TECHNOLOGY-ENHANCED MANAGEMENTEDUCATION: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

AND EXPERIENCES WITH ADVANCEDTELECOM-COMPUTER

INTEGRATED TECHNOLOGY

byA. A. ANGEHRN*

andT. NABETH**

96/36/CALT 3

* Associate Professor of Information Systems and Director of the Centre for Advanced LearningTechnologies (CALT) at INSEAD, Boulevard de Constance, Fontainebleau 77305 Cede; France.

** Research Associate at INSEAD, Boulevard de Constance, Fontainebleau 77305 Cedex, France.

A working paper in the INSEAD Working Paper Series is intended as a means whereby a faculty researcher'sthoughts and findings may be communicated to interested readers. The paper should be consideredpreliminary in nature and may require revision.

Printed at INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France.

Technology-Enhanced Management Education: Conceptual Framework andExperiences with Advanced Telecom-Computer Integrated Technology

Albert A. ANGEHRN and Thierry NABETHCentre for Advanced Learning Technologies (CALT)INSEAD, The European Institute of Business Administration, Bd. de Constance, F-77300 Fontainebleau, France(P) 33 1 6072 4000 (F) 33 1 6074 5548 (E) calt@inseadfr

Abstract: Education is one of the most relevant domains in which the integration of emergingcomputer and telecommunication technologies is enabling significant innovations. A prerequisite forthis development are appropriate frameworks to guide education professionals in exploitingadvanced information and communication technologies to significantly enhance the quality andefficiency of traditional management learning and training methods. This paper describes how such aconceptual framework, the Business Navigator method, can be adopted as a basis for integratingadvanced multimedia telecommunication, object-oriented simulation, intelligent agents and virtualreality technology to design "flight simulator"-like learning experiences with high pedagogical value.Technological and pedagogical implications of designing state-of-the-art learning systems based onthe Business Navigator method are illustrated and discussed.

Keywords: Advanced learning technologies, multimedia, object-oriented simulation, intelligentagents and virtual reality.

1. Introduction: Evolving needs and opportunities

While many domains in business, industry and society have undergone major changes as aconsequence of the developments and integration of computer and telecommunication technologies,the field of education, and in particular of management education, is still mainly based onpedagogical models and processes which hardly take advantage of the latest generation of technologyand global telecom infrastructure.

Although multimedia, CD-ROMs, Internet and videoconferencing have begun to be adopted moreextensively by educational institutions and corporate trainers, their impact is still very limited asthese technologies are generally applied in the educational context without an in-depth revision andredesign of the underlying pedagogical processes and models for knowledge acquisition, creation,and dissemination.

As described in [1], the traditional management education methods in use today were developed inresponse to the stable and predictable business environment of the 1960's, 1970's and early 1980's.Organizations were characterized by hierarchical structures, internal focus, remuneration based onpersonal accomplishments, lifelong career expectations and individual competition fostered at alllevels. Executive power was based on formal authority, personal information access and network,political savvy and ability to get things done through others. As a logical consequence, managementdevelopment programs concentrated on developing functional and analysis skills for the graduatemanager through MBA type programs and strategic and conceptual skills for the executive throughshort duration courses.

In the meantime, the business environment has undergone important changes. In order to respond tothese environmental drivers, organizations have already started to rebuild and refocus themselvesafter a period of rightsizing tactics [38], to undertake continuous improvement and total qualitymanagement programs and to empower employees and stakeholders [8, 15, 16], to experiment withmore flexible internal structures [7, 28, 30, 63] and to explore strategic alliancing and othercooperation strategies [10, 48].

Closed Hierarchy Open Networked Organization

Structure

Scope

Resource focus

State

Personnel/ focus

Key drivers

Direction

Basis of action

Individual motivation

Learning

Basis for compensation

Relationships

Employee attitude

Dominant requirements

Hierarchical

Internal/closed

Capital

Static, stable

Managers

Reward and punishment

Management Commands

Control

Satisfy superiors

Specific skills

Position in hierarchy

Competitive (my turf)

Detachment (It's my job)

Sound management

Networked

External/open

Human, information

Dynamic, changing

Professionals

Commitment

Self-management

Empowerment to act

Achieve team goals

Broader competencies

Accomplishment, competence level

Cooperative (our challenge)

Identification (It's my company)

Leadership

These responses are resulting in changes to organizational form, policy and process. Tapscott andCaston [63] capture the essence of these changes in their comparison between closed hierarchy andopen networked organizations illustrated in Table 1.

