Case Study: The Learning Innovations Initiative at Ivey Business School
Ivey Business School at Western University, a premier business school in London, Ontario, was lagging in digital learning innovation. I was brought on board to create the learning innovations initiative.
Ivey Business School
Problem Statement
After thoroughly analyzing other business schools, our team discovered that we were woefully underperforming in digital innovation. We needed to catch up to other business schools. I came in to build the learning innovations initiative whose aim was to discover and implement school-wide digital initiatives. We launched the Ivey Innovation Coordination Group, which involved all major stakeholders across the school, that led to the creation of the EdTech Lab and the development of the Accelerated MBA for Business Graduates.
Solution Implemented
We strongly encouraged senior stakeholders attending the Ivey Coordination Group to seek significant digital innovation opportunities. Our interim Dean at the time attended a conference in Europe and identified the opportunity to join a network of other business schools to develop digital learning offerings.
After joining the network and having introductory meetings with other members, we launched an MBA program for graduates of undergraduate business programs. This program would use case studies, like all Ivey programs, emphasizing online preparation of cases using learning materials prepared on a proprietary platform only available to members of the network of business schools. Students could maintain full-time employment due to leveraging technology and lowering the cost of taking an MBA - a key criterion our team identified as a success factor for any large-scale digital innovation we were to undertake.
Our team then formed the Ivey EdTech Lab and led the development of the Accelerated MBA for Business Graduates over ten months, working with professors from all faculties.
Results Achieved
The program's first cohort, while not without its launch week issues, was a resounding success. Utilizing pre-knowledge adaptive learning modules, mini-simulations, case studies and international study excursions - the Ivey Accelerated MBA for Business Graduates program continues to produce a new generation of agile and resilient Canadian business leaders.
The program averages about 50 students per year at an average tuition of $50,000—the total net tuition per year is approximately $2,500,000. Graduates of the Accelerated MBA Program received similar wage increases as their on-site MBA colleagues while limiting any gap in employment.
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