{"id":5552,"date":"2017-04-24T16:04:57","date_gmt":"2017-04-24T20:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/hbx-needs-to-go-whole-hog-on-vr-classrooms\/"},"modified":"2017-04-24T19:31:26","modified_gmt":"2017-04-24T23:31:26","slug":"hbx-needs-to-go-whole-hog-on-vr-classrooms","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-digit\/submission\/hbx-needs-to-go-whole-hog-on-vr-classrooms\/","title":{"rendered":"HBX Needs to Go Whole-Hog on VR Classrooms"},"content":{"rendered":"

性视界 Business School has dipped its toe into digital learning through its HBX platform.\u00a0 HBX offers online courses in \u201cpreparatory\u201d business topics (\u201cCORe\u201d), as well as a course on Disruptive Strategy.\u00a0 The course on Disruptive Strategy lasts 6 weeks, costs $1,500, and includes 30-35 hours of content \u2013 mainly videos, short-response questions, and a group project).[1]<\/a>\u00a0 HBX has also launched a \u201cvirtual classroom\u201d project that is \u201cdesigned to reproduce the intimacy and synchronous interaction of 性视界 Business School\u2019s famed case study method in a digital environment.\u201d[2]<\/a>\u00a0 According to the HBX website, \u201cParticipants from around the globe can log in concurrently and join real-time, case-based sessions with HBS faculty who teach from the HBX Live studio\u201d [in Allston, near HBS campus].\u00a0 \u201cIn the custom-designed studio, a high-resolution video wall mimics the amphitheater-style seating of an HBS classroom, where up to 60 participants are displayed on individual screens simultaneously.\u201d<\/p>\n

This\u00a0produ\"\"<\/a>ct is clearly brushing up against virtual reality.\u00a0 Interestingly, however, uptake has been limited both from the professor\/content producer side of the platform, as well as from the user side.\u00a0 Even though HBX was launched 5 years ago, Disruptive Strategy is still the only course that is available to users.\u00a0 Organizationally, it is unclear how (if at all) HBS incentivizes professors to make their courses available on the platform.\u00a0 It also seems that \u2013 to date at least \u2013 the HBX offering is simply not as compelling as actually enrolling in an on-premise MBA or executive education program.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is surprising to me that HBS would pursue such a half-baked approach to digital content.\u00a0 They clearly know that there is something magical about the case method: being \u201cpart of a discussion,\u201d rather than merely receiving a monodirectional \u201cbroadcast,\u201d is in most circumstances a more effective mode of learning.\u00a0 Perhaps prior methods of digital learning (websites, asynchronous online videos) simply didn\u2019t provide the interactivity that makes the case method work.\u00a0 Moreover, even with their HBX Live offering, it is possible that the quality\u00a0of perspectives represented in the digital classroom didn\u2019t quite cut the mustard.\u00a0 I think virtual reality can potentially solve all of these problems.<\/p>\n

HBS ought to record actual<\/em> case discussions, and run them through a natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) engine \u2013 segmenting discussion into key themes, and identifying which topics generate the most student engagement.\u00a0 Then, they ought to create a virtual classroom populated with digital avatars, who parrot the comments or exchanges that have historically been the most interesting.\u00a0 Individual consumers could asynchronously \u201carrive\u201d at the classroom and experience a classroom discussion.\u00a0 They could make comments, and the NLP engine would identify what \u201cthemes\u201d are most closely related to the student\u2019s comments \u2013 and then trigger related discussions by the avatars.\u00a0 A virtual professor could then \u201center\u201d the discussion to summarize (pre-determined) \u201ckey takeaways\u201d at the end of each class session.\u00a0 The \u201cquality\u201d of participants and discussion might actually be enhanced\u00a0\u2013 not only by drawing from the best or most engaging comments from real<\/em> class discussions, but also by packaging those comments in more interesting avatars (e.g. having avatars of Merkel, Le Pen, Assad, and Erdogan in the classroom to discuss the Syrian refugee crisis).\u00a0 The avatars\u2019 comments could even be curated to the level of sophistication or area of expertise of the student (i.e. how technical to get).\u00a0 At some point, a VR classroom experience will be as-good or better than a live classroom, and HBS ought to be on the leading edge of exploring such opportunities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Hbx.hbs.edu\/Documents\/Disruptive%20Strategy%20Syllabus.pdf<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> HBX.hbs.edu\/learn-platforms\/hbx-live<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s hard to digitally replicate the case method with online videos or massive group chats. 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