Table 1: The various dimensions of an open networked organization are compared with its predecessor,a closed hierarchical organization.

The new skills necessary to manage during the turbulent nineties are evolving, requiring an increasedbreadth and depth of the managers' skill-base in order to enable them to:

(1) operate internationally and have a good understanding of cultural differences;

(2) select essential data, interpret signals, determine clear objectives and act rapidly, often on thebasis of excessive though incomplete information;

(3) be flexible and adopt continuous learning as a philosophy of life;

(4) get things done with others rather than through others.

Points 2 and 3 in particular have enormous implications on the way managers are trained.Concerning point 2, the new challenge of leveraging the information and intellectual capital of anorganization is considered critical by many advocates [17, 32, 33, 41, 55]. Key drivers shaping thefocus on information and knowledge as corporate assets are the exponential increase in capacity tostore information, with storage capabilities doubling every 18 months [50] and the exponentialdecrease in the cost of computing, halving every three years [64]. The combination of beingoverwhelmed by the amount of information available and unable to grasp and exploit the advancesbeing made in computing and communication technologies is a problem for the majority ofexecutives and companies today. Taking the perspective that information and knowledge areresources to be utilized on a cost effective basis, in order to achieve corporate goals, executives needto develop skills and processes which enable them to select, analyze, interpret and communicateinformation faster than their competitors in what is becoming a single worldwide informationnetwork.

2-

Related to point 3, the new business scenario requires organizations and individuals to adopt acontinuous learning philosophy [8, 12, 15, 16, 17, 49, 58, 60]. This will require a completely newsupporting and stimulating educational infrastructure. At a personal level this implies a need to'know thyself better', to continually challenge and adjust mental models [58] through action andcritical reflection processes [6]. From a corporate perspective, it is necessary to institutionalize thesepractices, adopt a system-thinking approach to understanding complexity, focus on team rather thanindividual performance and create a safe, open environment in which team members can learn withand from each other. From a training perspective, the key to putting this philosophy into practice isto understand the relationships between course content and delivery methods and the impact theyhave on how we learn so that the most effective approach is used for each learning experience [1].

In summary, the combination of global business operations, strategic networking, informationsharing and team-based, distributed work processes means that executives have to develop advancedcoordination and communication skills and processes. Given the geographic spread of globalcorporations, this also implies an improved mastering of computer and telecommunicationtechnologies.

The Business Navigator method illustrated and discussed in the following sections provides aconceptual framework for redesigning management development systems, reflecting both the newneeds listed above, and the paradigm shift that computing and telecommunication technologies haveundergone since 1960 (see Figure 1, adapted from Tesler [64]).

•

BATCHTIME

SHARING DESKTOP'N

NETWORK

DECADE 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

TECHNOLOGY MEDIUM-SCALE INTEGRATION LARGESCALE INTEGRATION VERY LARGE SCALE ULTRA LARGE SCALE

LOCATION COMPUTER ROOM TERMINAL ROOM DESKTOP MOBILE

LAS STEMS SPECIALISTS INDIVIDUALS GROUPS

USER STATUS SUBSERVIENCE DEPENDENCE INDEPENDENCE FFEECOM

DATA ALPHA-NUMERIC TEXT, VECTOR FONTS, GRAPHS SCRIPT, VOICE

CELIEC77VE CALCULATE ACCESS PRESENT COMMUNICATION

USER ACTIVITY PUNCH & TRY (SUBMIT) REMEMBER & TYPE (INTERACT) SEE & POINT (DRIVE) ASK & TELL (DELEGATE)

OPERATION FROCESS EDIT LAYOUT ORCHESTRATE

NTERCONVECT PERIPHERALS TERMINALS DESKTOPS PALMTOPS

APPLICATIONS CUSTOM STANDARD GENERIC COMPONENT

LANGUAGES COBOL, FORTRAN PLA, BASIC PASCAL, C OBJECT-ORIENTED .0/

Figure 1: The four paradigms of computing and telecommunication technology

The personal computer appeared in the early eighties, during the third paradigm shift andimmediately became a tool to design, deliver and distribute pedagogical material. The benefitsrealized by learners and companies to date include improved computer literacy, control of learningpace, refresher/practice courses available on demand and increased understanding of economic,marketing and production theories through the use of pre-programmed simulations [43, 44, 65].

