The Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley this week launched a new iPad-based mobile learning platform for students in its Berkeley MBA for Executives Program. Following a successful pilot program with technology partner EmpoweredU, Haas yesterday announced that it is rolling out the new mobile capabilities for all students in its EMBA program.
“Our executive MBA program will be the first degree program to experience the benefits of this mobile learning experience,” Adam Berman, who heads the Haas School’s initiatives in learning technologies, said in a statement. “For senior professionals on the go, having this kind of technology means getting the most out of their MBA experience, using their time most efficiently and deepening their ties to their classmates.”
EmpoweredU’s mobile learning platform enhances both student-to-student and student-to-instructor communication through mobile discussion boards, social learning tools and key iPad features like Facetime and Notifications, while giving students the ability to create audio, video and essay content and develop student portfolios. Professors benefit from tools allowing them to stream online lectures and other assignments, administer tests, grade students’ work and more. Initially, the mobile functionalities and tools will be applied to four core courses: Finance, Leading People, Marketing and Building Trust Based on Relationship. Plans include adding four additional courses per semester going forward.
“We are so proud to have gone from demo to pilot to deployment in just a few months and we are now helping Haas students get an online mobile experience unlike anywhere else,” EmpoweredU CEO Steve Poizner said in a statement. “This partnership merges the best innovation of Silicon Valley with one of the premier executive MBA programs in the world.”
Haas hopes the mobile learning platform will prove especially beneficial to students in the Berkeley MBA for Executives program. The program is specifically tailored to seasoned executives who want to continue working while they complete their degree, and it features classes that meet every three weeks on Thursdays through Saturdays over the course of 19 months. The new mobile learning platform will help students stay in touch with one another between class sessions while offering increased flexibility for self-paced study.
“We provide a mobile platform that students can use both in and out of WiFi zones,” said EmpoweredU’s Poizner said. “This kind of flexibility enhances productivity, allowing students to complete coursework anywhere, anytime, whether that be at lunch, at the beach, waiting in a parking lot or picking up kids from soccer practice.”
