Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/63913
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • The "No.1issue of the moment" is living up to the expectation of all-the-time-any-time access to course and university information. staff is trained in all things tech has almost become irrelevant. Higher education no longer can "opt out" of IT. As the demand for a computer-influenced education increases, business schools worldwide are striving to create the best wired, wireless, and online learning communities for their students. Adapting to 24/7 Learning There's much talk about "distance learning," where courses are delivered to nonresident students at any location. But business schools also are investing extensive resources in providing resi- dent students the same easy access to school and course infor- mation. Technology has transformed the way on-site students expect to learn about real-world business strategies. These new expectations create increased pressure for business schools to provide wholly interactive environments. Many schools have initiated student laptop programs at both graduate and undergraduate levels, in addition to dis- M 26 The Power of Partnership any a computer company has invoked the newly minted, already clichéd phrase, "Technology brings people together." But it's a cliché that speaks truth, especially where education is concerned. Just ten years ago, for example, most manage- ment educators had never: s Team-taught a course thousands of miles away, through video-conferencing, with a professor at another school. s Invited a corporate CEO to speak to a class—from his or her office on the other side of the country. now create long-term, mutually beneficial partnerships with a few commercial partners, making the stakes very high and get- ting those partners to truly believe in the educational mission. Companies like SUN, IBM and Hewlett-Packard understand the value of pure research," says Russ Altendorff of the London of the resources at their disposal, which most often were limited to their own faculty and funding. But with the help of new com- munication tools, schools are seeing their resources expand with the power of well-chosen partnerships—with corporations, with other schools on their campuses, and with each other. "It goes beyond negotiating for discounts with suppliers. We s Shared information and other resources, online and real-time, with partner schools overseas. A decade ago, business schools were fairly isolated in terms tance learning programs. Wireless access protocols (WAPs) and local area networks (LANs) enable students to interact with their professors and fellow students at any time of day, from any point on campus, through antennas plugged into their laptops. Plus, more universities are using online informa- tion portals to provide students, faculty, and staff access to course content, scheduling information, searchable databases, and much more. Around-the-clock learning comes only through a computer infrastructure that is extremely sound, says Russ Altendorff, information systems director for London Business School. The "No. 1 issue of the moment," he says, is living up to the expec- tation of all-the-time-any-time access to course and university information. Schools no longer have the luxury of thinking that "nighttime and summer are times when you can dismantle every- thing and install something new." For this reason, minimizing complexity, eliminating redun- Business School. "I know that many universities have deep rela- tionships with technology companies, but I think there's still a great deal of scope to bring together commercial endeavors with education." London Business School has taken partnerships one step farther to create what it hopes will be a different kind of online informational portal, one designed for a general business audience. Its new site, titled Bestofbiz.com, incorporates more intuitive search methods, such as the use of a built-in thesaurus to connect a single search to a variety of relevant information. This site, which will serve as a revenue-generating source for the school, came about through the school's existing resources, as well as alliances with several companies with an interest in education. "We didn't set out to have a grand project that would have heavy funding and a great pressure to perform and produce some return on investment," says Altendorff. "Instead, we had a vehicle for experimenting. We had a commercial driver, but without the burden of raising funding. We saw the need to cre- ate alliances that would give academic weight to the project." And when corporations have a stake in education, the high cost of technology can be decreased significantly. "In my MBA telecommunications course last fall, Verizon donated 80 wire- less cards for students in my class to use in their laptops," says Anne Massey, associate professor of IT at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business. "We used them for both demonstra- BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001