Teaching

Introduction

Experiential/immersive learning (EIL) represents a new way to educate business students that many universities have adopted with surprising results. This summary describes an approach to EIL that integrates cases, scenarios and technology that will unfold over the next few years.

Experiential/Immersive Learning at the Villanova School of Business 

At Villanova we are organizing and analyzing 100 proprietary business cases across three areas:  innovation, consulting and technology optimization. We are converting some of the cases into courses that require undergraduate and graduate students to role-play for case-based problem-solving.  We also plan to convert selected cases into learning and related content in the form of eBooks, white papers, articles and videos that will enable the adoption of experiential/ immersive learning methods, tools and techniques. 

Some initial case-based experiential/immersive business course pilots include:

“Emerging Business Technology” Pilot Course

• Organizing & Delivering CTO & CTO Services 
• Business Cases for Technology Pilots

“Strategic Information Technology” Pilot Course

• Operational & Strategic Technology Acquisition, Deployment, Management & Measurement
• Business-Technology Investment Plan

“Start|Build|Exit” Pilot Course

• Due Diligence on a Company Investment
• Business Planning for a Start-Up

 “Technology Consulting” Pilot Course

• Market Positioning
• Consulting Products & Services Business Plan

All courses will begin with the same question:  “we have ten weeks … how do we solve the problem?”  The initial courses will be (proprietary) case-driven simulations of actual cases that require role-playing by title, processes, tasks and outcomes.  Our use of advanced communication, collaboration and modeling technology will be restricted in Phase I of our approach.  

Here is an example of how an EIL course will be structured. 

Emerging Business Technology Adoption Course  

The judicious adoption of emerging technology is a goal for most – if not  all – corporations. At Villanova, we’ve delivered a course on Emerging Business Technologies for several years.  The course is delivered “traditionally” to undergraduates and graduate students.  The course will be converted to an experiential course where students will be expected to solve technology adoption problems through role-playing.  Several Villanova proprietary cases will be selected and modified for the course.  

The structure of the course is straightforward.  The company needs to vet and then pilot a set of emerging business technologies that will save – or make – the company money in an environment where competitors are adopting technologies as fast as they can to gain competitive advantage.  

The solution is also straightforward:   

Emerging Business Technology Adoption Case Solution   

Identify the technologies that should be piloted that will have the biggest impact on the company’s business processes, expense management, profitability and even the company’s whole business model.  Rank-order the technologies according to their relative ROI. Develop a going-forward strategy for staying on top of emerging technology and piloting the most promising ones.

Here are the primary tasks for the case/course:

Primary Tasks  

• Identify the range of emerging technologies available for piloting, noting their strengths, weaknesses and ideal targets
• Identify how the competition is using the technologies to gain competitive advantage, manage costs or increase profitability
• Identify the processes and models where the greatest problems exist & where technological impact from emerging technologies might be felt the most
• Design pilots to test the technologies complete with cost-benefit models
• Identify optimal pilot methodology
• Develop a business plan for emerging technology pilots …

Roles

• CEO
• LOB President
• Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
• Research Associates  
• Project Manager … 

Documentation & Deliverables

• Identify the range of emerging technologies available for piloting, noting their strengths, weaknesses & ideal targets:  white paper/memorandum
• Identify how the competition is using the technologies to gain competitive advantage, manage costs or increase profitability: white paper/memorandum
• Identify the processes & models where the greatest problems exist & where technological impact from emerging technologies might be felt the most: white paper/memorandum
• Design pilots to test the technologies complete with cost-benefit models: white paper/memorandum
• Identify optimal pilot methodology:  white paper/memorandum
• Business plan for emerging technology pilots:  formal business plan … 

Organization of the Course

• Description of the case, role assignments, project/class schedule & deliverables: first class
• Identify the range of emerging technologies available for piloting, noting their strengths, weaknesses and ideal targets: 2 weeks w/deliverable
• Identify how the competition is using the technologies to gain competitive advantage, manage costs or increase profitability: 1 week w/deliverable
• Identify the processes and models where the greatest problems exist and where technological impact from emerging technologies might be felt the most: 2 weeks w/deliverable
• Design pilots to test the technologies complete with cost-benefit models: 2 weeks w/deliverable
• Identify optimal pilot methodology: 1 week w/deliverable
• Business plan for emerging technology pilots: 2 weeks w/final deliverable … 

The Phase I Plan

The Phase I experiential/immersive learning proposed plan includes designing and developing new courses in four areas:

• “Emerging Business Technology” 
• “Strategic Information Technology” 
• “Start|Build|Exit”  
• “Technology Consulting” 

The Longer-Term Plan

The long-term experiential/immersive learning plan includes expansion of the learning strategy to other areas including problems in finance and marketing, among others.  We also plan to fully immerse students in companies and to introduce the use of advanced communication, collaboration, simulation and modeling technologies.