To strengthen their brand as a top-ranked, innovation-led business school, INSEAD decided to pilot a weConnect virtual classroom in 2019.  

As Peter Zemsky points out, “Our commitment is to work with our faculty and HR leaders in how best to construct programs out of all the possibilities, face-to-face, recorded asynchronous and now live virtual delivery as well.” 

The move to tech-enabled management education was a logical progression for INSEAD. “We pioneered the adaptation of asynchronous virtual courses to a customized corporate context,” according to Peter Zemsky, Deputy Dean, Dean of Innovation, Professor of Strategy & Innovation. 

In 2020, they decided to expand with 3 more virtual classrooms to migrate their classes online while keeping the high standard of teaching they are well-known for. 

In developing a distinctive approach to live virtual teaching, INSEAD followed two broad principles. The first is being learner centric.

“You want to keep the learner empowered, active and engaged so that they're immersed in the experience, just as if they were there face-to-face,” says Zemsky. “The other key principle is to allow faculty to bring their deep skills of creating magic in the classroom from a face-to-face world to a live virtual setting.” 

Solution

The Barco weConnect virtual classroom solution helps INSEAD deliver premium, innovative and engaging online sessions, thanks to numerous powerful features: multiple content streams, quizzes and polls, enhanced breakout rooms, a studio where instructors never losing sight of the audience.

Professor of entrepreneurship Philip Anderson zooms in on one element key of weConnect.

“Let's say it's a classroom and I ask a question,” he says. “One person answers and that's two minutes and then I call on somebody else and that's two minutes. Maybe I call in a third person. That's six minutes for three people.”

“With weConnect, you can get every single person to contribute in less than two minutes. “Instead of just focusing on, ‘Do I like what Felicity said or do I disagree?’ I can look at what everybody said and say, ‘Is there a pattern here?’ And that's really not possible in anything but an online environment.” 

INSEAD runs approximately 800h of learning sessions every year using weConnect and their programs enjoy a 4.5 stars out 5 participant satisfaction rates. 

But what it exactly that participants enjoy about weConnect? Jessica Ogilvie is the Head of Group Internal Communications for Jardine Matheson followed an executive education program with INSEAD, initially in-person in Hong Kong and finishing with an INSEAD weConnect-powered GO-Live program from her home.  

“What I like most about Barco weConnect is really the personalization,” she says. “The fact that you're able to choose what you want to look at, from just the professor or your classmates in the dashboard to the actual whiteboard that we're all working on. And I think that ability to shift view is really good in terms of keeping your engagement and making you feel part of a classroom.”