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Babson College: Creating a Blended MBA Program

2/3/2003

By Stephen J. Laster

The design of the blended program began with the integrated curriculum, then added the idea of program delivery via technology. Several partners for platform and instructional design were chosen to form the core infrastructure and support services for the program. The decision to partner with external technology and program-design partners was driven by Babson's belief that it should concentrate on what the College d'es best and by the need to develop the program in a compressed time period.

During development of the blended core curriculum, the faculty was supported with instructional designers and content developers. The role of the instructional designer was to help the faculty members translate the classroom teaching experience into a blended learning experience. That is, translating content in a way that took advantage of the delivery technology to develop a high-quality program, not just transferring teaching and class notes. It was also important not to simply emulate the classroom but to explore modes of teaching and learning that were supported by the blended model. Current technology d'es not allow for the kind of rapid interaction, based on emotion and body language, that is experienced in a classroom setting. Nevertheless, state-of-the-art technology, when applied to addressing learning outcomes via creative approaches, can support a teaching and learning experience of high quality.

With a sound understanding of the learning objectives of each module and stream of learning, the design team optimized the face-to-face and eLearning portions of the program to fit the demands of the content. For each subject the teams considered issues of subject complexity, learning styles, and teaching styles to arrive at a blend of experiences. Resolving issues such as whether students needed to learn "tools" first rather than diving into group immersion and team building helped to determine the role, content, and timing of the sessions.

The design of the program also provided an opportunity for mid-course corrections. This was facilitated by the ability to refresh the Web-based learning management system and the use of conferencing software. In one instance, when it became evident that students were struggling with learning specific techniques using the asynchronous delivery system, the program was adjusted to use synchronous conferencing and application-sharing as a new kind of faculty office-hour. While not initially planned, the change enhanced the student and faculty educational experience.

Babson MBA Core Curriculum

A module is a carefully channeled combination of academic "streams" that flow together to define and shape a larger topic. Each successive module is designed to build upon the material of the previous one. This format facilitates the flexibility and interactive learning that are integral to an interdisciplinary approach.



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