(Poets&Quants) — After a pair of highly successful pilot runs, Harvard Business School is now opening its online program in business basics to students worldwide. The school is also inviting admitted MBA students to enroll in the program as a pre-MBA boot camp experience, particularly for non-traditional admits or those who need more basic quantitative work before showing up on campus.
经过两轮非常成功的试运行后，哈佛商学院正式向全世界的学生开放其在线商业基础课程。此外，这所商学院还将其作为MBA新生入学训练营，邀请已被录取的MBA学生报名学习，尤其是那些来自非传统专业，或者需要在入学前学习定量分析基础课程的学生。

All told, slightly more than 1,100 students have now taken the primer on the fundamentals of business called CORe (Credential of Readiness) program. In the first beta starting last June, the trio of courses—Business Analytics, Economics for Managers, and Financial Accounting—were open to only undergraduate students attending colleges in Massachusetts and alumni. Some 600 students took the $1,500 two-month program. Harvard then tested the suite of courses on 500 managers at nine different companies in a B-to-B experiment.
目前，共有超过1100名学生报名参加了这个名为“准备就绪凭证”（CORe）的商业基础课程。在去年六月份进行的第一轮测试中，三门在线课程（商业分析、管理经济学与财务会计）仅对马萨诸塞州的在校本科生及毕业生开放。约有600名学生参加了这个收费1500美元，为期两个月的项目。在随后进行的一项B2B试验中，哈佛商学院面向九家公司的500名管理者测试了一套课程。
For the first time, HBS is now opening up the program—based on case studies and videos—to applicants worldwide, including adult learners who have been out of school up to 10 years, and students admitted to the school’s full-time, on-campus MBA program this fall.
现在，哈佛商学院首次向全世界的申请者开放在线课程，包括毕业10年以上的成人学习者，以及在今年秋季入学的全日制MBA新生。这套在线课程主要基于案例研究和视频。
Initially, the program was designed largely for non-business undergraduates who needed the business basics to give them a leg up on the job market when they graduated from college. These latest changes could put the program in competition with more expensive Executive MBA programs, which demand a greater time commitment from managers with 10 or more years of work experience. EMBA programs cover a lot more ground, but Harvard’s imprimatur on this program of business basics could make it appealing to managers who otherwise would attend second-tier EMBA programs. CORe more directly competes with summer business programs for undergraduate students from schools like UC-Berkeley and Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business.
设计在线课程的最初目的，是满足非商业专业本科生对商业基础知识的需求，从而使他们在毕业求职时获得一定的优势。而最近对在线课程的修改，则使其可以与昂贵的在职高管工商管理硕士项目（EMBA）进行竞争。EMBA要求管理者有10年以上工作经验，并且需要投入更多时间。EMBA课程涵盖更多领域，但哈佛对在线商业基础课程的认可，则会吸引更多本打算攻读二流EMBA课程的管理者。CORe将对加州大学伯克利分校和达特茅斯学院塔克商学院等学校的本科生暑期商业课程构成直接威胁。
In its beta test, Harvard discovered that the program attracted a much broader group of students than it expected. “We positioned it as a program for Humanities and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) majors,” explains Bharat N. Anand, faculty chair of HBX, the name of Harvard Business School’s online initiative. “We ended up getting roughly a third from the humanities, a third STEM, and another third from from economics, social science, and business undergraduates. That was the rough breakdown.”
在试运行测试中，哈佛商学院发现，被课程吸引的学生范围要比此前的预期更加广泛。哈佛在线教育平台HBX首席教授巴拉特o阿南德解释说：“我们最初的定位是针对人文科学专业和STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）专业的学生。最终的结果是，有三分之一的学生来自人文科学专业，三分之一来自STEM，另外三分之一则来自经济学、社会科学和商学专业的本科生。这只是粗略划分。”
In a surprise, 20% of those who enrolled in CORe were graduate students, including students from medical and law schools, and even one PhD in natural science. Almost 20% of the students were international and 40% were women. “When we opened up the website, we were thinking of only rising juniors and seniors, but we also opened it up to rising sophomores because that is the time when students are trying to get themselves in line for internships,” adds Anand.
令人意外的是，报名CORe课程的学生中有20%是研究生，包括医学院和法学院的学生，甚至还有一名自然科学专业的博士。约20%为国际学生，40%为女性。阿南德补充说：“网站刚上线时，我们只考虑到大三和大四学生，但我们也向大二学生开放，因为在那段时间，许多学生正在为实习做准备。”
Asked to grade how engaging the course materials were on a scale of one to five, with five being the highest grade, 80% of the first batch of students awarded a grade of four or five. On course quality, the approval figure hit 86%, while the quality of the course instructors—all endowed professors who teach in Harvard’s full-time MBA program—won a four or five grade from 90% of the participants. “The results are very encouraging,” says Anand. “We are still in the early stages of this journey, but it is really exciting. We have high engagement from participants. We have an established revenue model and, most important, the program reflects who we are.”
