????“在最早的談話中，”哈佛商學院資深副院長，MBA項目主管揚米?穆恩說?！拔覀冎皇强戳丝催@一領域的動態。電視剛發明出來的時候，他們在舞臺前擺上一架攝像機來錄制節目。（在線教育）現在也處于這個階段，人們依然是在教室里擺上攝像機來捕捉授課內容?！?/p>

????哈佛商學院的在線學習研發團隊早早就決定擁抱新技術，用它來更深入地接觸學生，而不是提供一種靜態的課堂體驗。2013年1月份，它決定開發自己的專有軟件平臺，以實現這些目標。

????“我們正在與幾家致力于數字化轉型的傳媒公司合作，”巴拉特?阿南德說。去年9月份，他被任命為哈佛在線平臺HBX的首席教授?！拔覀冏畛跤X得根本沒辦法復制哈佛商學院課堂的神奇之處。所以就進行了數字化升級。我們問自己：‘究竟是什么讓哈佛商學院的課堂如此獨特？’有兩個原則：1) 行動學習。我們把它稱為案例教學法，但它其實是一種積極的學習方式。學生們不只是走進教室，聽老師講。他們還從始至終親自參與其中。在哈佛商學院，你不僅僅是一位游客。 2) 案例教學法并不是以簡單的理念開始，逐步增大復雜性。我們一開始就把你扔到深水區，從復雜性開始，然后一個猛子扎下去?！?/p>

????這個團隊隨后選擇了一個哈佛商學院目前還沒有進入的細分市場。“我們開始思考我們怎樣才能產生真正的影響力，”穆恩說?！拔覀円呀洆碛辛薓BA和高管培訓項目，所以我們開始把注意力集中在另一個潛在市場，即那些缺乏基礎商業知識的本科生?！?/p>

????受Facebook和LinkedIn等社交網絡和在線游戲門戶網站的啟發，哈佛商學院最終打造了一個高度直觀的學習平臺。它的專有軟件平臺不是用一臺攝像機對準一位正在授課的教授，而是模擬著名的哈佛案例教學法，時常冷不丁地向個別學生提問，根據學生在網上課堂的參與度為學生打分。

????哈佛商學院已經為在線項目全新開發了15個鮮活案例。在這些視頻短片中，主人公正在應對各種商業挑戰，其中既涉及眾多知名公司，比如蘋果( Apple)、亞馬遜(Amazon)、谷歌(Google)、迪斯尼(Disney)、紐約時報(The New York Times)和哈樂斯娛樂公司(Harrah's）的賭場，也包括一些規模較小的初創企業，比如一家高溫瑜伽工作室和一家位于波士頓的機票代理商。教授們時不時地出現在視頻上，引導討論、提供背景和分析視角。

????兩度榮膺哈佛商學院教學成果獎的戰略學教授阿南德將講授一個名為管理經濟學的課程。珍妮絲?哈蒙德將執教商業分析課，她曾經在哈佛商學院向那些未來的詩人們（即沒有雄厚數學背景的學生）傳授MBA預備項目的基礎知識。哈佛商學院會計學和管理學首席教授V?G?納拉亞南將講授財務會計課。

????登陸HBX平臺后，大家會立刻看到一張布滿脈動點的地圖，每個脈動點代表著另一位正在平臺上學習的學生。點擊任何一個點，屏幕上會彈出一位學生的照片，連同他或她的姓名和簡歷。點擊這張照片，人們將看到他或她一系列的專業興趣和個人愛好，從理想職業，到最喜愛的樂隊，再到人生榜樣，不一而足。系統會問你刻的感受，是“迷?！保伴_心”，還是“很有啟發”。你的情緒狀態是公開的，其他同學都可以看到。

????你可以追蹤你的每門課相對于其他同學的學習進度。每期學生將一起完成在線課程，一起通過一系列門檻。學生必須完成學習任務，電話提問和相關項目。阿南德說：“你必須跟上項目和期限，否則就會掛科的?！?/p>

????"In the earliest conversations," says Youngme Moon, senior associate dean and chair of the MBA program at Harvard Business School, "we simply looked at what was out there. When TV was first invented, they put a camera in front of a stage and taped plays. It's at the point where people are still putting cameras in classrooms to capture lectures."

????The HBS group made an early determination to embrace the technology, using it to more deeply engage students rather than delivering a static classroom experience. The school decided in January 2013 that it would have to develop its own proprietary software platform to accomplish those goals.

????"We are piggybacking on media companies that have tried to make the digital transition," says Bharat Anand, who was named faculty chair of HBX, Harvard's online platform, last September. "We said there is no way you can replicate the magic that goes on in an HBS classroom. So we created a digital upgrade. We asked, 'What is it that makes an HBS class special? There are two principles: 1) Action learning. We call it the case method but it is an active way to learn. People don't just come in and listen. They participate. People are all in, all the time. You're not a tourist at HBS. And 2) The case method does not start with simple ideas and build to complexity. We throw you into the deep end. We start with complexity and then dive down."

????The group then selected a market segment in which HBS does not currently have an offering. "We began to think about how we could make a real difference," says Moon. "We have MBA and executive education, so the space we began to narrow in on is undergraduates who lack the basic language of business."

????What HBS has come up with is a highly intuitive learning platform that is inspired by social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn as well as online gaming portals. Rather than putting a camera in front of a lecturing professor, the school's proprietary software platform mimics Harvard's famous case study approach, replete with cold calls to individual students and grades based on participation in online classrooms.

????The school has developed a new series of 15 live cases for the online program, with video snippets of protagonists who grapple with various business challenges at a wide range of well-known companies including Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Google (GOOG), Disney (DIS), The New York Times (NYT), and Harrah's casinos as well as at smaller entrepreneurial outfits, including a Bikram yoga studio and a Boston ticket reseller. Professors pop up on video to guide a discussion or provide context and perspective.

????Anand, a strategy professor who is a two-time winner of teaching awards at HBS, is teaching a class called economics for managers. Janice Hammond, who has taught pre-MBA boot camps to incoming poets (those without significant math backgrounds) at HBS, is teaching the course on business analytics. V.G. Narayanan, who chairs the accounting and management faculty unit at HBS, is teaching financial accounting.

????When students log into the HBX platform, they will immediately see a map with pulsating dots, each dot representing another student currently on the platform. Click on any of the dots and a photo of a student pops up on the screen, along with his or her name and bio. Click on the photo and up comes a list of professional and personal passions and interests, from an individual's dream job to their favorite band and role model. Students are asked how they are feeling at the moment, from "confused" or "happy" to "inspired," their moods visible to fellow classmates.

????Students can track their progress in each course against their peers. Each cohort will move through the program together, passing through a series of gates, during which assignments, cold calls, and projects must be completed. "You need to keep up with projects and deadlines or you get dropped out of the course," says Anand.