Taking HBS Online was a very positive experience; Let us use COVID-19 challenge to Reimagine the MBA: Dr Srikant Datar

In the wake of the COVID 19 lockdown, Harvard Business School was forced to shut down its physical classrooms and go completely online on March 23. This successful transition was planned over a two-week period. Prof Srikant Datar, Senior Associate Dean for University Affairs and Faculty Chair of the Harvard Innovation Labs, led the transition at HBS.

MBAUniverse.com conducted an in-depth interview with Prof Datar to understand the preparation, principles, and learnings from the Harvard Experience.

Prof Datar is the Arthur Lowes Dickinson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and is the Co-Author of the seminal book on MBA education - ‘Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at a Crossroads.’

Edited excerpts follow.

Q: You and your Colleagues took the HBS Classes online in 15 days. How was the experience…!
A: Both faculty and students were overall very positive about the experience. Two major reasons for this. First, in the short time that they had, faculty worked very hard to master case method teaching online. Second, students were very generous in doing whatever they could to help the faculty be successful. We learned we could deliver a very good program online but this partnership between the faculty, students, and technology support was very important to its success. 

Q: What are the key lessons for Educators from the transition?
A: One needs to adapt teaching to online learning. The temptation is to deliver the exact same class we would deliver in the classroom online but there are two things we should do differently. In the long run, adapt the course to online teaching by reimagining the course. In the short run, teach differently online rather than simply doing what we would do in a physical class. Let me focus on the second point first since these represent our learnings from moving the MBA program online.  

• The basics of lighting, sound, camera, and connectivity have to be in place such as facing a window, making sure the sound is good, and that connectivity is stable.
• The most important point to recognize is that students can be more distracted online than in the physical classroom so the key is to constantly inject energy into the class and keep students engaged. This means not going on for long periods of time but doing the class in short bursts say in 10 minute blocks.
• Try to vary the pedagogy---sometimes share the board with the class and sometimes just engage in a discussion;
• Use polls to get students to answer questions and express their opinions both before class and during class;
• Call on students to defend their vote or position;
• If students have worked on problems or technical materials, ask students to share their work;
• Use breakout rooms so students can discuss in smaller groups before reporting back to the full group;
• Use the chat function so students can message the instructor their position or stand on a particular question---think of chat as representing students’ thought bubbles. It allows the instructor to learn about interesting points of view that students are thinking about that can then be drawn upon in the discussion. We do not have this advantage in the physical classroom because when one student is speaking the instructor does not know what other students are thinking. 
• Many of these advantages are not available in the physical classroom. There are clear challenges of online teaching---lack of human contact, inability to read body language, the absence of the atmosphere and energy of an engaging in-person discussion, the inability to see the board and the students at the same time. So the key is to take advantage of the benefits of online learning and minimizing the disadvantages. Doing online what one would do in class without rethinking the students’ online experience and the advantages of online learning diminishes the online experience.

Let me defer what we might do in the long run to later in our conversation. 

Q: HBS adopted Zoom platform. What advice will you give to faculty to use this platform well?
A: Educators should take advantage of features in Zoom (or other online platforms like Microsoft Teams or Bluejeans) such as polls, breakout rooms and chat. I would also make a few other points regarding technology infrastructure.

1. Educational institutions using this platform need to be sure that they have contracted for adequate bandwidth with the platform provider for peak loads. It is ideal, but not necessary, to develop a relationship with the provider to troubleshoot problems and work on technology fixes.
2. Ensure that the technology support within the institution is strong. Our Information Technology group became a critical resource to deliver classes on line. They were fantastically competent and worked long hours in partnership with the faculty to deliver a quality classroom experience. The IT team also had to be ready to sense and respond to problems as we went online. However carefully we had planned the transition to online, we knew there would be problems that would come up, which the team needed to address.
3. Take time to train faculty to teach online. Many faculty have not taught online and can learn from those who have. We did a lot to train faculty in small groups and also gave them the opportunity to teach a practice class before they taught their classes online.
4. It is very difficult for the IT team alone to manage the technology needs of faculty during class. I would strongly recommend creating the role of an Online Learning Facilitator (OLF). These are not IT experts but staff members in the school (MBA, Executive Education, Faculty support, Finance, Human Relations, and Research) who partner with faculty to deliver a class. They support faculty to ensure that students have a good online experience. These individuals also need to be trained. They escalate complex IT problems to the IT specialists.
5. Develop contingency and back up plans in case of technical challenges or faculty falling sick.