学生们被要求按一至五分的标准，对课程材料的吸引力进行评分，五分为最高。第一批学生中有80%给出了四分或五分。在课程质量方面，认可率达到86%，另外有90%的学生对课程讲师的水平给出了四分或五分的评价。在线课程的所有讲座教授同时也在教授哈佛商学院的全日制MBA课程。阿南德说道：“这样的结果令我们倍受鼓舞。我们尚处在起步阶段，但我们真的感觉非常激动。学生有很高的参与率。我们有稳定的收入模式，最重要的是，在线课程诠释了哈佛商学院的本质。”
HBS says it will now accept applicants from anywhere in the world as old as the mid-to-late 30s to apply for start dates in February, April, and June. The deadline for applications for the April 15 intake is March 25, while the deadline for the cohort that begins on June 3 will be May 13.
哈佛商学院表示将分别从2月、4月和6月开始接受世界各地申请者的申请，申请者的年龄最高为35至40岁。4月15日开课的课程申请截止期限为3月25日，6月3日开课的课程申请截止期限为5月13日。
“We are gradually increasing the eligibility,” says Anand. “There are a lot of career switchers who want to understand business better, even entrepreneurs who have run their own companies but now want to run their firms more systematically. The number of applications we received from people who are 13 or 15 years out of college was fascinating.”
阿南德说道：“我们在逐步提高资格条件。有很多学员正在考虑改变职业，他们希望对商业有更好的了解，甚至有经营自己公司的创业者，他们现在希望更系统性地经营公司。离开校园13至15年的申请者人数之多，让我们深感意外。”
Anand says the cohort starting Feb. 25 will likely number 500 to 1,000 participants and will include a relatively small group of Harvard admits who will come to campus in September for their first year in the MBA program. Like many other business schools, HBS typically held a one-week program called Analytics to get incoming students up to speed on accounting and data. Harvard has decided to give those students who feel they need a jumpstart the option of taking CORe or coming to campus for the residential Analytics program in July or August. He expects roughly 20% of the next incoming class at HBS, some 150 to 200 students out of slightly more than 900, to take CORe this year.
阿南德称，2月25日开课的课程将有500至1000名学生参与，其中包括数量相对较少的哈佛MBA课程一年级新生，这批学生将在九月份正式入学。与其他许多商学院类似，哈佛商学院通常会为即将入学的新生提供一个为期一周，名为Analytics的课程，使他们能够迅速掌握会计学和数据方面的基础知识。哈佛已经决定让那些认为自己需要加快节奏的新生，自行选择报名CORe或者在七八月份在校学习Analytics课程。他预计，今年，哈佛商学院900多名新生中，约有150至200人会选择CORe，占总人数的20%左右。
“This is really getting our students to do the program so they are ready to take advantage of the full experience on campus,” believes Anand. “The genesis of CORe was asking how can we create a wow experience online so they can get up to speed with the basics of data, accounting, and economics before they come on campus.”
阿南德相信：“通过参与在线课程，新生们就能尽快适应校园的学习生活。之所以开发CORe，是因为我们希望解决如何创造一种受欢迎的在线体验这个问题，帮助学生们在正式进入校园之前，掌握数据、会计和经济学等领域的基本知识。”
HBS expects a significantly higher summer enrollment in June, when the price of the program rises by $300 to $1,800. Anand says he expects to have as many as 3,000 learners signed up, more than three times the intake at Harvard’s full-time MBA program. CORe students would be divided into cohorts of 300 to 500. The school will also increase the amount of financial aid available for students. “We are trying to scale up in a measured fashion,” explains Anand. “You want enough thickness on peer group conversations so that when someone poses a question it gets answered quickly and that requires a large cohort. But at the same time you don’t want a cohort that is so large it becomes impersonal.”
今年六月份，哈佛商学院的夏季入学人数将大幅增加，在线课程的价格也从300美元提高到1800美元。阿南德表示，他预计将有3000名学习者报名在线课程，这个数字是哈佛全日制MBA课程录取人数的三倍以上。CORe课程的学生将被分为300至500人的群体。学院也会向学生发放更多助学金。阿南德解释称：“我们正在审慎地扩大规模。你希望同学之间能有足够的交流，有人提出问题时，能够迅速得到回答，而这需要每一期有足够多的参与者。但同时人数又不能太多，否则课程将变得枯燥。”
Unlike many other online business courses, CORe participants are graded in each course based on quizzes, a final exam, and their level of participation. The program is largely taught through case studies of issues and challenges at such organizations as Amazon, PepsiCo, The New York Times, and the American Red Cross. But there also are lessons from managers at small, local companies, including the Bikram Yoga studio near campus. Harvard awards a certificate of completion to each graduate and says it will maintain transcripts of the grades. Top performers receive an Honors or High Honors designation, similar to what Harvard MBAs get when they graduate from the school.
