Cybercultures & Online Exec Ed

Can we claim to have a cyberculture that defines and bounds our online endeavours? If our bag is online executive education, then shouldn't we be framing our investigations along the lines of existing 'cyberculture' discourse? Key Questions include:

• what is an online community? Is it some form of virtual hot-tub? Can we witness a semi-compulsive practice of checking in occasionally with others who are checking in occasionally in all sorts of online forums? Or is this a fiction?
• is it a body of people who, like me, venture onto the Net for a few minutes between activities or while the bath runs, or between instant messenger conversations, or between meeting with my colleagues & clients?
• are online or virtual communities an illusion, where there are no real people and no real communication - a term used by idealistic technophiles who fail to understand that the authentic cannot be engendered through technological means.
• Virtual community is people all over the business education world gathered around their computers doing everyday tasks?

Borrowing from the cyberculture discourse serves to reframe how I think about and describe the link between online & education. The technohype of the cyberculture discourse throws into sharp contrast the pedestrian pace of our community's (which one is this then?) adoption of ICT.

ExecutiveZen

ExecutiveZen
Cranfield are launching two ICT-related initiatives that meet our perception of our client’s needs. These are the Knowledge INTERCHANGE, and CranfieldOnline.com. Both are intended to operate in the territory outlined above – the INTERCHANGE of institutionalised/educationalised executive education and situationalised/practitioner-oriented learning. For both projects the use of technology is placed secondary to the learning requirements of the delegate/corporate. This intent is in line with Cranfield’s adoption of the title networked learning as the appropriate categorisation of learning mediated via ICT, as distinct from the more limiting title of e-learning, which serves to foreground the role of technology. Networked learning employs both technological-oriented networks (the Internet, ICT in general) and social networks to fulfil its aim of creating new knowledge and learning opportunities relevant to our client.


The Knowledge INTERCHANGE – will be launched in September 2005 at Cranfield’s Management Development Centre (CMDC). Situated overlooking the CMDC’s suite of lecture rooms, executive education delegates within the Knowledge INTERCHANGE will be able to access dedicated management knowledge resources, a wireless lounge, knowledge creation, media and coaching areas. The Knowledge INTERCHANGE will be an environment for clients to assimilate Cranfield’s latest thinking on issues related to management. It is a place where faculty and delegates will converge to jointly create new knowledge & valued learning for themselves and their organisations. Integral to the Knowledge INTERCHANGE are the services provided by the Library & Information Service at Cranfield, a key partner in the project. Networked technology allows us to open a window on the world’s knowledge and ideas, giving the ability to present executive development clients with a wealth of learning materials available 24x7 from anywhere in the world. Structured around four main themes, ‘paths’ will lead learners to interesting and relevant content, including research and analysis on global economies, markets and companies, in addition to books and journals on all aspects of business and management. Evolving from recommended reading for modules, assignments and projects our clients can delve more deeply into a topic area, looking for further materials on the same subject or linking to related topics. Technology supports such serendipity - the chance discovery of a document or idea that might represent completely new ways of thinking around a business problem.
The Knowledge INTERCHANGE plans to be both a physical and a virtual space. We are designing an online learning experience that actively engages users, whether they are on-site at Cranfield, accessing from home or the office. Such spaces imaginatively bring objects, text, images and people together to create virtual learning communities around management thinking at Cranfield and beyond. In this way the Knowledge INTERCHANGE lays a bridge between Cranfield University and our clients; the expert practitioners in industry, providing guidance and support in implementing management learning.
CranfieldOnline, like the Knowledge INTERCHANGE, is work-in-progress. It is the umbrella online environment which includes the Knowledge INTERCHANGE and all Cranfield programme-related web portals for both graduate academic (MBA, MSc, DBA, PhD) as well as open & customised executive education programmes.

What Clients Want

ExecutiveZen
Amongst the lessons Cranfield have learned from talking with our clients, with fellow executive education practitioners and with the Oracle community in particular are the following:

That there are (at least) two distinct, and sometimes conflicting, agendas involved in negotiating the provision and uptake of an executive education ‘product’. A convenient, though by no means sufficient, labelling of these agenda distinctions is between theory and practice; between the theoretical (Mode 1) perspective and the practitioner (Mode 2) perspective; between thinkers and doers. Quite possibly, striving for a unitary agenda across these perspectives is a futile process doomed to failure. More than that, such a unifying intent may ultimately limit our efforts to make a real and full contribution to management/business theory and practice. The convenience of unified agenda serves only to oversimplify a rich complexity. When transformed into the logical conclusion of a set of principles for executive education, or principles for the adoption of information communication technology (ICT) in executive education, the unifying intent inevitably leads to the wrong issues being addressed or a one-size-fits-all solution whose application is attempted but not appreciated. Equally importantly, a unitary perspective ignores the political dimensions inside organisations – some of which are related to learning, where others speak of power networks – that often provide the impetus for executive education decisions that have a direct commercial impact on the b-school provider communities.
That what we think consumers ‘should’ want, they don’t
That the ICT approach adopted by executive education providers is at the same time both dynamic and hesitant. Two informal Cranfield surveys of global b-school providers spaced at a twelve month interval indicates significant change in the nature of the product, the approach and the platforms used in delivering it. What was offered by one provider and the means by which it was provided at the start of the year was different to their offering at the end of the year. This was the case for several providers surveyed. In itself this should not be surprising, given the rate of change of IT systems. However, the breadth of change observed infers changing patterns of consumption as well as changing conceptions of those products.

