On the Line : Business Education in the Digital Age

This book presents different perspectives of online business education - how it is designed, delivered and how it supports advances in management disciplines. The authors describe online platforms in their provision of timely, excellent and relevant business education. The book starts by examining the emergence of online business education. It offers insights for use to business educators in design and implementation of online learning. It presents and discusses technologies for class facilitation and collaboration including tools used to bring content and issues to life. Disruptive approaches and new directions in online business education are examined. The book is ideal for business educators, administrators, as well as business practitioners that have an interest in delivering high quality business education using online platforms and tools.

On the Line: Business Education in the Digital Age is divided into three sections. Section 1 presents papers on “why” business education is viable and sustainable in today’s context. Treating education as a service, this section describes new techniques for creating a better online business education experience. It also looks at the role advanced data analytics can play in enhancing the quality of online business education. Section 2 delves into “how” online business education works. It presents conceptual models for teaching in specific disciplines, learning design that describes what business educators do and how programs work. This section also addresses performance assessments and quality assurance measures that help to demonstrate the efficacy of online pedagogy. Practical applied papers are used in this section to highlight the use of learning platforms, tools and their application specific to businesses that build knowledge and skills and make students ‘work ready’. Finally Section 3 of the book addresses the “so what?” or the outcomes and impacts of online business education. This section targets where business education needs to take learning next, for example to support sustainable business, ethical decision making and inclusive and collaborative leadership. Chapters deal with topics such as how distributed online environments may work better to support knowledge and soft skill building directly relevant for organizations today. Other learning outcomes showing the value of online business education are discussed.

Academics, alumni and consultants from over fifteen institutions and organizations around the world contributed to this book.

Anshuman Khare is Professor in Operations Management at Athabasca University, Canada. He joined Athabasca University in January 2000. He is an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow and has completed two post-doctoral terms at Johannes Gutenberg Universität in Mainz, Germany. He is also a former Monbusho Scholar, having completed a postdoctoral assignment at Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan. He has published a number of books and research papers on a wide range of topics. His research focuses on environmental regulation impacts on industry, just-in-time manufacturing, supply chain management, sustainability, cities and climate change, online business education, etc. He is passionate about online business education. In 2003, Anshuman was awarded the Craig Cunningham Memorial Award for teaching excellence by Athabasca University as a testament to his commitment to exceptional online education and in 2015, he was awarded Athabasca University Graduate Students’ Association (AUGSA) Outstanding Distinction Award (2015) which acknowledges and honors faculty members who display exemplary leadership, support, and engagement with graduate students. Anshuman serves as the Editor of IAFOR Journal of Business and Management, Associate Editor of "International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education" published by Emerald and is on the Editorial Board of International Journal of Applied Management and Technology.

Deborah Hurst is Dean, Faculty of Business and Associate Professor Organization Studies, Athabasca University, Canada.  She joined Athabasca University in 1995 as an academic coach in the world’s first online MBA. She later joined AU full time as an Associate Professor in January 2001 and since that time she has held various roles including Associate Dean, New Business Development and MBA Program Director. Deborah obtained her BA from the University of Toronto, and her MA and PhD from the University of Alberta. Prior to obtaining her graduateeducation, Deborah worked for General Motors of Canada Limited. Her time over a ten-year period included experience within the departments of material control, parts distribution, export operations, and traffic. During her MA studies, she worked for a summer at the non-profit, Edmonton Social Planning Council as a research assistant and later during her PhD for the Alberta Public Service as a human resources consultant and manager over a four-year period. All of these private, non-profit and public sector work experiences continue to inform Deborah’s research, teaching and administrative duties. Deborah’s guiding career vision and goals have always been focused on improving the human experience of workplaces through a better understanding of the cultural aspects of organization life. She is interested in how to best design online learning to develop excellence in graduate knowledge and professional skill as leaders and in business disciplines to directly support and mirror current workplace requirements. In her role as Dean, Deborah draws from her background in organization behavior/theory, work & organizational sociology, leadership development, and management education to lead the creation and provision of highly relevant, transformative and accessible online management education.