Q: Does online teaching meet the desired MBA learning goals?
A: I believe that the student learning experience from online classes is positive. Online learning is different from in-person classes with some advantages and disadvantages as I have already described but students do get a good education online.

Students miss the co-curricular and extra-curricular experiences, interaction with faculty and spontaneous peer-to-peer learning that come from living on a campus and interacting in social forums. Online programs can organize virtual meeting rooms for students, virtual office hours with faculty, and virtual social events but this is different from actually meeting people.

As normalcy returns, I am hopeful that we will use the online teaching skills and capabilities that we have developed to use blended approaches to learning that combine the strengths of physical and digital approaches. If we can design programs to take advantage of the strengths of each approach, student learning will be definitely enhanced.

Q: How relevant is asynchronous teaching in MBA?
A: Asynchronous teaching tools are very powerful, especially in technical subjects. They allow for one-to-one teaching-learning, which is not possible in a traditional class, where some students invariably get left behind.

With a recorded lecture, students can pause, rewind and spend as much time as they need. They can learn at their own pace and in their own learning style. 

But as with any tool, the asynchronous learning experience must be crafted by placing the student at the center of the learning process. How do students learn and what can we do to keep them engaged so they have fun learning? This has several implications. It is not as simple as recording a faculty lecture and having students view it.

• Break up the video into short modules of say 7-10 minutes and have students interact with the content by answering questions at the end of each module to test their understanding of the material.
• Make videos more dynamic and engaging, for example, through animation and story telling.
• Set students up for success. Use online assessment to diagnose areas where students are struggling. Asynchronous online teaching allows fast feedback loops from the learner to the teacher so learning can be tailored to unblock concepts students find challenging. 
• The asynchronous learning model at Harvard Business School Online uses the case method with students discussing cases and preassigned questions among themselves without a professor leading the discussion. Student satisfaction with this innovative approach to online asynchronous teaching is very high. 

Q: So, can this student-behavior data be used by B-schools to improve their MBA in the same way as a Netflix or Amazon do customer analytics?
A: I think this is possible. If B-schools can understand student engagement patterns and challenges, they will be able to improve their offering in the same way as Netflix and Amazon do.

Currently the student feedback loop is weak. Technology allows for instant feedback. Faculty will be able to test different pedagogical methods and design learning approaches that are more effective.   

Q: What are your views on Online Assessment of MBA students?
A: Online assessment has been happening for some time and technological advancements using a variety of techniques like face-reading, background noise analysis, and other forms of identification make it possible to have fair examinations.

This is not an issue for us at Harvard Business School. Students sign an ‘Honor-Code’ where they promise to uphold community values and act with integrity. None of our exams have invigilators. Students take the exam and submit their answers within the time allowed for the exam. Of course, the consequences of violating community values are significant. This system works very well.

Q: What is your advice to MBA Educators who want to adapt to the new online environment?
A: I know this is a difficult task for many institutions including challenges in providing students the opportunity to connect online. As I said earlier, adapt the course to the online environment and teach differently. We followed a set of design principles in our work that I am happy to share.

1. Keep it simple. The temptation is to do too much but the initial goal should be to deliver a quality education online.
2. Encourage faculty to keep expanding the repertoire of what they do online one step a time. For example, initially only use Power Point slides, then do polls, then breakout rooms, then chat. We used a Slack channel to share innovations and experiences so everyone could learn from each other. 
3. Follow the 80% rule. If faculty are reasonably comfortable, go for it. Don’t let the best be the enemy of the good. Follow a cycle of doing, learning, and iterating. 
4. Have a bias for speed and action over analysis. Inspire and empower people to act.
5. Build a culture of teamwork and collaboration. Everyone succeeds or fails together. It is not one group’s fault.
6. This is a new and exciting opportunity. But because it is new, appeal to faculty, students, and staff to (a) be patient and have forbearance because it will not be perfect (b) be forgiving because mistakes will be made (c) be resourceful because it will require people to be imaginative and innovative and (d) be adaptive because things will happen that will require people to change and try something different.

