The Laurier MBA BlackBerry Pilot Program
Leaders in innovative programming
In 2009, the Laurier School of Business & Economics engaged its 100 full-time Waterloo MBA students in an innovative one-year mobile e-learning pilot. Working with Research In Motion (RIM) and Rogers Communications Inc. (RCI), Laurier was the first business school in Canada to bring a mobile e-learning project to its MBA students.
The Laurier MBA BlackBerry pilot has revolutionized the way the school’s MBA program approaches learning both in and out of the classroom. Students were armed with a BlackBerry® Curve™ 8900 smartphone from Rogers. The aim of the project was to prepare Laurier’s MBA students for the business world by providing them with the latest mobile learning applications, to extend their access to a multimedia-rich education beyond the walls of the classroom, and to provide tools for collaboration between MBA teammates.
Students involved in the Laurier pilot program have used their BlackBerry smartphones for more than just the standard voice, text and email applications. Laurier students and faculty members communicated using enriched content such as video, voice notes and pictures, as well as the latest collaboration tools. Faculty “pushed” content to their students’ smartphones, and have access to metrics that will help them gauge which content is being accessed.
Anticipated benefits from the project include improved sharing of educational content, easier access to learning materials so students can be more productive with their time, enhanced MBA team experiences and a better understanding of how content is used by students.
A number of research studies will be conducted throughout the year-long pilot. In addition, the Laurier MBA students will be challenged to find new uses for the applications and handsets provided.