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Learnativity.com > Themes > Leadership > Executive Education | |||||||||||
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Specific Questions: There is so much to learn about Executive Education programs, where should I start? Do any business schools offer "100% online" executive education programs? Which courses do they offer that way? Any exceptional Executive Ed programs not necessarily online or from business schools? Beyond education programs, what has been published that describes the best approaches to executive learning? Marcia's Answer: The field of executive education presents both leaders and business schools many complex challenges without offering a single source for direction and answers. I hope to change that this coming year as I work on a research fellowship at Darden Business School, specifically to look at issues of e-education at the intersection of executive education, business education, and business. I will publish what I learn here and in subsequent pages and articles. For now, though, let me provide answers to the specific questions asked of me as author of the Training FAQs to get you started learning about executive education. All the questions this document will answer: 1) Which business schools offer 100% online or distance-ed executive education programs? 1) Which business schools offer 100% online or distance-ed executive education programs? Online Executive Education programs are usually managed by commercial elearning provider who have partnered with business schools. While you can't always find the distance education listings on the school's website, you can find the information on the elearning provider's site. Here are links to some of those provider companies: Financial Times Knowledge has partnered with Wharton, University of Michigan, and INSEAD to offer online courses. Cardean (part of unext.com) has partnered with Columbia, Stanford, U of Chicago, Carnegie-Mellon, and London School of Economics. Quisic works with UNC's Kenan-Flagler B-school, Dartmouth/Tuck, London Business School, and INSEAD. Fathom offers many business-related programs from organizations including Columbia University, London School of Economics, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, etc. Cognitive Arts has developed the Harvard Business Online. Academee partners with INSEAD, the Institute of Management (IM), Center for Creative Leadership, and to offer several programs through their Institute of Management Learning. Wide Learning, Onlinelearning.net, Ninth House Network, Cenquest, and several other elearning companies have begun to partner with business schools, but already offer very business-school like topics. Some companies link to other company's distance ed executive ed programs. One worth visiting is PlanetEdu. Some business schools do have special areas dedicated to executive education and specifically their online programs: Darden Graduate School of Business Administration offers a site dedicated to executive education distance learning opportunities for its exec ed students and alumni. Duke Corporate Education is Duke University's Fuqua school for-profit education group. Babson Interactive is Babson College's for-profit division to offer hybrid MBA programs for corporations. INSEAD OnLine offers executive education elearning programs. Other resources: University of Business Magazine has recently published a guidebook of elearning providers that work with universities. [In reading through this list, I noticed several of the companies are now out of business. Many are still working in this space, though.] The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business has all sorts of good information on their website. 2) What courses do they offer online? It's not easy to find what schools offer from their own websites. I'd encourage you visit those elearning providers which then link to the courses they offer with the business schools. Why is that? Frankly, the elearning companies have more to gain from making this information easily accessible. Many of the schools are somewhat fearful of what e-offerings will do to their bottom line. Here is a small sampling of the scope of programs: Wharton offers a eBusiness/eCommerce course online. The University of Michigan Business School offers The Networked Executive Series. Management Course Information site is a very comprehensive source of information on Executive and Senior Management Courses. INSEAD OnLine initially offers 7 courses and learning products, and a further six are planned for availability by the March 2002, including: CRM, Financial Accounting, Leadership, Managing Innovation Risk and Managing People. Harvard Business Online includes Financial Accounting, Finance for Managers and Yes! The Online Negotiator. 3) Any exceptional Executive Ed programs not necessarily online or from business schools? Inc. Magazine, the Young Entrepreneurs' Organization, and MIT Enterprise Forum sponsor The Birthing of Giants. This is a unique program that focuses on leadership. This event brings together 60 young entrepreneurs, each under the age of 40 and each a founder who leads a company that grosses more than $1 million, for four days on a suburban campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 4) Beyond education programs, what has been published that describes the best approaches to executive learning? I've spent years collecting articles and whitepapers on this subject. They can be found on this site under Whitepapers, Market Reports, and eLearning. I encourage you to start there. As I work with Darden, I'll collect more articles to create a page entitled, "exec ed" which will likely go to www.learnativity.com/execed.html. Sadly, most of the research so far has come out of the "learning vendors" who have a product to sell. Though their visions are likely in the right place, I've been greatly disappointed with their solutions. As a result, online has been inadequate as a means of building trust, networking, and skills that transcend specific situations. I find online delivery best today for dissemination of materials, but have great hope some organizations will show the others how to make the real difference in the near future. To answer some other parts of your question, I also have found coaching (with both in-person and distance elements) very promising. And I've used job rotations since my days at Microsoft in the 1980s with great success. Duke Corporate Education offers a good comparison of face-to-face and online learning programs and a whitepaper on Place and Space [Acrobat required]. Two Wharton professors, Jerry Wind and David Reibstein, discuss a new paradigm for management education facilitated by advances in information technology and how it might be integrated into a decision support system in Just-in-Time Education: Learning in the Global Information Age. They point that management education needs to be radically rethought for an Internet age, becoming more customizable, with delivery anytime and anyplace, and more applied, interactive learning. Some of the best places to search for general executive education materials (often with an online angle, comparing and contrasting various options) are listed below: The Fall 2001 issue Learning in the New Economy Magazine was dedicated to issues of Leader Learning. Articles that might be of particular interest to you would be Gene Ziegler's Executive Learning Online, Dori Digenti's Building a Learning Strategy for Leaders, Will Luckert and Alec Horniman's Why Must a Leader Be a Learner? and Bette Price's Leaders Treat Learning Like Dirty Dishes. The Technology Source e-Magazine from Michigan Virtual University CFO.com has many articles on executive education such as The Online Option. "It's cheaper, faster, and easier to distribute than live classes. But is it effective?" and The 2001 Finance Education Special Report which addresses "The Future of Online Training Programs." See them all at CFO.com and type "Executive Education" into the search engine. The Financial Times has an area devoted to Business Education issues. The Wallstreet Journal has a special site on career development and executive education. Fast Company published an interesting Business School survival guide. Peterson.com Bracer's Executive Education resources Business Week has MANY articles on the pros and cons of business education online. Search on "Executive Education" If that's not enough, check out the magazines on the more generic "elearning" subject: ELearn Magazine [the least commercial of these] E-Learning Magazine [the most commercial] Again, Learning in the New Economy Magazine, the publication I edit, has featured articles around online learning and executive education with almost every issue. www.linezine.com. 5) Are their any networks/cross-boundary forums of companies that are focused specifically on executive education I should contact? You should take a look at a few consortiums and networks who deal with educative education: Finance Development and Training Institute 6) Which companies are particularly focused on advancing this arena or are recognized as "best practice"? You'll find terrific organizations doing the right things when you visit LearnShare, and the other organizations mentioned above. Based on your industry, there are likely to be specific organizations for you. 7) Where can I find Academic Executive Education Organizations and Publications? The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business Organizational Behavior Teaching Society National Business Education Association Leadership & Organization Development Journal Journal of Management Education Journal of Management Development | |||||||||||
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