In spite of these benefits, the use of computers has been quite limited in the education and teachingfields [21, 25]. Computers have been used mainly to display text and simple graphics, speed upmathematical calculations, and run business simulation games. From a technical viewpoint, the lowutilization rate can be attributed to three main limitations of the current generation of technologies:(1) poor quality of human-computer interaction, (2) limited integration of different media(documents, pictures, video), and (3) limited networking capabilities. This is now changing. For

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instance, multimedia and virtual reality technology can be successfully exploited to overcome thequality and integration limitations of computer-based training tools [13, 40, 56, 61, 37]. Theseamless integration of text, voice, music, graphics, animation, still and moving pictures, as well asfull immersion [9] is enabling the design of experiential learning experiences which retain thelearner's interest and deliver accurate, recent information [18].

The benefits from multimedia and virtual reality cannot be fully realized without the advances beingmade in networking and communication technologies. The combination of network, data and videocommunications with the emerging computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) applications [39]make it possible today to design new learning methods and delivery. For many global businesses,this means they can leverage their extensive investment in communication and informationinfrastructures and groupware [31, 45] and link to universities, staff households, other parts of thecompany and external experts in order to achieve both their business and learning objectives.

For the learners, the combination of modern information and communication technologies canprovide interactive access from home to a global multi-disciplinary team of professors andpractitioners or corporate advisors. For academic institutions, the walls have been removed from theclassroom, the buildings have been removed from campus, and the learners, teachers and experts canintervene interactively from anywhere in the world [18, 25, 53].

In summary, the stable, predictable and hierarchical business world is rapidly changing. The newmodel involves unpredictability, uncertainty, information overload, flexible corporate and decision-making structures and cooperation. The essential components for developing the next generation ofexecutive development pedagogical tools are also available. In education as in architecture, formfollows function [51], therefore the challenge is to leverage the insights in learning theory, theadvances in information and communication technologies and to identify any other significantvariable to create even better management development tools in the future.

2. The Business Navigator Method

The Business Navigator Method [1] is an approach to management development which combines theadvantages of the two most widely used methods (Case Method and Business Simulation Games)and defines a framework for the integration of computer and telecommunication technologiesunderlying the next generation of management development tools. The key to Business Navigator isthe development of a Virtual Interactive Business Environment (VIBE), a realistically simulatedbusiness context (e.g. a company) which the learner is invited to explore step-by-step in the course ofa "virtual visit". With a VIBE, case reading is transformed into a real experience in which one canwander through buildings, enter offices, look for information, meet people and interact with them. Ina VIBE, a given business context is mapped onto the three interconnected navigation levelsillustrated in Figure 2: the Physical Network, the Organizational Network and the InformationNetwork.

The concept of navigation on the first, physical level is straightforward. The navigator moves in thephysical business environment, walking through corridors and public spaces, entering offices andmeeting rooms. Current multimedia and interactive video technology allows the production of such"navigable scenes" in which one can decide dynamically in which direction to "turn one's head" in agiven location (e.g. an office), control movements from one location to another (e.g. walking down acorridor to reach a specific office) and use equipment such as telephones and computers. Virtualreality technology can further enhance the realism of the experience by immersing the learner in thebusiness environment through sight, sound and touch.

At the second level, the concept of navigation is extended to a network of "information owners".These agents can be contacted on request and can give access to the information sources madeavailable in the third navigation level. This second level represents the formal organizationalstructures, inter- and intra-organizational relationships, and personal networks of individualorganizational actors.

