HBS Launches Virtual Classroom in a TV Studio

When you think of online classes, what do you picture? For most of us, the best part of an online class is the having the chance to sit on the couch in your pajamas eating Cheetos while learning the basics of managerial accounting. Well, some bad news for those folks. Harvard Business School has launched HBX Live, “a virtual classroom designed to reproduce the intimacy and synchronous interaction of HBS’s famed case method in a digital environment.”
Nitin Nohria, the Dean of Harvard Business School noted, “HBX Live will help us deliver on our promise of lifelong learning by giving us a new way to engage students and alumni—not just here in Boston, but around the globe—as their professional and educational needs evolve over the course of their careers.”
So what is it exactly? Well it all starts with the Live Studio located at a public broadcaster close to Boston. In the studio a “high-resolution video wall mimics the amphitheater-style seating of an HBS classroom, with up to 60 participants displayed on individual screens simultaneously.” Classes use still and roaming cameras to give students the feel of being in a real life classroom where they can look at the professor and other students with ease.
So far 20 professors have taught a class in the studio and 96 per cent of alumni who took part in the first session said they were eager to participate in it again.
Historically, online classes have had a negative connotation. Especially because they are most closely associated with programs that are purely online. Online programs have come under tremendous scrutiny from not only students and educators, but regulatory bodies, government departments and even Congress. Their effectiveness is questionable and their future is very much in doubt. However, HBX Live is obviously something different and as technology improves and the way in which students learn evolves, this can be a really valuable tool in a school’s tool kit.
How and why will HBX Live be a valuable tool? Imagine how much easier schools will be able to reach students and alumni. Whether you are in Boston or Beijing, you can get the same experience as someone sitting in a classroom. Giving students and opportunity to still attend class while away on study abroad or working at an internship will create more learning opportunities for students. How helpful would it be for a student on an internship across the world, dial in for a class in the evening and put into practice what they learned the very next day. Putting together custom programs for alumni will become easier and more engaging, helping schools provide enhanced services to their alumni and giving alumni a reason to stay in touch with the school.
So will the HBX Live studio be the new way of teaching in business school, or just a neat trick for niche classes or one off events? We’re not sure. But, you should probably leave the Cheetos alone in either case.