In a recent post, we looked at how the case method, a Darden hallmark, can be especially enriched by discussions among the diverse group of managers that make up an MBA for Executives class. A recent article in the Virginia Business Journal highlights another interesting facet of the Executive program’s application of the case method: distance learning.
The article points out:
” The fact that Darden, a top-tier graduate business school, has embraced technologically enhanced “distance learning” is a good measure of just how mainstream the concept has become.”
In Darden’s Executive MBA program, students are on Grounds in Charlottesville, Virginia approximately once a month for residencies offering intensive, in-person classroom experiences. However, as the article notes, as much as 30% of the program’s content is delivered online, via distance learning.
It’s this combination of online and in-person learning — along with continuous practical, on the job application of the business principles being studied — that comprises the MBA Exec program’s “blended approach.”
Quoted in the article, MBA for Executives Associate Dean Paul Simko notes that distance-learning tools “are not necessarily going to replace the classroom for us, but it’s at least going to supplement it.”
The article provides a helpful perspective from Class of 2010 MBA for Executives student Tony Anticole. Anticole, a consultant employed by the Corporate Executive Board, points out how distance learning actually prepares MBA for Executives students for a richer, in- person experience.
“When you’re finally with your professor and classmates, I think there’s a much higher level of conversation because it’s not about, ‘Let’s go over what a balance sheet or an income statement is,” he says. “We’re always ready to have conversations and discuss cases at a level that is, I think, a step above what it would be if we had to go over fundamentals…”