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LEVEL 1Physicalnetwork

LEVEL 2Organisationalnetwork

LEVEL 3Informationnetwork

Figure 2: Interactive navigation takes place on these three specified levels.

At the third level, the information sources associated with the "information owners" are accessed,such as video and audio interviews, documents, organization reports and extended databases. Theseinformation sources are only accessible on request, after contact has been established with specificorganizational actors (e.g. the company's CEO) or external information providers (e.g. marketresearchers or industry experts).

3. Pedagogical implications of the Business Navigator Method

By adopting a "flight simulation" approach to management education, the extended set ofpedagogical objectives that can be achieved through the Business Navigator method includedimensions that are difficult, if not impossible, to reach through traditional educational methods,such as:

• Learning how to manage complexity (e.g. information overload, complex social interactions)

• Learning how to deal with constraints (time, skills, perspective)

• Learning how to develop efficient information gathering and interpretation strategies ("sensemaking")

• Understanding the role of information (and information ownership related to differentorganizational structures) in companies

• Richer discussion material given the difference of individual strategies

• Richer experience ("case writer perspective" rather than "case reader perspective") involvingboth action and analysis.

In more detail, five pedagogical objectives underlie the Business Navigator Method.

First, the method aims at providing a systematic approach to modeling - and hence communicating -a dynamic, lively image of a global organization. The approach goes way beyond the passive use ofvideos, written reports and traditional exhibits, as it is based on the metaphor of an "interactive visit"and "discovery experience", in which decisions on what to see, whom to contact and whichinformation to collect about the company are taken dynamically. It clearly creates a powerful"learning by doing" stimulus in a safe environment in which mistakes can be made.

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000

Second, it emphasizes the importance of being able to manage efficiently two crucial resources: timeand information. This is achieved by simulating the complexity of today's business environment in arealistic way. The learner is exposed to accurate volumes of business information related toindustries, organizations and environmental forces - social, cultural, economic, technical, political -thus significantly increasing their knowledge of industry, organizational and interpersonal dynamics.The method provides an effective way for conveying important messages concerning the value ofinformation (Information is not for free. Decision makers need to set boundaries to their intelligencegathering processes), the need for developing and refining strategies to decide who to approach in anorganization, and when, where and how to approach them (Information is not always easy to get as itis grounded in a social environment) and other peculiar characteristics of this resource (Informationis not necessarily consistent; Information is subject to interpretation and to discounting).

Third, the method provides managers with the opportunity to reflect on the speed and quality of theirdecisions in complex and information-extensive situations. For this specific purpose, so-called"Stimulus Agents" interactive in the roles of advisors, devils advocates and story tellers [3] providecontinuous stimulus for the learners to reflect on the speed and quality of their decision-making, aswell as on their navigation experiences, information gathering and time management strategies.

Fourth, the method focuses on training the learner in problem/opportunity identification,interpretation and sense-making skills in addition to improving analytical and problem-solvingskills. The learner is required to act and demonstrate initiative, make sense of the informationcollected and actively practice all forms of interpersonal and communication skills along his or herinteractive journey through the organization. While the Case Method can be used effectively to trainmanagers to analyze a business context summarized and pre-structured in a 20 to 30 page narrative,the Business Navigator Method shifts the perspective of a manager from the "case reader" to the"case writer" seat. Adopting this point of view corresponds more to the reality managers areconfronted with in practice [24, 601 Information is not provided in advance in a well-structuredreport. It must be collected, extracted from its social context, selected, interpreted and structured intoa coherent picture. As is the case in practice, analysis and action, interpretation and informationgathering, problem-solving and problem recognition are not separated, but interlinked managerialactivities.

Fifth, the Business Navigator Method does not only provide a unique opportunity to experience thecomplexity and interactions of a business environment, but significantly enhances the quality anddiversity of the ensuing discussions and reflection (see Figure 3).

PHASE 1

PHASE 2Navigation experience in a

Group discussion andVirtual Interactive Business Environment comparison of experiences

(individuals or networked teams)

(co-located or distributed teams)

Figure 3: The two phases of the Business Navigator Method.

