WELCOME TO THE VIRTUAL CLASSROOM
Online environment allows for the flexibility of independent study
When Chris Bowman decided to complete an executive master of business administration (EMBA) program, he was a sales representative whose position required him to be on the road often.
He knew getting to a campus to attend in-person classes would challenging so he looked to the University of Fredericton (UFred) — an entirely online institution that for the past 10 years has been facilitating, among its offerings, an EMBA option for advanced-career professionals with mid-senior level management experience.
“The online aspect provides all types of tools and f lexibility that allow for a work-life-school balance,” says Bowman who, with his background in automation and robotics, started the program in April 2015 and completed it this month. “If I was going from Ottawa to Niagara, I could dial into a course with my headset or if I was on vacation and I couldn’t dial in I could go back online and watch a lecture that was recorded. At the same time, I also became better at time management.”
While an online environment allows for the f lexibility of independent study, UFred’s EMBA program — which consists of 10 foundation courses, three specialization courses and one capstone integration project course during which students work with industry — is unique in that it facilitates weekly virtual classes. Each course features one weekly class that allows professors to deliver live lectures as students engage in discussions, presentations and group work. To maximize the global online learning experience, students also participate in live seminars and/ or conferences with experienced leaders from global organizations.
Sheri McKillop is the associate dean of UFred’s Sandermoen School of Business. She says thanks to its online environment, the school also isn’t limited to hiring professors from one part of the world. Instead, professors from all over Canada and the United States join UFred’s faculty and bring with them a global perspective to their areas of expertise.
“We have the luxury of recruiting and maintaining PhDs who can teach from wherever they are located,” she says. “All of our profs are dedicated to our students and keep office hours akin to a traditional university, and interact via email, Skype or other collaborative online tools.”
For Bowman, the interactive features of the program were a way of networking and gaining new perspectives that established lifelong connections.
“It’s a collaborative program that is truly involved,” he says. “The interactions you have with professors and your peers will have a significant impact on your success. I always make the comment that I didn’t do my MBA on my own; we did it as a group.”
The EMBA’s three specialization courses account for a student’s chosen stream and the university currently offers seven streams — global leadership, health and safety leadership, social enterprise leadership, business analytics leadership, innovation leadership, real estate leadership and human resource leadership. Bowman says with an increasing shift in the Ontario job market from manufacturing to innovation and research development, his chosen innovation leadership stream aligned well with where he sees the local economy heading.
McKillop adds that this is the precise goal of the specialty streams: to allow students to customize their education by building on their expertise and exploring an area of interest that ref lects the demands of the current job market.
“You get that core MBA foundation with highly ranked and rated content, and then take it a step further with specialized knowledge that includes a 12-week integration project course so you can apply what you have learned to the real world,” she says. “A lot of students report back that they get promoted while still in the program because they are confident enough to step up and get noticed.”
Bowman is one of these students. Halfway through his EMBA he changed companies and positions, becoming Ontario sales manager for Wainbee, an employee-owned company specializing in the supply of pneumatic, hydraulic, machining, motion control, safety and filtration products to a range of industries. He credits the knowledge he gained in the program with the advancement.
“I took a massive step forward in my career by being enrolled in the program,” he says. “The EMBA goes beyond the surface level of knowledge to get you thinking about deeper concepts and answering questions such as how does this work and why? And what would you do to modify and grow? So, when you’re going through the program you start noticing that you’re answering questions and thinking of solutions in the workplace in a different way.
“It is definitely a transformative experience that changes your perspective on business and life.”