One of Goizueta’s newest degree offerings, the Modular Executive MBA, is making use of both existing and new technologies to provide the most stable and effective learning environment for its students, the first class of whom will start this fall.

“One of the biggest stumbling blocks encountered by programs that have used distributed learning is the lack of stable distance technology,” says Ed Leonard, senior associate dean for academic programs and director of the EMBA Program. “We are using technologies that are extraordinarily stable, commercially available, and proven in the marketplace.”

The technological tools include First Class, with features including conferencing, course areas, real-time chat, web interface, and e-mail; WebEx, which combines the capabilities of teleconferencing with delivery of materials via the web, and allows audio over the Internet; and Study.Net and e-Reserves for the online distribution of course materials.

Students will receive a notebook computer with all of the software, capabilities, and training modules they’ll need, according to Chief Information Officer Barbara Maaskant.

“You don’t have to be a technological guru,” Maaskant says. “You can go as in-depth as you want.”

In other news, MEMBA has preliminary partnership agreements with both Singapore Management University and Oxford University.

The deadline for MEMBA applications is July 31.—Denise Noble