6

LEVEL 1Physicalnetwork

LEVEL 2Organisational \/network

NNW '<tig■Issions■

LEVEL 3Informationnetwork

The experience gained during the navigation provides the foundation for lively group discussions onthe solutions the learners have generated, both individually and in teams, for given contexts andsituations. Facilitated reflection on personal experiences in relation to strategies and processes usedduring the navigation enables the learners to compare experiences and examine how their culture,functional discipline, work experience, individual and team behavior and other factors influence theirinformation gathering and decision-making processes and help them appreciate the diversity ofmanaging and working in multi-cultural and global teams. This is in addition to the traditionalbenefit of increasing the learners' understanding of various theoretical frameworks.

In summary, at the pedagogical level, the Business Navigator Method provides a much richer andmore intensive learning experience than traditional management education methods with its mainstrengths being:

• creating a powerful, safe experiential (learning by doing) experience;• capturing and mirroring the complexity of today's business environment;• expanding personal organizational and industry knowledge;• emphasizing the importance of managing time and information;• interactively stimulating continuous reflection on quality and speed of decision-making

processes;• complementing opportunity and problem-finding with interpretation, sense-making, problem-

solving and communication skill development;• developing team-building sensitivities and skills;• stimulating reflection on personal experiences and being able to appreciate the variety and

diversity of management thinking and action.

4. Technological implications of the Business Navigator Method

Different technologies are available today for modeling and implementing the three levels of a VIBE(see Figure 4).

Hypertext Authoring Tools withMultimedia extensions.3D modelling and distributedVirtual Reality packagesAdvanced Interface MetaphorsGroupware technologyAutonomous agents technology

Distributed object-orientedknowledge representation modelsGenetic algorithms and neuralnetworks

Figure 4: Computing and Telecom Technologies underlying the implementation of VIBEs

Typically, modeling the first level, i.e. the physical business environment, can be performed throughcomputer-based representations of "virtual spaces" such as offices, corridors, or meeting rooms,through which organizational agents - including the user(s)/learner(s) - can navigate. Technologiesavailable to implement "virtual spaces" and navigation mechanisms range from systems providingflat (2-dimensional) and relatively static visual representations with limited navigation option, tovery sophisticated systems providing a high sense of realism. Hence, simple VIBEs can beimplemented using traditional hypermedia authoring tools such as Hypercard, Toolbook, Director, orHTML-based packages [22]. Here, physical networks are represented by series of static images (e.g.pictures of offices or libraries) and navigation takes place through simple actions such as "go to"commands associated with parts of static images (doors, switches, etc.). In order to add realism tosuch simple representations, multimedia elements can be easily associated with navigation actions orevents. For instance, the background sound of a cafeteria may be associated to a specific virtualspace in order to recreate a given atmosphere, or a video of a trading floor may enhance a bank

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communication mode

synchronous asynchronous

meeting phone electronic newsletter backrun

call mail

organizational development

tactic

info. gathering action

social meeting pilot

links project

VIBE agent

seattary marketing finance personnel

manager manager manager

employee

scene. More realism can then be achieved by exploiting virtual reality (VR) technology to model andvisualize real-time 3D systems [11, 46]. VR modeling has been made accessible throughenvironments such as QuicktimeVR [52], and even more sophisticated, truly object-orientedmodeling and rendering environments are no longer the reserved domain of specialists equipped withpowerful workstations or dedicated computer hardware [19]. Technologies for designing virtualworlds are still relatively new, often rely on proprietary technologies (such as Superscape orWorldtoolkit) and are still more expensive than traditional hypermedia authoring tools. However, theadvent of standards such as VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) [20], and the availability ofsoftware taking advantage of such standards (browsers such as Live3d from Netscape or authoringtools such as Pioneer from Caligari Inc.) are further facilitating the design of VR environments, bothstand-alone and networked (such as in the Internet game DOOM and in the virtual worlds WorldChatand Alpha World [35], both based on proprietary technologies).

