Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/63913
Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you. Satchel Paige inherent to business schools as they are to baseball. What's important in both envi- ronments is to honor the fundamentals and embrace change when it's necessary. In today's supercharged world, the pen- dulum sometimes seems to swing with the same regularity as the baseball bat. Consistency and comebacks are as 6. E-learning Electronic delivery and wireless technology will transform the management education process. Demand from emerging econ - omies and busy employees and traveling executives everywhere will ignite the marketplace. Increasingly, students will come together in electronic communities, although their colleagues are as likely to be halfway around the world as in the next room. The 24/7 format will become the norm. Technology not only has revolutionized man- agement education, it has also made business school far more accessible to far more people. Still, e-learning will be only one management education tool leaders, is committed to helping members capitalize on technol- ogy. Our e-commerce conferences have informed and educated members in many aspects of e-learning, for example. We are also introducing a special technology boot camp that will provide hands-on, intensive training designed to enhance the skills of fac- ulty in this area. Technology has had as great an impact on fantasy baseball as it among many. Striking the right balance between varied, innova- tive learning strategies will be an important goal. The benefits of face-to-face contact among learners and instructors will not be easily dismissed, and the possibility of learning from someone with enormous passion and knowledge of a subject will not lose its cachet or appeal. Business schools will find ways to harness technology, but their real goal will be to optimize learning and the educational experience. Our AACSB International Board, along with staff and other has had on education. Fantasy baseball probably would never have taken off as it did without technology. Easy access to computers reduced the drudgery for statisticians, who then were able to dissem- inate worlds of vital data to fans. According to ESPN.com baseball columnist Rob Neyer, the Internet "has brought a whole new wave of fans into the game, fans who didn't have the time to sit down and add up their own numbers and now only have to push a button." world, management education is caught up in a tumult of change and excitement. A century ago, the American writer Mark Twain wrote, "Baseball is the very symbol, the outward and visible expression of the drive and push and rush and struggle of the raging, tearing, booming nineteenth century." He might almost have been describing the 2001 business school environment. The benefits business schools offer have never been more val- Stepping Up to the Plate Like many other venerable institutions around the ued, and the fervor for knowledge and skills has indirectly led to keen competition and unparalleled opportunities for growth. It has also spurred management educators to reaffirm an unequiv- ocal commitment to excellence and continuous improvement. Our prospects are ripe with possibility. Fantasy baseball seems to be caught up in a similar whirl. The game has burgeoned into an explosive industry, fueled by the ease and accessibility of the Internet. The oldest and most elab- orate fantasy site belongs to ESPN.com, with about 100,000 teams. To me, it's an intriguing hobby, one that invites me to apply the principles and practices of business that are a part of our AACSB International environment. I'm not sure whether or not baseball truly explains the meaning of life, as some aficionados have claimed, or if life imitates the World Series; but I'll let you know if I finish in first place. s z John J. Fernandes is the President and Chief Executive Officer of AACSB International—The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Busi - ness. Fernandes has more than 25 years' internal auditing and manage- ment experience, and serves on the Board of Governors of the business honor society, Beta Gamma Sigma. BizEd NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2001 53 Mark McGwire Sammy Sosa