100 Paper Cases … 2 Online Challenges: HBS in the Digital Age?

Student comments on 100 Paper Cases … 2 Online Challenges: HBS in the Digital Age?

1. November 18, 2016 ASP says:

   Very interesting post. I appreciate how you covered the digital transformation of the classroom. Additional evidence of the digital transformation of HBS is on the case preparation side with the use of multimedia cases such as Threadless in TOM, Bridgewater in LEAD, and Siemens in FRC. I wonder how the learning objectives and outcomes are enhanced or weakened with these modules, and if there will be a shift in the future to increasing the proportion of digital cases. An upside to the multimedia case is that the videos and interviews can provide considerably more context than the written case.
2. November 19, 2016 Dave says:

   Very interesting Post. HBS could also go digital just with a policy change of allowing tablets in the MBA classroom. Cases are already distributed digitally, and many students already have tablets. With one email to students, faculty, and staff, HBS could halt the distribution of hard-copy cases and change behavior almost overnight. Students could then bring the cases on tablets to class. Computers could still be banned as they may be more distracting given that they sit up conspicuously on the tabletop. Also, if HBS is worried about internet use during class, they could just block internet and service provider signals in the classrooms (which is likely doable technologically for HBS).
3. November 20, 2016 NJG says:

   Thanks, Angelo. Interesting topic to raise as many of us made a decision to attend business school while our equally talented colleagues (if not more) made the decision not to.

   I continue to view the most existential threat to HBS’ core business as one of the declining necessity in business for a traditional, credentialized education. In the last few years, on a largely anecdotal basis, I hear more often that business school is viewed as a ‘two-year break’ with learning served up as a nice side benefit as opposed to a truly enriching or critical learning experience. Certainly, there will continue to be many who disagree with this (many of us, as an example), but the diminishing value of an MBA in the corporate world (versus 2 years spent ‘doing’) is certainly worrying. If it does not erode the quantity of students, it may certainly erode the average quality of the student population. In most investing arenas, as an example, getting an MBA can be viewed as a hindrance relative to directly recruiting for the next job.

   As far as the digital threat, I think one of the core value propositions (as outlined above) is a credentializing one as opposed to content-based, as the information learned in our MBA is already largely democratized (as you note: most of our cases are available for purchase already). The selectivity of admissions into the Harvard MBA I would argue is at least as important a signal to prospective employers as our learning at HBS (as evidenced by the non-disclosure around grading). Therefore, though MOOCs aim to further spread the HBS brand and class experience around the world, I doubt they will erode the HBS core business as much as other threats on the horizon. I agree with your next steps; I especially think digital ExecEd deployed globally makes good business sense.
4. November 20, 2016 SCWC says:

   From your post, I worry greatly that the Business School derives the majority of its revenues from two sources (case production and Exed Ed) that are ancillary to the core offering of the school: the MBA program. The greater investment in digital learning that you have outlined further cheapens the MBA program from both a financial perspective and an incentivization perspective. While you have noted that the success of these revenue generators ultimately depends on the success of the MBA program (a phenomenon which prevents too much investment from being divested from the latter), do you worry that further investment in the ExecEd program, and digitization in general, will begin to devalue the traditional MBA model and divert future investment away from it?
5. November 20, 2016 Kalumet says:

   This is an important topic, so thanks for the post. To push the conversation even further, I would argue that if people view an HBS education as a “luxury good”, which has value beyond just the curriculum itself (manifested in ways like the network you build and get access to), then HBS may not necessarily need to adapt its model to conform with what its competitors are doing – because what HBS is offering is a fundamentally different good. Additionally, pn and paper pedagogy has worked well for a long time, and it’s not clear to me that integrating the classroom experience digitally will contribute more to students’ learning.

   I would suggest that HBS consider offering some mandatory RC teaching around basic computer science, because those are skills managers will definitely need to know going forward.
6. November 20, 2016 Nikhil Dewan says:

   Great minds think alike 🙂 Recommend you also read my post on how HBX is looking to disrupt and transform the digital education landscape. https://d3.harvard.edu/platform-rctom/submission/hbx-disrupting-the-business-education-delivery-model/

   I strongly believe that HBS has the power to call the shots – they just need to decide when and to what extend it would like to scale up these digital offerings to change the market dynamics for top quality business education. While I do think that as things stand, these initiatives are only meant to complement and not replace the more traditional full time MBA programs That said, I strongly want these initiatives to succeed and enable those bright minds with limited resources to have access to top quality educational offerings.