与其他许多在线商业课程不同，CORe学员每一门课程的得分取决于测验分数、期中考试成绩和参与程度。课程主要采用案例研究的方式，如研究亚马逊、百事可乐、《纽约时报》和美国红十字会等组织的问题与挑战。此外还有当地小公司管理者们的经验教训，如校园附近的比克拉姆瑜伽工作室。学院会向完成学业的学生颁发结业证书，并且校方会保留学生的成绩单。成绩突出的学生可以得到“成绩优秀”和“优异”的评价，与哈佛MBA毕业生的待遇类似。
So, what has Harvard learned after sending two cohorts through the program? The second B-to-B cohort had an 80% completion rate and engagement rates off the chart, much like the pioneer cohort. The completion rate fell by five percentage points, largely because the second cohort was comprised entirely of full-time managers and employees who often found it difficult to complete all the work. Learners find that it takes about 10 hours a week over the two-month program to get all the work done. Participants also are prevented from moving forward unless they complete a module within a two-week timeframe, a deadline that makes it hard to catch up when students fall behind.
那么，送走了两批学生之后，哈佛从中总结出什么经验教训？第二批B2B学生完成率达到80%，学生参与率同样很出色，与第一批学生类似。学业完成率下降了5个百分点，很大程度上是由于第二批学生全部由在职的管理者和员工组成，经常难以完成所有学习任务。学习者发现，在两个月课程期间，完成所有功课需要每周拿出10个小时。而且，参与者只有在两周内完成一个模块才能进行下一个模块，这个最终期限让落后的学生很难赶上进度。
Anand says that they initially tweaked the program to strike a balance between taking advantage of the asynchronous nature of online learning while preserving some synchronous activity so that students can help their classmates at certain points. “In the first cohort, we had five gates—or deadlines for the completion of work—across all three courses,” he says. “In the fall, we moved to a slightly different structure. If you have all three deadlines on one day, it becomes very hard to catch up. So we put in many more deadlines, 17 in all, in the fall. The moment you go to 17, students have to keep up continuously but you also want to preserve some flexibity for them. So we are now moving back to something in the middle, about 10 deadlines with some overlap for when material is released to allow some students to move faster.
阿南德表示，他们最初对课程进行了调整，一方面利用在线学习的异步特性，同时保留一些同步活动，努力实现两者之间的平衡，使学生们可以相互帮助。他说道：“在第一期，我们为全部三门课程设置了五个时间截止点。在秋季，我们对结构进行了微调。如果你一天有三个时间截止点，你便很难跟上进度。所以我们在秋季增加了时间截止点数量，共计17个。当你有17个时间截止点的时候，学生必须持续下去，但你同时也希望为学生保留一定的灵活性。所以，我们进行了折中，规定了10个时间截止点，在材料发布的时候会有部分重叠，使学生可以更快进步。”
“With 17 deadlines, if you miss one or two it becomes really, really hard. So with the next cohort we are creating a slack week in between the program so you can catch up. We’re extending the program from 10 to 11 weeks. Things happen in people’s lives. The completion rates are high, but we would love to see them higher.”
“实行17个最终期限的时候，如果你错过了一个或两个，后续的学习就会变得非常困难。所以，我们在下一期课程之间会设置一周宽松时间，使学员跟上进度。我们将课程从10周延长到11周。每个人生活中都会遇到各种事情。学业完成率已经很高，但我们仍有更高的期待。”
Despite the decline in the completion rate among full-time employees, engagement remained extremely high. Harvard attempted to determine how many students came on the platform because they wanted to be there. “The pioneers said that for every two hours they spent learning on the platform, they were spending an extra hour engaging with their peers,” says Anand. “This is striking because that is entirely voluntary work. Many students said you could get through the material in 10 hours a week, but a good number chose to spend 15 hours a week because they were enjoying it so much.”
虽然全职员工学业完成率有所下降，但参与率依旧很高。哈佛希望确定有多少学生是真心希望选择在线平台。阿南德称：“首批学生表示，他们在平台上每学习两个小时，与同学交流的时间便会多一个小时。这令人意外，因为这完全是自愿的工作。许多学生表示，每周可以拿出十个小时研究资料，但许多人会选择每周花15个小时，因为他们喜欢这么做。”
Do online students learn more or less than students in a traditional classroom? Anand says the school is in the process of studying this and plans to release a report shortly. He shares one anecdote from a student who took his exam a month after finishing CORe last summer. “He sat down to prepare three days before and he told me that for the first time in his educational career he didn’t need to revisit the material,” recalls Anand. “He retained everything. He said it was part of the educational experience. It was engaging throughout. He wasn’t a passive learner.”
与传统课程相比，在线学习学到的更多还是更少？阿南德表示，学院正在进行这方面的研究，并计划在近期发布相关报告。他分享了一名学生的故事。去年夏天，这名学生在完成CORe课程一个月后参加了考试。阿南德回忆称：“他之前准备了三天，他告诉我，这是他在学习生涯中第一次不需要复习资料。他记住了所有知识。他说这是学习经历的一部分。他一直在全情参与。他不再是被动的学习者。”