Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/80527
Daniel Szpiro meets with members of JWMI's EMBA staff as they review academic policies. The Imperative to Innovate I believe in the directive "innovate or die"—I think organizations must keep moving, not only to suc- ceed, but merely to exist. One cata- lyst for innovation in education, and certainly for business educa- tion, has been the adoption of tech- nology for delivering courses. We've reached the halfway point of a dramatic prediction that Peter Drucker made in a March 1997 article in Forbes: "Thirty years from now, the big university cam- puses will be relics." While there is some question about whether his pronouncement will come true, the trend toward technology-facilitated education, which prompted his remark, has only gained momentum in the years since. In general, for-profit institutions have embraced technological innova- tions faster and on a larger scale than traditional universities. Today, for example, all of the EMBA students at JWMI study in a 100 percent online learning model; 60 percent of Strayer University students also study in that format. It's true that some traditional schools have experi- mented with digital delivery formats; for instance, Johnson at Cornell used boardroom-style videoconferencing in a hybrid EMBA program as far back as 2004. However, most top- ranked schools have been slow to dive deep into tech innovations. One reason is that different kinds of schools place different amounts of emphasis on accessibility. At JWMI, it's built into our DNA to provide education for working managers and professionals; therefore, accessibility is a core value. Accessibility is also at the heart of the mission for Strayer University, which was founded in 1892 to provide education to work- 28 September/October 2012 BizEd ing adults. Johnson at Cornell is a small school in a small town; thus, it turned to technology early on as a means to reach into major business centers across the hemisphere. It's taken longer for brick-and- mortar schools to adopt technologi- cally facilitated program delivery, perhaps because they're more com- fortable with their physical facilities. But more traditional business schools are entering the digital domain in a big way. MIT and Harvard recently announced a partnership called the edX initiative, a joint learning platform based on open-access tech- nology. It's anybody's guess where their collaboration will lead, but it certainly suggests what the future of education might look like. In the 15 years left before we can judge the accuracy of Drucker's pre- diction, we might consider updating his views about the future of educa- tion. Instead of pessimistically fore- casting the demise of big traditional campuses, maybe we could optimis- tically hail the advent of big virtual campuses. For-profit education pro- viders have led the way in this inno- vation, but traditional institutions are increasingly on the same path. The Need for Resources Ambitious organizations seek resources to fuel the activities that will help them achieve their goals. Therefore, whether they're pursu- ing profits or hoping to amass surpluses, they all would like to do more than simply cover their costs. Business schools are no exception. While a business school's most constrained resource is faculty time, capital runs a close second. Schools need capital to develop new degree programs, expand executive develop- ment, build technology infrastruc- ture, and create new campuses. Traditional universities acquire capital in many ways. Particu- larly among U.S. schools, a key source of revenue is donations from alumni and benefactors. Traditional Versus Online Education Why are traditional business schools facing such stiff competition from online and for-profit providers? Maybe because brick-and-mortar schools have been slow to create the kinds of anywhere-anytime learning environments that the alternative providers have been so adept at devis- ing. At least that's the tale told by data from the Knowledge Services division of AACSB International. In the past ten years, the number of online programs offered by AACSB member schools has gone up by more than 11 times—but since the earlier num- bers were miniscule, those gains aren't particularly impressive. In the 2001– 2002 school year, across all educational levels, 0.3 percent of business programs were offered online; in 2010–2011, that number stood at 3.3 percent.