   On a separate note with regard to your topic headline – I do fully agree that HBS Academics needs to work harder at sustainability and take a hard call to stop distributing paper cases and encourage students to go digital. I would imagine this would not only lower the Program Support fees but also go a long way toward encouraging students to develop a more sustainability focused mindset.
7. November 20, 2016 AbMcK says:

   Excellent post, Angelo. I really enjoyed learning more about the breakdown of HBS revenues and HBS’s recent digital innovations. That being said, I would argue that digital education and MOOCs have a long way to go before being considered anywhere close to on equal footing with traditional “brick and mortar” education programs. Employers simply still do not weight them equally when evaluating potential candidates (1). At best, online education is viewed as an addition to, rather than a supplement for, traditional education programs. One potential way to overcome this discrepancy would be to pair online education programs with “in-house” internship or other practical learning opportunities within real companies.

   (1) http://www.economist.com/news/business/21702758-time-being-least-human-judgment-still-better-bet-cold-hearted
8. November 20, 2016 AhmadMans says:

   Interesting article, Angelo. I think one major risk here is for HBS to cannibalize its most profitable revenue streams via doubling down on digital. The cannibalization impact has to be compared with the true benefit of investing in digital. For example, companies that are today leading the MOOC revolution have shown sub-optimal results compared to the hyped up expectations that online education is the future. So, your suggesting HBS to invest in a risky bet that will not necessarily salvage the school from being bankrupt. Last winter, Thrun (from Udacity) himself expressed some doubts. “We were on the front pages of newspapers and magazines, and at the same time, I was realizing, we don’t educate people as others wished, or as I wished,” [1]

   [1] http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/moocs-failure-solutions
9. November 20, 2016 BAL says:

   Good read. One thing not discussed is how the curriculum of the primary HBS MBA program is (or is not) adapting to increased digitization that threatens the traditional teaching model and used for everything from written communication to video conferencing to online courses, as your post suggests. While we have some multi-media cases, these are relatively simple attempts to increase the technological aspects of the curriculum. It’s been stated that HBS does not provide much in the way of technical training, particularly for those interested in roles in technology, and ambitious students have gotten around this by having the student run clubs bring in training. I’d think that as the world becomes more reliant on digital technology, HBS would be forced to increase its training around these areas. Hopefully this does not remain a blind spot for the school moving forward.
10. November 20, 2016 T.S says:

    Angelo, thank you for taking on HBS and its ability to evolve with the digitization of education. I agree that HBS should consider selling the SPOC platform to other schools. As a personal story, I took HBX CORe in the summer of 2015 while a few of my co-workers were doing UNC’s online MBA program. One of the biggest differences I found, in terms of student experience, was participation. HBX has really figured out how to translate what it does well in the HBS classroom to the digital space. Using things like cold calls and grading the content/quality of posts ensure that the fragile digital learning space is not eroded by low quality or lack of participation. I think this is a constant struggle for online learning platforms and one that Harvard should distribute out to other learning institutions.
11. November 20, 2016 Johnny Appleseed says:

    Angelo – Thanks for this post. A few other comments touched on this, but as a consumer of the HBS MBA program (as we all are), I feel the value of our degree is being greatly diluted and eroded by the behavior of Harvard to prioritize profits through churning students through its Executive Education and CORe programs. Given the $200k cost of our education (not including the opportunity cost of likely $100-$400k for many of us), I think it is very unfortunate that somehow when +10,000 “students” per year are being churned through these other Exec. Ed. programs they are receiving the same Harvard degrees and alumni status as those of us who are enrolled full-time for 2yrs in the HBS MBA program. Currently, 15 Exec. Ed. programs grant full alumni status [1]. While these programs may make the administration smile with the incremental income they are generating for the school, I would really like to know how the administration thinks we should feel as those who went through the agonizing process of GMATs, applications, tuition costs, opportunity costs and 2yrs of full time education, just to come out the other end of this process only to be walking by Baker library and have someone introduce themselves as a HBS alum (and smugly tell me how HBS and the world of business works) because they just finished up the Exec. Ed. program. I for one can tell you that it doesn’t make me feel very good…

