#hbxcore

[scholarlyvibes-blog]

cramming for a final tomorrow so I popped next door into a reading room in stanford's green library

[coursetalk]

Harvard’s HBX CORe answers our 5 burning questions

CourseTalk is proud to have HBX CORe — Harvard Business School’s online program teaching business fundamentals in 11 weeks — as a new provider. We recently spoke with Ross Pearo, Director of Marketing and CORe Product at HBX, to get the inside scoop on Harvard’s exciting new venture into the world of online learning. His main message? Don’t be afraid to apply. It takes less than 30 minutes, and HBX is happy to admit as many people as are a good fit for the program. “Our goal is to allow anybody we think can benefit from the program to go through it and participate in what can be a transformational experience,” he said.

CourseTalk: What makes CORe different from other programs that teach business fundamentals?

Ross Pearo, HBX CORe: When we developed HBX CORe, we tried to isolate the things that make a learning experience at Harvard Business School different from that of any other business school, and it came down to three key aspects.

First, and perhaps most important, is our reliance on the case methodology. At HBS, our professors and faculty don't lecture, and they don't teach concepts in the abstract; everything is taught in the context of a real-world situation, and we do that same thing with CORe.

The second differentiator is that we wanted to create a very active learning experience. People who get the most out of HBS are active participants in the learning process, and we wanted to do that with CORe, as well. This manifests itself in what we call the three-to-four minute rule; every three to four minutes, we want our learners to change the way they engage with the course and their peers. For example, they might watch a short video, then take an interactive poll and then maybe answer some questions before reading text. We want people to be constantly engaged and challenged and to learn in a variety of ways.

The third way CORe is fundamentally different is that it’s very social. It's not an isolated online experience. CORe is delivered in cohorts of 350 to 500 people, so you're part of a really active and vibrant learning community. People are encouraged and required to talk with each other, to answer each other's questions, to challenge each other and to really help everyone learn and apply the material much more effectively.

CourseTalk: Soon after becoming dean of Harvard Business School, Nitin Nohria said HBS would never partake in online education in his lifetime. What changed?

Ross Pearo, HBX CORe: That’s almost become part of the internal lore at HBX. Relatively soon into his deanship, I think Dean Nohria got to the point where he recognized an opportunity for Harvard Business School to lead. There were all of these things happening in the online world with MOOCs — different ways of trying to engage people online and make learning a much richer experience. He saw these changes as an opportunity for us to take some of the things that make Harvard Business School special and figure out how to do it online. He also saw an opportunity for us to leapfrog what other schools and companies were doing, plus there was a level of comfort with technology’s ability to allow us to do that. Seven, eight or 10 years ago, I don't think we could've built the type of platform that supports the CORe program because the tools just didn't exist. However, in the last couple of years, the dean saw we had a window where the school could make a bold move into the online learning space and do something the school could be really proud of. It had to be something that was consistent with our mission, which is to educate leaders who make a difference in the world, and we had to do it in a way that our faculty and alumni would really be proud of.

CourseTalk: CORe just celebrated its first anniversary. What have you learned, and what’s planned for the future?

Ross Pearo, HBX CORe: We’ve accomplished a lot in our first year. We had two full cohorts complete the CORe experience, and we currently have another 2,700 students at some point in their CORe journey. We've learned how to support customers at a very large scale, which is not something we've ever really had to do at Harvard Business School. We've also learned that a lot of the things we hoped would be the case turned out to be true. For example, we wondered if the three tenets of the CORe program — case-based learning, active learning and social learning — would really play out to create a rich and dynamic learning experience, and we’ve learned from the first year that we’re on to something. It's not perfect, but there are a lot of things we will continue to refine over the coming years to make the experience an even more rewarding one for the people who participate in it.

CourseTalk: MOOCs are often criticized for their low completion rates, typically in the single digits. HBX’s completion rate is over 80 percent. What’s your secret?

Ross Pearo, HBX CORe: I think there are three things that really drive our completion rates.

First, there’s the selectivity component. The people in the program are ones that we really believe are likely to be successful, and we look for evidence of aptitude and motivation when we make our admittance decisions. We have an application that really looks to identify learners who will engage in the program, and though we have no goals of being exclusive, we do want to be somewhat selective. We still admit the majority of people who apply, but we want to make sure the people in the cohorts are all there for the same reasons and that they are really interested in becoming a part of this community of learning.

We also think it's important that people make a financial commitment to the program. People who pay for a program, I think, are much more committed to engaging, getting as much out of it as they possibly can and ultimately completing. At the same time, we have a mission of access, and we’re still looking for ways to expand that access. We offer need-based scholarships for college students, and we want to mitigate potential barriers as much as we can, but we believe that even the highest-need students should have some financial investment in the program and their success in it.

The third thing is that, as an organization, part of our role is to help people understand what's expected of them and to work with them throughout the program so they have the necessary tools and knowledge to budget their time, manage their expectations and do all the things that they need to successfully complete the program, study for the exam and ultimately earn the credential.

CourseTalk: What’s your #1 piece of advice for students considering the CORe program?

Ross Pearo, HBX CORe: I would want to make sure people were committed. If you’re not able to commit yourself wholly to this experience, consider waiting until you can. This is the type of program where you get out what you put in. We’re looking for people who are able to devote the time, who are willing to apply themselves and who will throw themselves into the community so they can take advantage of learning from peers from all over the world with different academic backgrounds, work histories and career aspirations. I really think it's important to be willing to put yourself out there and get as much out of the learning experience as you possibly can.

Ross Pearo, Director of Marketing and CORe Product at HBX

[allthingsi-findinteresting]

Progress is better than perfection

Internet

I think this is an exceptionally useful piece of advice and I’ve decided to follow it. I’m taking some time off between my next job and this one because there are a couple of things that I need to get done. So, here’s my plan: Each day I’m going to blog about what I intend to do the entire day and in the evening, I’m going edit the same post and discuss my PROGRESS.

Off the top of my head, I have things to do:

Study for the GRE exam - 50 days from today.

 Study for the HBX CORe exam - 32 days from today.

Read the Washington Post everyday - I just bought a year’s worth of subscription. Also, reading the Economist - I usually end up skipping some sections and feel silly at a later point in time when I’m discussing something with my friends and wish I’d read up on the topic earlier.

Learn the Ruby on Rails framework - Again, just bought a course for $39 on stacksocial and want it to be put good use.

Wish me luck, folks! :)