Facebook has changed the way students, faculty members, and administrators communicate outside the classroom. Now, with the introduction of the London School of Business & Finance’s Global MBA Facebook app, Facebook is becoming the classroom.
The Global MBA app—introduced in October—lets users sample typical business-school courses like corporate finance and organizational behavior through the social-networking site. The free course material includes interactive message boards, a note-taking tool, and video lectures and discussions with insiders from industry giants like Accenture Management Consulting and Deloitte. This may be a good way to market a school, notes an observer from a business-school accrediting organization, but it may not be the best way to deliver courses.
Unlike most online business courses, the Global MBA program will not require students to pay an enrollment fee up front. Instead, students can access basic course material free of charge and pay the school only when they are ready to prepare for their exams. School administrators hope that letting students “test drive” the online courses before actually shelling out the tuition money will boost graduation rates.
While the school offers a large collection of study material on Facebook—including 80 hours of Web video—students seeking formal accreditation must qualify for entrance into the M.B.A. program. Once enrolled in the paid course, students are given access to additional content on the business school’s InterActive course management system, and are required to sit for examinations—like they would if they were enrolled in more traditional distance-learning or brick-and-mortar programs. The Facebook MBA program is accredited by the University of Wales and costs a total of £14,500—about $22,000.
Steve Parscale, director of accreditation for the Kansas-based Accreditation Council for Business Schools & Programs, said sample classes offered through social-networking sites could provide great advertising opportunities for online colleges. “The younger generation is all on social media,” Mr. Parscale said. “If you can get them on Facebook to test-drive a class, then you can get them to actually enroll.”
But Mr. Parscale said he doesn’t know if Facebook is the best place to actually host courses. Although he is not familiar with the London school’s program, Mr. Parscale said that Facebook generally lacks the infrastructure to track student progress, manage data, and prevent cheating that is built into more traditional course-management systems. Programs like BlackBoard and Moodle “are designed to do that, where Facebook is not really designed to facilitate coursework,” he said.
According to the London School of Business & Finance, the Facebook course already has 34,000 users, and it expects 500,000 prospective students to test-drive its classes over the next year—though it’s not clear how many of them will go on to pursue an M.B.A. “Even if people do not decide to go for formal accreditation,” Mr. Etingen said, “the LBSF Global MBA will, at no cost, better equip business students to deal with the global job market.”
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/british-university-offers-m-b-a-courses-on-facebook/28463
Monday, January 24, 2011
Swinburne University of Technology to go it alone with its online courses
SWINBURNE University of Technology will expand online degrees in a marketing deal with internet recruiter Seek designed to capitalise on galloping demand by off-campus students.
Swinburne Direct, a 50-50 joint venture with an initial $10 million investment, hopes to enrol a first intake next year of 2000 students, typically working and from across the country.
"The goal is to offer as many of our Swinburne programs as possible through this new vehicle," deputy vice-chancellor (academic) Shirley Leitch said.
Swinburne's vice-chancellor Ian Young said the university was on its way "to become the pre-eminent online learning provider in Australia".
The Swinburne venture is the second Open Universities Australia provider to go it alone, with the extra twist that Seek now markets both Swinburne Direct and OUA.
Like Curtin Online, the Swinburne deal links up online delivery, the promise of federal teaching subsidies for all-comers once enrolment caps are lifted next year, and the government's wish to increase degree holders.
Professor Leitch said the likely role of online education in the expanded post-2012 system had been "significantly overlooked".
"You can't achieve that growth if it's going to be all bricks and mortar-based with people coming on to campus nine to five," she said.
She said another reason for the take-off in online education since 2008 was that more "digital natives" comfortable with the internet were in the workforce.
Last year, Swinburne enjoyed 100 per cent growth in online education, she said. "It's as if the online space has just finally reached the launch site in Australia," Professor Leitch said.
Meanwhile, the U21Global online postgraduate school, whose partners include the University of Melbourne, has announced a new division to sell a host of services, including instructional design, to institutions and companies that want to launch online programs.
U21Global dean Wing Lam said: "No serious academic institution can afford to not have an online learning platform."
Professor Leitch declined to reveal what the range of programs Swinburne Direct would offer next year but business was one likely area. Most programs would be undergraduate, but the new business also would consider postgraduate and TAFE programs.
Asked why Swinburne had decided not to pursue its online expansion through Open Universities Australia, Professor Leitch pointed to the consortium's restriction on more than one provider offering the same course.
Swinburne would deliver the programs already agreed with OUA but "obviously we're going to focus all our future development resources on Swinburne Direct and not on OUA".
OUA chief executive Stuart Hamilton welcomed the competition. "Everyone across university land moving into 2012 is looking at options to expand," he said.
OUA providers always had the freedom to go it alone online but "the reason they're doing it in a bigger way now is because the caps are coming off", he said.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/swinburne-university-of-technology-to-go-it-alone-with-its-online-courses/story-e6frgcjx-1225990538799
Swinburne Direct, a 50-50 joint venture with an initial $10 million investment, hopes to enrol a first intake next year of 2000 students, typically working and from across the country.
"The goal is to offer as many of our Swinburne programs as possible through this new vehicle," deputy vice-chancellor (academic) Shirley Leitch said.
Swinburne's vice-chancellor Ian Young said the university was on its way "to become the pre-eminent online learning provider in Australia".
The Swinburne venture is the second Open Universities Australia provider to go it alone, with the extra twist that Seek now markets both Swinburne Direct and OUA.
Like Curtin Online, the Swinburne deal links up online delivery, the promise of federal teaching subsidies for all-comers once enrolment caps are lifted next year, and the government's wish to increase degree holders.
Professor Leitch said the likely role of online education in the expanded post-2012 system had been "significantly overlooked".
"You can't achieve that growth if it's going to be all bricks and mortar-based with people coming on to campus nine to five," she said.
She said another reason for the take-off in online education since 2008 was that more "digital natives" comfortable with the internet were in the workforce.
Last year, Swinburne enjoyed 100 per cent growth in online education, she said. "It's as if the online space has just finally reached the launch site in Australia," Professor Leitch said.
Meanwhile, the U21Global online postgraduate school, whose partners include the University of Melbourne, has announced a new division to sell a host of services, including instructional design, to institutions and companies that want to launch online programs.
U21Global dean Wing Lam said: "No serious academic institution can afford to not have an online learning platform."
Professor Leitch declined to reveal what the range of programs Swinburne Direct would offer next year but business was one likely area. Most programs would be undergraduate, but the new business also would consider postgraduate and TAFE programs.
Asked why Swinburne had decided not to pursue its online expansion through Open Universities Australia, Professor Leitch pointed to the consortium's restriction on more than one provider offering the same course.
Swinburne would deliver the programs already agreed with OUA but "obviously we're going to focus all our future development resources on Swinburne Direct and not on OUA".
OUA chief executive Stuart Hamilton welcomed the competition. "Everyone across university land moving into 2012 is looking at options to expand," he said.
OUA providers always had the freedom to go it alone online but "the reason they're doing it in a bigger way now is because the caps are coming off", he said.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/swinburne-university-of-technology-to-go-it-alone-with-its-online-courses/story-e6frgcjx-1225990538799
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