e-business is first on-line course

Warwick Business School is to offer its first on-line course to students studying by distance learning (DL) for the Warwick MBA. Appropriately, it will be an e-business option that will be offered initially to DL students who have already completed a substantial part of the curriculum, as they will be expected to draw on their knowledge gained from MBA subjects studied to date. The course will start in March 2001.

The nature of e-business means a very different approach to course delivery for both students and tutors. The Warwick MBA by distance learning is already a well established programme with over 1800 students from over 70 countries, and maximum use will be made of existing and well-tested web-based technologies. These existing technologies include the websites and web discussion boards (WebBoard). Course materials will be delivered via the website, with students referred to other on-line resources where appropriate.

Learning will be student centred, through discussion with other students and access to tutors, e-business practitioners and academic specialists, via WebBoard and by e-mail. Each unit of the course will take a problem-centred approach to an area of e-business that will require participants to find and analyse available information and collaborate online in order to propose a possible solution; in effect, each group of students will act as a team of management consultants.

The aims of the course are to explore the spectrum of business issues created by internet-related technologies, deriving possible approaches and strategies for dealing with the issues raised. The course will examine the extent to which 'standard' business concepts fit with an electronic marketplace and endeavour to determine future structures of business and industries affected by competitors' use of e-commerce.

The Business School will be recruiting e-business practitioners who are currently working actively in an e-business environment, as managers or entrepreneurs who can offer advice online via the tutor.