The organizational network level is the place in the VIBE where most of the deep knowledge to betaught to the user is represented [14, 29]. At this level, the user has to be able to experience differentforms of interaction. These include (1) simple observation, e.g. of social spaces such as thecompany's cafeteria, (2) consultation of available information resources, e.g. by accessing a databasein a documentation center or reading the company's newsletter, (3) access to company resources suchas a "virtual" internal mail, and (4) interaction with organizational agents, where such agents wouldbe either computer-controlled with predefined behavior or controlled by other users represented by"avatars" [26] in the case of a networked, multi-user VIBE. As learning by doing relies heavily on atrial and error process of knowledge discovery and knowledge assimilation, the quality of theinteractions taking place at the organizational network level, and of the feedback the user gets fromthe actions he or she initiates have a direct impact on the quality of the learning experience. Hence,technologies suited to the implementation of the organizational network level of a VIBE mustprovide both advanced knowledge representation frameworks and high-level interactivity. Object-oriented technology, including agent technology, non-monotonic logic, knowledge classificationmodels, and object-centered, cognitive CHI (Computer-Human Interfaces) methods are the mostsuitable candidates to design sophisticated VIBEs. To represent knowledge at the organizationalnetwork level, the design process has to rely on the definition of a set of taxonomies covering all thecategories of elements included in a VIBE. Such taxonomies then provide the basis for encapsulatingknowledge in different elements of the VIBE's organizational network, mapping them for instance ina set of classes using an object-oriented language such as Smalltalk or C++.

Figure 5: Illustration of a simple taxonomy of VIBE-related classes of objects

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Frank ScottiDir. R&D

Loves to propose newand wild ideas. Spentmore than a decade inthe laboratory. Alwaysthe first to bring up thelatest thinking fromsomething he has read.Tends to annoy a lot ofthe old-timers, becausethe promise is alwaysgreater than the actualdelivery. He wishes hecould be a bit moreorganized himself.

4)•

'CVBack to the List

707

. :

TakeDecision TacticsInfo

011000You seem to know already a lot about Frank Scotti ! 04}000 00000 40004 0000* 40000 40004 0000000000 00000 00404 40000 00400 40000 0000000040 00000 00000 000>0 0000> 00000 00000EIS Simulation

DECISION No_ 2Select a tactic:

EHECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT (Takes 5 days)

Five managers to be trained:

Linda Dubois

Mel SchmidtHiller Ross

Your rationale for this decision:Linda, Mel, Nick, Omar and Hillary are close collaborators ofFrank Scotti. It might be good to send them to a course to getthem excited about the change. This might have a good impact onFrank's attitude which is still pretty negative-1

Omar Schal

Help Me Implement Tactic Don't try

0000000000

A direct advantage of this approach is that once the main taxonomies have been defined, they can bere-used efficiently to design different VIBEs by instanciating objects in function of new or specificlearning objectives. For instance, the design of a VIBE stimulating learning in a small manufacturingcompany can be performed by instanciating a relatively small number of managers, a large numberof workers, and some simple communication means, such as an internal newsletter and meetings. Onthe other hand, a VIBE whose pedagogical objective is to expose managers to the dynamics ofinformation flows in a multinational organization, would be designed by instanciating a complexorganization consisting of a large number of managers (further classified in marketing, finance,accounting, and sales managers) and office workers, and a great diversity of communicationresources (such as e-mail, video-conferencing, internal newspapers, committees, etc.).

Figure 6: Gathering information and selecting organizational tactics in the EIS Simulation

High-level interactivity further enhances the realism of the learning experience by enabling users togenerate and interact with different visualizations of the organizational network. Agent technologyand paradigms (active objects, autonomous agents, etc.) [27, 57] can be used in this context to modelthe visual representation, animation, and dynamic behavior of organizational agents which representthe human beings populating a VIBE [47, 66]. For instance, in the EIS Simulation [4, 5], learners arechallenged to intervene in a division of a large company during a simulated period of 6 months.Their mission is to gradually convince the 24 managers of the division to adopt a major innovation.The department managers populating this VIBE have different roles and display different patterns ofresistance to change, which the learner can influence by applying an extensive set of organisationaldevelopment tactics ranging from information gathering techniques to individual meetings, theorganization of pilot projects or executive development programs (see Figure 6). Genetic algorithms[23], neural network [59], and case-based reasoning mechanisms incapsulated in stimulus agents [2]can be used here to introduce a certain degree of evolutivity and adaptability in the behavior of suchactive entities, allowing VIBEs to be modelled as dynamic, living systems [42, 34].

