Over the past couple of years, the demand for online education as a viable alternative for traditional full-time courses has risen quite dramatically. Institutions like Harvard, Stanford and MIT have today made their courses accessible to the general population using the MOOC (Massively Open Online Courses) methodology. Reputed educational institutions, including the Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business, Indiana University's Kelley School of Business and Babson's Olin School now offer online MBA programs in addition to their full-time courses.
This growing demand for online MBAs has thrown open a new challenge - what is the best way for professors to engage with students? Platforms like Udemy and Coursera enable educators to create courses that are accessible on-demand to students. However, they fail to address one key aspect of learning - the ability to ask questions and get them answered instantly. Also, these platforms fail to simulate a classroom experience where students can engage and exchange ideas and notes with one another.
Video conferencing has thus become one of the most popular channels for online MBA educators. Online web meetings enable professors to connect with students from multiple locations without compromising on a classroom environment. There are a number of reasons why web conferencing systems have become the platform of choice for online educators. Here are a few:
Student Engagement : Physical classrooms not only enable the teacher to communicate with the students, but also enable the students to discuss and engage with each other. Video conferencing is the closest virtual alternative to the classroom setup.
Pop Quiz & Tests : Pop quizzes are a standard feature of physical classrooms. Present day video conferencing tools come equipped with polling tools that make it easier for the teacher to test their students.
Record Classes : Web conferencing tools like ClickMeeting offer teachers the ability to record their classroom sessions. This way, the classes can be archived and accessed by students who are on leave or want to revise their subjects before exams.
Audio Classes : One of the biggest drawbacks of online education is poor connectivity. For students who log in from remote locations, poor internet connectivity is often the reason for not being able to take part in online courses. Modern web conferencing services allow individual users to switch to audio-only modes for times when their internet connections are not good.
Education On-the-go : One of the biggest advantages of video conferencing tools for online MBAs is the ability to connect via mobile apps. For students in jobs that require a lot of commuting, accessing classes over a computer may not be feasible all the time. Through mobile apps, these students can access their classes even when they are on the move.
Online MBAs are becoming increasingly popular among people with full-time jobs. According to Douglas Shackelford, an online MBA professor at the Kenan-Flagler business school, their courses attract working professionals, some of them already earning as much as $250,000 annually. Such students often have extremely busy work-lives. The onus is hence on the business schools to provide such students with a platform that will help them get the best possible online education without compromising on the infrastructure. Given the vast array of features, web conferencing appears to be the best bet.
This growing demand for online MBAs has thrown open a new challenge - what is the best way for professors to engage with students? Platforms like Udemy and Coursera enable educators to create courses that are accessible on-demand to students. However, they fail to address one key aspect of learning - the ability to ask questions and get them answered instantly. Also, these platforms fail to simulate a classroom experience where students can engage and exchange ideas and notes with one another.
Video conferencing has thus become one of the most popular channels for online MBA educators. Online web meetings enable professors to connect with students from multiple locations without compromising on a classroom environment. There are a number of reasons why web conferencing systems have become the platform of choice for online educators. Here are a few:
Student Engagement : Physical classrooms not only enable the teacher to communicate with the students, but also enable the students to discuss and engage with each other. Video conferencing is the closest virtual alternative to the classroom setup.
Pop Quiz & Tests : Pop quizzes are a standard feature of physical classrooms. Present day video conferencing tools come equipped with polling tools that make it easier for the teacher to test their students.
Record Classes : Web conferencing tools like ClickMeeting offer teachers the ability to record their classroom sessions. This way, the classes can be archived and accessed by students who are on leave or want to revise their subjects before exams.
Audio Classes : One of the biggest drawbacks of online education is poor connectivity. For students who log in from remote locations, poor internet connectivity is often the reason for not being able to take part in online courses. Modern web conferencing services allow individual users to switch to audio-only modes for times when their internet connections are not good.
Education On-the-go : One of the biggest advantages of video conferencing tools for online MBAs is the ability to connect via mobile apps. For students in jobs that require a lot of commuting, accessing classes over a computer may not be feasible all the time. Through mobile apps, these students can access their classes even when they are on the move.
Online MBAs are becoming increasingly popular among people with full-time jobs. According to Douglas Shackelford, an online MBA professor at the Kenan-Flagler business school, their courses attract working professionals, some of them already earning as much as $250,000 annually. Such students often have extremely busy work-lives. The onus is hence on the business schools to provide such students with a platform that will help them get the best possible online education without compromising on the infrastructure. Given the vast array of features, web conferencing appears to be the best bet.