Thanks to technology, pursuing an MBA doesn’t mean you have to change cities or hit pause on your career and social life. More and more universities in Canada have made the move to online MBA delivery options in order to cater to a growing group of professionals who want to advance their education without moving or leaving work.
As of now, only a handful of Canadian universities offer fully web-based MBA programs. Many schools have distance-learning options where some course work is completed on campus and some online.
From increased flexibility to communication challenges, what are some of the advantages and drawbacks of trading in notebooks and lecture halls for keyboards and monitors?
More flexibility
Online MBAs are clearly a more flexible option than traditional programs. Unlike on-campus courses, students don’t need to move to where their school of choice is located, or leave jobs to attend class throughout the week.
“A program like an MBA appeals to working professionals,” says Victoria Martin, the MBA program director at Thompson Rivers University. “They’re seeking out the online options because they require that flexibility to be able to advance their education.”
Online MBA programs offer varying levels of flexibility. Some schools, such as Athabasca University, offer virtual courses without set lecture times. Students can participate in discussions and group work whenever is most convenient for them, notes Alain May, director of Athabasca’s Executive MBA program.
Other universities have set lecture times when students must be online to participate, such as the MBA program at the University of Fredericton. These live lectures give students a chance to directly interact with professors and peers, although they have the potential to lead to time zone conflicts, says Blair Lipsett, an MBA student at the university.
Lipsett is located in Atlantic daylight time, while most of his professors are located in Eastern Standard Time (EST).
“Thankfully I haven’t had any professors who have had a class that’s too late for me,” he says. “But if I get a professor who’s in California and wants to run his class on Pacific time, then I’m staying up until midnight to take advantage of those courses.”
The university is aware of time zone challenges when planning courses, says David Large, dean of the Sandermoen School of Business at the University of Fredericton. Online classes normally start at 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. EST to avoid conflicts with students on the East and West coasts.
Virtual interaction
What students gain in flexibility, they may lose in terms of face-to-face group work and collaboration with peers. Many online programs are using new technology in an attempt to replicate traditional classroom communication.
The University of Guelph, which offers an integrated MBA program with both on-campus and online coursework, uses video technology that allows more than 20 students to communicate with each other at once, says Sylvain Charlebois, the university’s associate dean of research and graduate studies.
“The image is good enough to see someone’s expression, which is really important when you’re trying to convey a message to people located in different places around the world,” he says.
Although the university uses innovative technology to bridge the virtual gap, Charlebois notes that it will never be quite the same as sitting down face-to-face to communicate.
“You can’t replace real-time exchanges, but you can always try to enhance online delivery,” he says.
Enhancements that many universities use include Skype, Google Docs, email and other virtual collaborative tools. Still, communication continues to be a work in progress for many online MBA programs.
“We’ll never be able to truly emulate the
interactivity that you get in the classroom, but we do our best to encourage the students to connect with each other, to work together and to really build a network,” says Martin.
Casting wider networks
Student networks built through online MBAs are also different from those forged in traditional programs. As a result of online programs’ flexibility, students have the opportunity to connect with peers involved in different sectors and located internationally.
“Being able to interact with people from all over the world is a big advantage to online MBAs,” says Jan Reischek, a graduate of the Athabasca University online MBA program. “I met and collaborated with so many people with diverse backgrounds and experiences.”
This is a unique opportunity offered to online MBA students, as traditional programs tend to attract people from similar places and backgrounds, May added.
“If you’re in one particular place, you’ll get a lot of students in a particular industry,” says May. “[In online programs] you hear a really international perspective and you get a lot of different industries represented in your courses.”
Along with the opportunity to network with peers, online MBA programs also stress that students connect with leaders from the business world. Most programs live-stream speakers and presentations so that distance students can benefit from the same opportunities as those studying on campus. Many universities also offer mixers and other events to encourage networking between students and industry leaders.
Real-world preparation
From live streams of speakers to virtual networking with peers, online programs encourage students to embrace technology and think differently when it comes to business, says Martin.
By encouraging the frequent use of web collaboration tools, these online programs are teaching students how to work in “virtual teams”—a necessary skill in today’s workplace, she says.
“In the business world these days, you’re not just going to be working with colleagues who are in the office next to yours,” she says. “You’re often going to be working with clients, colleagues, partners who may be located anywhere in the world.”
Students in online MBA programs are also taught to be comfortable working in “asynchronous environments,” added Reischek. “Communicating this way is incredibly different than traditional classroom methods, but becoming more common,” she says. “[Online MBAs are] a great way to learn the best practices for that type of communication.”
The future of online MBAs
With so many advantages to studying online, it’s not surprising that more universities are turning their attention to online MBA programs.
A lot has changed since Athabasca University created its online program in 1994 and had to mail floppy disks to students. More and more “brick and mortar” programs are joining the university in the online sphere, May says.
This trend will only continue, according to Large. In the United States there are hundreds of online MBA programs, and many of the country’s top schools offer online options with the same curriculum, professors and rigor as their on-campus programs, he says.
The MBA sphere in Canada has already seen a shift online, with most MBA programs adopting some kind of web-based coursework to complement in-classroom curricula, he says.
As potential MBA students become busier, universities will find it more necessary to offer the benefits associated with online programs, Martin says.
“Increasing flexibility and more options to be able to study in a flexible environment will become more and more desirable, and I think programs will respond in increasing their options,” she says. After all, that’s what attracted students like Lipsett and Reischek to online MBA programs—and they have no regrets.
“I’ve had nothing but the best experiences and enjoyed my online MBA program more than I ever enjoyed my on-campus college and university programs,” Reischek says. “The flexibility allows you to continue working toward your career goals and still maintain some work-education-life balance.”
Whether you’re interested in flexibility, international networking or a tech-first approach, the online MBA offers some major perks to any student considering furthering their education. CO
