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Collaborating in the 'Cloud' "THE CLOUD" is becoming a catchall term for online networking spaces designed to support more seamless and continuous collaboration among workers. But interactions in work-based clouds are much different than those on casual social networks like Facebook. For that reason, more business schools are bringing "the cloud" into the curriculum. Recently, 400 students in "Management 1000," a special course at York University's Schulich School of Business in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, developed their leadership skills by learning to collaborate on coursework virtually in the cloud. They used IBM SmartCloud for Social Business, a cloud services platform that aims to provide the fluidity of social networking interactivity within a confidential business space. Students used IBM SmartCloud for online meetings, file sharing, workload sharing, deadline tracking, and overall project management as they cre- ated comprehensive business plans over the semester. "The students were already familiar with consumer social networking sites, but this project exposed them to how people communicate and collaborate in a real- world business setting," says Jean Adams, special assistant professor in policy specializations and acting associate director for the school's Institute for Research on Learning Technologies. Cisco, another player in the cloud services mar- ket, has been working on developing its own cloud platform. Known internally as "Futurama," the project works to integrate Cisco's collaboration products such as WebEx and Social Miner into a business-based social network that allows users to migrate seamlessly from one tool to another, accord- ing to IDG News Service. Cisco is expected to release products resulting from Futurama later this year. For information about IBM SmartCloud, visit www.ibm.com/smartcloud. New Ranking For Online MBAs SUPERSCHOLAR.ORG, an online education and career information resource, released a new ranking of the top 25 online MBA programs. The rankings include programs accredited by AACSB International, as well as regional accrediting bodies. SuperScholar's metric is based on quality, marketability, and afford- ability as determined by a school's market reputation, admissions selectivity, accreditation, and cost. Taking SuperScholar's top three spots were the Uni- versity of Florida's Hough Graduate School of Busi- ness, the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler School of Business, and Indiana University's Kelley School of Business. For the full ranking, visit www. superscholar.org/best-online-mba-programs. Clouds Gathering— Cloud computing will become a US$241 bil- lion business by 2020, up from $41 billion in 2010, according to Forrester Research Inc. BizEd May/June 2012 71