ExecutiveZen

ExecutiveZen
Our entire approach to meeting the above client requirements is based on a specific treatment of the divide between ‘theory’ and ‘practice’. Cranfield’s educational heritage is situated in ‘practical knowledge’ rather than in abstract theorising. To use the technical jargon of methods of knowledge production (Gibbons et al, 1994, The New Production of Knowledge, Sage), we operate in the 'Mode 2' paradigm in which knowledge is produced in the context of application by the practitioner. This is distinct to the 'Mode 1' paradigm, where knowledge production occurs largely as a result of an academic agenda and where little attention is given to its application by practitioners. I think this Mode1/Mode 2 distinction is a useful categorisation for our group, as it begins to map out the two strategic agendas of b-school and b-school consumer.

Given our Mode 2 heritage, Cranfield are addressing the needs of executive education consumers in the following ways:


The process of customisation is driven by our reluctance to simply quote or paraphrase, synthesise or further develop an abstract theory that may or may not describe or predict circumstances within the consumers’ contexts. Our classical content is grounded in theory, but at the very least its continued theoretical treatment is geared toward a further advancement of that theory from the active input into the knowledge creation process by the practitioner – the manager/delegate/client/consumer. At our best we use theory to help our consumers articulate their strategic and operational contexts, with these articulations then forming the basis of pragmatically-oriented classroom discussion.
There is a trade-off between taking time to assimilate theoretical frameworks with a view to more clearly articulate business issues, and having a ‘convenient’ intervention. We meet this need by optimising the focus of the material delivered by academics onto the practitioners’ contexts: this is done via the consultancy and needs assessment process
The above two points ensure that the intervention is relevant. The experience & skill of the programme director ensures that the learning methods (e.g. case study, action learning, discussion, etc.) is relevant to the learning capacities of consumers
In answer to the need to provide clients with a systemic intervention that brings performance improvements through the application of our latest thinking: we use action learning and project groups to provide continuity between multi-module programmes and offer executive coaching post-programme, all of which embeds the process of knowledge application inside the delegate’s workplace

Following on from Lee's thoughts on exactly who constitutes a 'client', we are not doing ourselves (as b-schools that is) any favours in claiming that we can indeed summarise our client's needs. The danger of such a claim is that it reinforces a doctor/patient mindset that implies that we (b-schools) know what is good for you (clients). I'm prepared to run the risk of going off on an academic tangent with this as I believe our uncritical acceptance of classical pedagogical methods is part of the problem we’re encountering. Whilst the 'doctor/patient' metaphor grossly oversimplifies the wealth of intentions at play in our educative endeavours, I'd hope it may serve to stimulate reflection of how we (as individuals and as representatives of our institutions) frame our practices.

That said, I perceive my clients needs for the provision of executive education from Cranfield as the following:


Highly customised, i.e. not one-size-fits-all approach. Clients want an active part in the programme design process, via a needs analysis consisting of consultancy, focus groups and interviews
Convenience – or reduced opportunity costs of managers out of the workplace for long periods. This often relates to locating programmes either in or near the workplace or at a geographical distance from Cranfield classrooms.
Relevant to their particular managerial & business contexts - even for open enrolment programmes, consumers want exposure to content that is targeted at their specific work contexts. Corporate consumers want us to understand the strategic contexts of their businesses so that we can tailor content to suit their learning requirements.
For programmes aimed at the corporate, clients want a systemic intervention – a programme that not only builds the efficacy of individual delegates but which has a wider beneficial impact on the entire organisation.
The latest thinking on all aspects of management – to support the programme content with evidence-based research. The utilisation of that new knowledge then allows clients to plan strategies and operations that delivers not just performance improvement but competitive advantage
The intervention should directly contribute to performance improvements for the individual delegates and/or client organisation that are measurable, be that via classical evaluation methods or via the active management of an embedded suite of process improvement or performance metrics
Where the intervention is aimed at a corporate, the chosen developmental tactics (exec.ed) employed should align with, bolster or supplant existing corporate management development policy; namely, develop existing & emergent competencies inside the client organisation; align with existing and/or emergent management career structures; and provide feedback to the corporate management development policy stakeholders on the efficacy of that policy
For open enrolment executive education delegates want to increase their managerial capability via the assimilation of new knowledge, stimulating learning processes, and to learn alongside similarly effective practitioners with whom they can network
A clearly planned process that translates knowledge acquired in the classroom into action in the workplace
The integration of innovative learning methods onto the programmed development intervention, e.g. coaching, action learning sets and project groups, e-learning, blogs, networking events, guest speakers
A trusted and longer term relationship with a executive education provider that can deliver all of the above