How Technology Supports Classroom Diversity

I am not a morning person, but I recently eagerly woke up at 3:45 a.m. to attend a class discussion with my DBA and PhD classmates. Under the direction of Dr. César Baena, I recently completed the Dynamic Strategic Management course which explores the challenges and analyses required for businesses to remain competitive and responsive in their ever-changing environments.

As part of our coursework, my classmates and I were able to come together as a group to ask questions and discuss the course materials and our research. Although unusual for an online course, attending an early morning wake-up call was a welcome interaction to spend time with my classmates in time zones across the globe due to the rich and diverse perspectives they bring to the course materials.

As more and more companies strive to emphasize the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, ISM is leading the way through its recruitment and admissions processes. By welcoming a student body from across the globe, course conversations are often filled with diverse professional and personal experiences which bring new meaning and life to the materials.

If we are not physically in class together, ISM utilizes common workplace technologies, such as Zoom, to support interactive course conversations. Tools like Zoom, allows the professor and students to engage with one another as though we were in person, enabling a rich dialogue of perspective and ideas in real-time.

Often times, work conference calls without video technology can be less engaging, and interaction with colleagues is more limited as a result. By using video conference calling in the classroom, we are able to see and interact with one another as if we were in the same room and time zone.

I am grateful for the rich and diverse experiences and perspectives my classmates bring to our course conversations. Not only is the classroom technology that ISM utilizes relevant and engaging, but it also enables and strengthens the opportunities that we have as students to come together from across the world.