    [1] http://www.exed.hbs.edu/faqs/Pages/default.aspx
12. November 20, 2016 Lane says:

    This is a really interesting one. I think this is an environment where machines will not be able to catch up with humans for quite some period of time. I think the biggest excitement comes out of personal interaction within the section, and being able to see everyone’s expressions and body language. Sections form a more intimate relationship and culture through interactions in between and outside classes. While this is an interesting approach and might be our future, I really hope the technology in the classrooms doesn’t go beyond a Watson coming in to decide who to call on. It might be a model that will thrive when it comes to inviting more international students for part-time courses.
13. November 20, 2016 Paul says:

    Very interesting topic. It is interesting to frame HBS as a business rather than just a business school. I agree that it is important to be a first mover in virtual classrooms in order to continue generating revenues outside of the traditional MBA program. I don’t think that the situation is as dire as Professor Christensen laid out, at least not in HBS’s case specifically. I think trust and personal connections are still tremendously valuable in business and this feature of HBS is almost impossible to digitize. So while there may be value in tangential products, I think the in person case method will continue to attract talented individuals.
14. November 20, 2016 KR says:

    Interesting post Angelo! I agree that it will be necessary for Harvard Business School to get ready for teaching in the digital age, however, I’m still not convinced that it will pose a threat to the traditional MBA program. Having done the HBX course, I must say that although it will still miles ahead of most online courses I have done so far, it still isn’t compelling enough for me to choose it over a residential program. In my opinion, the classes where I have learnt the most have been ones that had intense debate, where the class was pushed to challenge and defend opinions. It’s hard enough to do that in a classroom when people don’t know each other – do you think it’s likely that the required level of comfort is reached in a virtual space?
15. November 20, 2016 J B says:

    When I came to HBS, one of my biggest surprises was not having internet access during classes. I must honestly say that I didn’t know the details of how the case method worked, so I thought of the system as really old fashioned and traditional.
    Even though I’ve come to understand the main point of this: to have students engaged at maximum capacity, I still think that an intermediate solution can be found. There are times where this is most evident: having a printout from an excel spreadsheet is completely different fom having the real excel open. I see the future of education as a balanced mix of technology and paper. Technology would have to be a closed system (probably proprietary). I honestly don’t think that our current paper only system can last for much longer
16. November 20, 2016 Patrick says:

    Online courses tend to have a lower propensity of attendance than in-person cases. Only 50% of the people who sign up for a MOOC class actually show up to the first case, and about 5% actually complete the class http://er.educause.edu/articles/2013/6/retention-and-intention-in-massive-open-online-courses-in-depth

    While payment for the class tends to increase attendance and engagement it does not yet achieve the levels of in-person classes. For this new technology to be actually successful there needs to be some change in they way they are administered to actually pose a threat to in-person classes.
17. November 20, 2016 A Concerned Futurist says:

    Online learning is an effective substitute for classroom learning only if there is implicit trust between participants(1). The importance of building trust in an online environment should not be underestimated.

    (1) http://www.jstor.org/stable/jeductechsoci.10.2.84
18. November 20, 2016 Ldubs says:

    While MOOCs have certainly been the subject of much hype and appear to be successful in terms of enrollment and signups, research shows that course completion rates are extremely low [1]. Though I do think digital should and will be a major force in higher education, I believe there needs to be more clarity on which metrics we should use to measure the success of digital education programs. Clearly defining those will allow us to know what is working and what needs to be optimized. I wonder, for example, how students would rate the HBX experience as opposed to the traditional MBA?

    1. http://news.stanford.edu/2015/10/15/moocs-no-panacea-101515/
19. November 21, 2016 Charlie J says:

    Combining the themes from the last two prompts, in a digital era in which we face ongoing threats from climate change, do you think HBS should default to printing out all our RC cases for us and filling up our mailboxes, given the negative environmental impact of wasting paper?

    By cutting out the costs of default RC case printing, HBS could increase profitability and then reinvest those profits in increasing the digital offerings of the school. [1]

    [1] http://www.hbs.edu/about/annualreport/2014/Documents/HBS-Annual-2014.pdf