Education technology to deliver world-class business education flexibly

College Station, US - 2020

Since being established in 1968 as the College of Business Administration at Texas A&M University, Mays Business School has focused on balancing innovation and tradition.

Barco solution:

1 Barco weConnect VC 32 seats in installation
A collaboration room

Key benefits:

Front row experience for both student and trainer
As close to the face-to-face experience as it is possible to get
Student engagement tracked in real time
Ability to easily share material on whiteboard

Mays Business School Texas A&M virtual hybrid classroom

Context

Mays Business School at Texas A&M University educates over 6,400 students in accounting, finance, management, management information systems, marketing and supply chain management. It ranks among the top US public business schools and is accredited by AACSB-International - the premier accrediting agency for business schools.

Its mission is to be a vibrant learning institution that creates impactful knowledge and develops transformational leaders and to keep being a world-class provider of education.

Challenge

With its strong emphasis on global education, Mays was determined to find a solution that enabled them to maintain high teaching standards while delivering hybrid and remote programs.

Jared Bleak, senior advisor for the Center underlines the importance of getting it right. “Online learning is super-important for business schools. So we need to get better and better at it.”

This led to an in-depth examination of the available possibilities. “While there are different platforms out there that are being used for meetings and conferences, we didn’t feel they were optimal for use with executives,” says Greg Marchi, Chief Learning Officer and Assistant Dean for the Center of Executive Development. “They were designed as meeting or conference platforms. They weren’t designed to be teaching platforms.”

Solution

To achieve this mission, the institution decided to extend its educational offering to remote and hybrid learning while maintaining the highest teaching standards, they installed a flexible weConnect virtual and hybrid classroom.

“What I really appreciate is the ability to be myself in a classroom as opposed to sitting in front of a computer screen,” says Bleak. “It affords the opportunity to engage with participants like they are there and use my physicality to create connections. That’s a critical thing in our virtual environment.”

Moving from the drawing board to an actual educational delivery system as sophisticated as weConnect could be an issue. But in practice? “There was obviously prep time for faculty members, myself being one of those,” says Welch. “But once we were utilizing the facilities, there was a very quick learning time, a great overview, great acceptability, unparalleled customer service… And really, only half a day was utilized in prepping to use the service.”

Results

The new possibilities offered by weConnect fit perfectly with their learners needs. “Clients are saying it’s far more cost effective, they’re not having to incur lodging and ensuing expenses. So I see it as a permanent addition to what we have previously been offering.” says Welch.

And looking forward? “We’re looking at what we might be doing 6-12 months into the future,” notes Marchi. “We’ve had a conversation with Barco about how technology is going to evolve, how the user is going to become more demanding with technology. So the best way to future proof is always to think about flexibility, creativity and innovative thinking in your team and your partners.”

Looking at the existing platforms, Barco's solution represents best the real classroom experience, especially for the faculty.

Greg Marchi

Chief Learning Officer and Assistant Dean for the Center of Executive Development