India is coming up as an education hub and management education is among one of the fields having the highest demand. Since the management education gets more varied, the education providers are evolving with unique ways of leveraging the infrastructure that is available. Students these days have the advantage of choosing the right b school which matches their career aspirations, field of interest, and learning style. The business schools on the other hand are also coming up with new ways to upgrade their curriculum to match the business demands of the industry. When it comes to the methods of teaching also, the business schools have integrated elements of the modern society to ensure that their curriculum is appealing to students and relevant to the industry demands. Technology has played a big part in this area bringing a lot of ways to add life to the educational content and instructional design.

The leading business schools in India have used technology in different avenues and coming up with answers to the challenges in the field of management education. The technology has played a big part in helping the management education cross some hurdles in the last few decades which has made it a dynamic and robust field of study. Today the students live in the world of constant connectivity and they want their management educators to provide these opportunities in their learning as well. The technology has partnered flawlessly with the management education to enable the following changes to take place:

• Accommodating the change in learning behaviour: Gone are the days of the classrooms with rows of students with their heads in the books, diligently listening to a professor who in his/her monotonic vice goes through a two-hour lecture. The students of today want to be educated at their own pace and gathering information through various sources to augment and find the best possible solutions to business challenges. To enable that, the modern classroom uses technology to make the course content more interactive and discussion based. A good example of this is the usage of innovative learning methods such as simulation programs and exercises in the classrooms to look at a real-time impact of business decisions. ICFAI Business School utilizes this through simulation software in their classrooms with great success, and this aids in developing the next level leadership skills.
• Facilitating business forums: It is an important part of the student’s life at the business school to make the connections with the peers and industry experts. These connections can often be fostered through the interaction over the professional forums and groups. The modern business schools achieve this through creating an open online communication group for the students. This helps in getting the student involved in not only academics but also other facilities such as library, hostel, facilities, placements, accounts and other aspects of campus life. A real-life example of this comes in form of the intranet maintained at ICFAI Business School called CampusNet, which is aimed to provide that.
• Greater tools for the students: The students at the top business schools in India not only get a quality education but also some great technological tools at the campuses to make the most of their learning. The tools are not just limited to the regular set of Microsoft Office suite for processing of Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. They extend to the whole array of cutting edge data network to leverage databases and videoconferencing as well as Adobe suite of PageMaker, Acrobat and Photoshop and others. Other tools include programming tools and with the big data taking the world by storm, some advanced analytics programs. These enable the students to work on projects while acquiring hands-on experience which can be relevant in the real world.
• Better academic experience: The academic experience in the top management colleges in India is enriched with the help of usage of integration of web based learning being augmented with the classroom based learning. This Blended learning model where the web based courses are often self-paced and can be taken by the students in the comfort of their laptops and environments are becoming a common sight. The students are usually required to complete these courses as reinforcement before or after they have attended the classroom learning. Online quizzes can also be used by the faculty members to get a quick check of the student’s comprehension and understanding without waiting till after class. This also breaks the monotony of the lecture and gives the students an increased focus.

These are a few important points of how technology is integrating with the academics to transform the way that the business schools and the students are used to approach the learning itself. The technology is coming up rapidly as a powerful enabler, facilitator, and administrator of the curriculum at leading business schools in India.