
Business School, Disrupted - jcreedon
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/01/business/business-school-disrupted.html
======
fozzieBoston
Harvard Business School student here. I find this article fascinating,
specifically because it highlights the challenge of transferring the case
based method to the virtual world. Unlike regular lectures where you can sit
and absorb, the case based method requires you to actively participate and
defend your argument in front of 90 peers. You have to prepare, think on your
feet and be ready to challenge and build upon what others have said. Each one
brings his own experience to the table, and you find yourself learning a lot
more than in regular lectures.

For example, in an average HBS finance class you will get input from former PE
guys on how to actually valuate a company, the potential pitfalls and what is
important to remember. In a global economy class (BGIE) you can hear from
bankers who worked in Europe on how they faced the global economic crisis.

This creates high barriers to replicate the HBS model online. I'm not sure
what the UX will be for replicating this discussion setting, and invoking
individuals to share from their experience. How do you validate the quality of
the comments? how do you highlight the takeaways in a situation where there is
no one right answer? These are all though issues to solve, and I'm glad HBS is
actively tackling it. I'm looking forward to seeing if they succeed.

~~~
damoncali
I'll go ahead and say what you tiptoed around. You cannot recreate the
experience of a top-tier MBA program online. You cannot drink online. You
cannot travel the world online. You cannot play rugby online. There are
hundreds of things that make B school what it is that you just cannot do
online.

~~~
nether
Funny post validating that ⅔ * HBS = BS.

------
kriro
I think the most important point of the article is that an unbundling of
professors from universities might happen.

Some online education platform could very well buy out some great professors
or better yet...identify the newcomers and get them on board.

Research and teaching is still somewhat tightly coupled so I'm curious to see
when/if some of the online course providers will opt to sponsor or create
their own open access type journals.

For business and IT, I think the market for continued learning is currently
more attractive than the typical university market. I'd like to rent a Porter
for my company to update them on interesting topics 3x a year.

~~~
fnazeeri
Sort of like Netflix getting into original content a la Kevin Spacey and House
of Cards. Brilliant.

------
HBSisBS
The ultimate mission of a great university is to impart high quality education
to as many students as it can. If the reason HBS is not offering online
courses is to keep profits up, then there is some serious rethinking the
leadership needs to do - they've got the mission mixed up. If the new model
means reduced profits initially, figure out a model to still make money,
because as long as you're creating real value, there is always a way to
monetize it.

Even if the case based methodology cannot be brought online, just recording
the lectures and putting it up will benefit millions online. This won't really
take away from the "value" of a HBS stamp because it is not certified and
because you don't have access to the network and the classroom experience that
students who attend the traditional program have.

This way you are accomplishing your mission of making the best education
accessible to anyone in the world, which is what defines a truly great
university. In my book, Stanford and MIT are the real rockstars because of the
approach they've taken in this area.

------
jimbokun
Interesting this debate is trying to answer some of the questions posed in
this article, also on the front page right now:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7826976](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7826976)

If the value of universities for most people is vocational training, that will
be far more efficiently accomplished through online courses.