Q: How can Faculty members get more resources from your HBS experience?
A: We documented all the training and teaching tips so faculty could refer to them after the training as they prepared to teach. We have made all these resources available for free at the Harvard Business Publishing website on this URL: https://hbsp.harvard.edu/teaching-online-resources/

Q: Unfortunately, if the current situation stretches for 3-6 months, what should B-schools do? In India, new session starts in June…
A: I would encourage B-schools to start the new session on schedule with online classes and move to regular classes as normalcy is restored. I think MBA faculty should view the current environment as a fantastic opportunity to learn new skills for online delivery. Even as things return to normal, I would encourage schools to innovate and blend the different advantages of physical and online learning to reimagine education. Across industries, I do not expect business practices and processes to go back to the pre-Covid world. Education should be no different.

Q: What impact do you see of the current scenario on long term Future of Management Education?
A: I think institutions are building many valuable skills, capabilities, and competencies by offering online education. As a result, I expect management education and the classroom of the future to be different and better, taking advantage of asynchronous and synchronous online learning as well as case-based and field-based methods. The knowing, doing, and being skills that we wrote about in Rethinking the MBA will all be enhanced.

Let me speculate about how one might reimagine management education in an online or a blended/hybrid world. I use the term hybrid/blended broadly to include teaching some students in-person and some online at the same time or getting students to learn some material online and some in-person. The key guidepost is to focus on the student, make learning engaging, and fun, while helping students to learn how to learn. We are already familiar with the significant benefits of the physical classroom so I will focus my comments on where online learning might enhance the MBA experience.

1. Identify areas where learners can benefit from learning at their own pace and style. This benefit might be particularly valuable when building certain “knowing” skills. For example, in mastering technical material such as quantitative methods, data analytics, finance, and accounting, students might need different amounts of time to learn key concepts. In these areas, any of the modes of asynchronous learning described earlier could be helpful. Students will continue to hone judgment and critical thinking skills during in-person classroom discussions.
2. Use technology to enhance the physical classroom. Online tools, such as chats and breakout rooms, can enhance the physical classroom by enabling students to share ideas and discuss questions in smaller groups. Virtual study groups might make it more convenient for students to prepare for class together and use online tools to share their work during class. Technology also enables rich simulation exercises to be run online.
3. Identify opportunities where geographical dispersion provides a learning benefit. The online component of a course could be designed to enable students in different regions of a country or world to work on projects with local organizations while sharing learnings, for example, about different marketing practices used for the same product across different geographies and markets. Alumni in different locations could serve as mentors, coaches and advisors for students. It would be easier to simultaneously draw on experts from different regions to be a resource to students. The key is to imagine opportunities where dispersed locations provide a learning benefit. 
   If the classroom of the future could have participants join online from different locations and feel part of a live classroom, short duration executive education courses could be run with live and virtual participants or only online participants. At Harvard Business School, we have studios, where participants appear on large screens in front of faculty. Faculty teach from the front of the studio and engage participants in case discussions, much as they would in a regular HBS classroom.
4. Develop opportunities where expanding the learning time span facilitates learning. Many doing skills such as experiential learning and innovative thinking, are best honed when students learn tools and practice them simultaneously. Today, we separate learning from experience. I could imagine offering a project course where students are in different locations designing a new service, product or business model while continuing their education online. Online programs might also be an interesting way for entrepreneurs starting a business to be engaged in learning.

I see another benefit to exposing students to online education. As students get more comfortable with this medium and how to interact on it, they will become better leaders and managers simply because they will be more prepared to interact with employees, teams, customers, suppliers and the community, in different locations, to get work done more effectively and efficiently. I already see companies using online skills in ways they had not imagined to sell, serve their customers, develop business plans, and exercise control.

Q: To close, what is your message to MBA Educators in India?
A: We should embrace change and leverage the opportunities of online education. Use the current crisis to trigger innovations. I see this happening in many industries and organizations and I am optimistic that we too will make our MBA programs stronger and better.