Business leaders, accrediting bodies, and management educators alike are calling for a radical change in the delivery of management education because of globalization, unprecedented economic uncertainty, changing demographics, and new learning technologies. The traditional one-size-fits-all educational approach of the past is being replaced with a customized and flexible learning paradigm that focuses on student outcomes and performance. Collaboration networks can assist in this transformation. The primary function of a collaboration network is to provide the management education community with access to curriculum innovation, cloud-based resources, intelligent tutors, and implementation strategies. The purpose of this chapter is to outline the role of cloud-based collaboration networks in helping shape the future of management education.
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Management education is engaged in significant programmatic reforms in response to the business community’s call for web-savvy, problem-solving graduates. Cloud-based collaboration networks provide a readily accessible vehicle for enhancing business students’ learning performance as well as preparing them for the rigors of the global marketplace. Some of the factors driving this transition include globalization, student demographics, sustainability, an uncertain economy and enabling technologies (Durand & Dameron, 2017; Hall et al., 2013; Rubin & Dierdorff, 2013; Thomas & Cornuel, 2012).
As the way we conduct business evolves, so must our tools for professional success. While the Master of Business Administration (MBA) plays an integral role in business achievement today and has for decades, its structure and mode of delivery have seen significant shifts over time as programs align with ever-evolving societal and industry needs (Manzer & Bullock, 2015).
Solving these challenges will require a fundamental transformation in curriculum design, delivery, and focus. Fortunately, management education can utilize the same networking and computing systems that revolutionized global commerce in the 1990s and 2000s (Guffarth & Barber, 2017; Schilling & Phelps, 2007). The advent of new learning technologies, such as cloud-based collaborative networks, now makes it possible for schools of business to offer a variety of customized programs that are more in line with the needs of the business community. Two critical tasks in this process are the development of high quality globalized curricula that can be delivered in a reliable manner and that will be accepted by students (Bruner & Iannarelli, 2011; Doh, 2010; Kao & May, 2011). More specifically, cloud-based collaborative networks can provide the student with direct access to the body of management education knowledge via Web 2.0+ optimized mobile devices (Cochrane, 2014; Yoon & Ardich, 2010).
When students are learning online, there are multiple opportunities to exploit the power of technology for formative assessment. The same technology that supports learning activities gathers data in the course of learning that can be used for assessment. As students work, the system can capture their inputs and collect evidence of their problem-solving sequences (Bienkowski et al., 2012).
Engaging faculty, educational researchers and administration is essential for ensuring success in this transformational undertaking. Specifically, the faculty represents the core ingredient in segueing from the traditional classroom format to a web oriented learning environment via collaborative networks (Benson & Samarawickrema, 2009; Diaz, 2011; Rooij & Zirkle, 2016). There are a number of factors that need to be addressed to ensure that the faculty can successfully make this transition including training and incentives (Dellabough, 2013; Brooks, 2010). Additionally, cloud-based collaboration networks offer a vehicle for bringing faculty, researchers, administrators, and alumni together to improve program/curriculum design and delivery (Pucciarelli & Kaplan, 2016). Technology trends and stakeholder adoption patterns are but two of the major challenges associated with implementing these educational enhancing systems. Nevertheless, the successful deployment and usage of collaboration networks can help usher in a new era in educational opportunities for both students and educators. This article’s primary contribution to management education is to outline the design of a cloud-based community of practice collaboration model and to identify specific implementation strategies. The chapter is organized as follows: 1) a review of the state of management education collaboration; 2) an analysis of the data obtained from a worldwide survey on the role of collaboration learning; and 3) a discussion on the implications as related to the future of management education.