What can managers learn online? Investigating possibilities for active understanding in the online MBA classroom

Goumaa, R. ORCID: 0000-0002-0896-9970, Anderson, L. and Zundel, M., 2019. What can managers learn online? Investigating possibilities for active understanding in the online MBA classroom. Management Learning, 50 (2), pp. 226-244. ISSN 1350-5076

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Abstract

Online MBAs have become integral to business schools’ portfolios and the number of MBA students opting for an online version looks set to grow. In the wake of well documented critiques of traditional MBA formats, this expansion prompted us to examine the potential for critically reflexive learning ideals in asynchronous MBA learning environments. Building the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model we elaborate elements of Bakhtin and Shotter’s dialogism to develop the notion of ‘active understanding’ as a means to study an online MBA classroom. We present two illustrative episodes to show how aspects of active understanding may unfold and we point to the role of infrastructure, curriculum and instructor interventions in developing more genuine dialogical exchanges. Our findings suggest that online MBA course designers can learn from CoI approaches to which we add that critically reflexive learning is situationally sensitive; requiring the capacity to create and recognize nuance and difference in the written communication; making the other the focus of learning. We conclude with implications for pedagogy and technology infrastructure.

Item Type: Journal article
Publication Title: Management Learning
Creators: Goumaa, R., Anderson, L. and Zundel, M.
Publisher: Sage
Date: 2019
Volume: 50
Number: 2
ISSN: 1350-5076
Identifiers:
NumberType
10.1177/1350507618800602DOI
Divisions: Schools > Nottingham Business School
Record created by: Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added: 14 Jun 2018 13:28
Last Modified: 03 Sep 2019 14:50
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/33857

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