Columbia Business School Professor Exposes Three Myths of Online Learning

Hitendra Wadhwa is Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia Business School. For IEDP, which describes itself as a publisher of specialist information for leaders and leadership development professionals, he recently authored an article focused on his view of three big distance learning myths that are often held by executives facing online training. They are: 1. Online learning is impersonal; 2.) Online learning is unengaging; and, 3.) Online content is limited to serving low-level training needs.

If you’re an executive professional — or anyone for that matter – contemplating online learning but suffering from any one or more of these myths, you’ll want to read Professor Wadhwa’s rebuttal and contemporary review of the ever-changing landscape of online tools, technologies and techniques. And, he even makes some suggestions for further enrichment of the experience. Most interesting to me, for example, is his suggestion of delivering lectures from natural settings.  More specifically he uses the Columbia University campus and other New York landmarks like Central Park, Grand Central Terminal and Wall Street. He also believes online learning can be, and is when done well, as engaging and emotional as television.