Learning environment online

Fresh off my decision to pursue an MBA online through Marist College comes an article by Richard Barker in the Harvard Business Review (that is also posted on their blog) that blasts the entire idea of on online MBA. The online MBA does not provide the right platform for management training because "the environment within which people learn can be more powerful than the specific material taught." It's the interaction with other students and learning from their professional experience that is the real benefit of obtaining an MBA.

The business school, at least in Barker's ideal, provides a learning environment that allows the student to link the topics of the different classes with those topics from other classes and their own experience. The combined experience of other people allow this linking to extend to other situations through discussions with other members of the class. As expressed in the article "The pedagogical opportunities in sharing [professional experiences] are obvious—and they require an environment in which students actively work together and learn from one another." Barker goes on to say that "in a collaborative learning environment the people around you are more than just colleagues and friends; they are an explicit and valuable part of your educational experience. It follows from this that effective business education cannot be delivered exclusively online, because online delivery is a teaching mechanism, not a learning environment."

Why can't an online class provide the learning enviroment that Barker finds so commendable? If a broad array of experience in one's classmates is an explicit and valuable part of the educational experience, won't 500 or so people drawn from all over the country at a variety of professional levels be superior to 200 or so students drawn from a fairly narrow distribution of educational and professional backgrounds? I do not need to be physically proximal to sombody to engage in a meaningful discussion of how my experience colors a particular class topic. Online discussion tools available for the class, gchat, email, text messaging, or an old fashion phone call can be used to discuss a topic just as well as talking about it in person.

Barker puts the onus of providing a learning environment on the instutition. Once that is in place, the student will be a vessel for this abundance of rich interactions that the wise admissions officers and deans have created for these fertile minds. That perspective is backwards. Every student chooses how engaged they will be in a class. If I want Barker's learning environment, I will be able to find it no matter where I go to school or how the instruction is delivered. Just because somebody goes to Harvard doesn't mean that they will be fully engaged in the Harvard learning environment. Similarly, just because I'm not in the same room as my classmates doesn't mean that I will not engage in a meaningful discussion with one or two of them. I am responsible for my classroom (virtual or otherwise) experience. The creation of a learning environment falls to me. The institution provides the context. I decide how deeply I will delve into the content.