From stand-alone to distributed, multi-usersVIBEs

In theory, VIBEs can be designed as stand-alone systems deliverable to individual learners throughCD-ROMs or similar digital storage devices. In such a case however, the VIBE would need toinclude all the pedagogical material necessary to cover all the aspects of the knowledge to betransmitted and would not allow interaction with experts or with other learners. The development ofdistributed, multi-user VIBEs requires an additional level of technical and design complexity, but canconsiderably enhance the nature of the learning experience. The distributed dimension transformsVIBEs into open systems, allowing users to learn how to efficiently access external information andknowledge resources available for instance on networks such as the Internet. The multi-userdimension can be used to transform a VIBE into a "virtual classroom or laboratory" in whichdifferent learners and experts can exchange ideas, share their knowledge and discuss/compare theirreal or virtual experiences [54].

Figure 7: Scenes from Alpha World ("Ground Zero" with simple avatars, and the "Comedy Stage")

The technical implications of designing distributed VIBEs include the definition of gateways withexternal sources of information such as databases, data warehouses or Internet resources, andrequires from designers a deeper understanding of telecommunication standards, distributed objecttechnology, client-server architectures, and TCP/IP programming. However, designers can greatlybenefit from advances in the domain of distributed computing and Internet-basedtechnologies/standards such as HTML, VRML, and the JAVA language. Integrating multi-usercapabilities in VIBEs is even more challenging as it requires a more advanced knowledge of CSCW(Computer Supported Cooperative Work) technologies, distributed interactive simulation (DIS) [62],and multi-agent architecture. The maturity and spread of commercially available groupwareplatforms such as Lotus Notes, of distributed, multi-user virtual reality environments such asWorldChat and Alpha World (see Figure 7 adapted from [35]), and of standards for multi-agenttechnologies such as KQML/KIF are however making the development of sophisticated VIBEsincreasingly affordable [36] .

- 10 -

-J

Multimedia/VR-basedj L Telecom & Groupware-based on-line discussion &

learning networksself-learning packages withagent-supported knowledge

base access

5. Conclusions

The developments discussed in this paper demonstrate how the integration of computer andtelecommunication technologies can be leveraged to improve education through the design of a newgeneration of pedagogical tools. In particular we concentrated on the evolution of managementeducation, as a representative for a broader evolution process which includes the convergence ofcommunications technology with educational technology and modern incarnations of artificialintelligence, and with global networks enabling new forms of knowledge creation and exchange.Dramatic changes are underway in the creation and delivery of management development, whichwill transform:

• the relationship between providers and suppliers (business schools etc.)

• the management of training programs in governments and private enterprises

• the development of corporate "Learning & Knowledge Management Platforms".

One of the key factors affecting the speed of this transformation process (besides the availability ofappropriate technical infrastructures in schools and companies) is the rapid diffusion of the skillsrequired to design, develop and deliver advanced management learning experiences such as thosebased on the Business Navigator Method. Whilst traditional management development programs andlearning tools are focused around the concept of face-to-face sessions (mainly lectures ordiscussions) requiring all the people involved - instructors and managers - to be present at the sametime in the same place, new pedagogical skills are required to design and animate learning processeswhich take advantage of the 3 models illustrated in Figure 8 and combine them in the mostappropriate and efficient way.

Traditionalface-to-face sessions

AdvancedManagement

Learning Design

Figure 8: Designing advanced management development programs

Setting up such highly integrated, technology-enhanced pedagogical processes and developing theskills necessary to animate them both in a face-to-face and in an on-line setting represent a majorchallenge for management educators. Like in other industries such as advertising or publishing, acritical factor will he the willingness of all those involved in management education to change theircurrent perceptions about technology (from threat to opportunity for new creative solutions andbetter access to information) and to start experimenting with new educational models.

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