Perspective: Online Business Education (The Enabler of Opportunity)

Abstract

Online business education and the globalization of the business environment have promoted a paradigmatic shift in the capacity of education – the amplified accessibility to knowledge calls for a transformation in the academic community and all complementary aspects.

Traditional business education delivery systems suffer from limited access to student populations who are unable to physically engage in a “bricks and mortar” learning environment. Students who suffer from impeding external factors are now provided with an educational outlet to fulfill their ambitions. People (and subsequently businesses) will benefit from the flexibility of an online learning program, which promises to bridge the challenge of career progression requirements while validating experience-based knowledge through formal credentials.

While acting as an enabler of business education, web-based instruction questions the traditional institutional framework and approach to teaching. As conventional methodologies are set aside, institutions may now emphasize the importance of networked learning, peer mentoring, professional forums, and virtual interactions, resulting in a social constructivist approach to enable the delivery of a traditional education using nontraditional methods. The design and supply of business education in a globalized setting must overcome external barriers of age, culture, and language, calling for an increasingly holistic method for business education delivery and transition into the increasingly competitive labor force.

Web-based learning does not discriminate. It thrives with opportunity for stakeholders directly related to education development.