addition, edgelab offers students the opportunity to work directly with GE associates to create tech-related business solutions, in addition to providing them with much-needed technology training. Although the facility does include an e-classroom where stu- dents acquire technology training, the facility is not so much a class- room as it is a true idea lab, says Chris Kalish, edgelab's director and chief technology officer. Students working in the 12,000-square-foot edgelab facility have access to 80 workstations, 12 computer servers, and 12 PDAs, as well as UConn's wireless network and GE's internal network. Since edgelab's launch, the experience the students have been able to receive has been as real as it gets, he says. "GE provides the projects, which