04 Dec 2024

Redefining Learning: Celebrating 10 Years of Harvard Business School Online

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by Romanshika Singh

As Harvard Business School Online (HBS Online) marks a decade of growth and success, it is a moment of reflection and forward-thinking for the entire team. Since its launch in 2014, HBS Online has transformed online learning by reaching diverse learners worldwide and adapting Harvard’s case-based methodology to a virtual environment. To learn more about this journey, we spoke with Simeen Mohsen, senior managing director of HBS Online, about the most pivotal moments, the challenges the team has overcome, and the vision that continues to drive their evolution.

HBS Online staff with Professor VG Narayanan, senior associate dean of Executive Education and HBS Online.

What pivotal moments shaped HBS Online's success over the past decade?
Mohsen: In 2014, we took our first big step into online education by launching CORe (Credential of Readiness) and the course platform that would bring it to life. CORe combined Business Analytics, Economics for Managers, and Financial Accounting into one comprehensive program. There was both excitement and uncertainty about how this would be received, but when our first learner completed it, we knew we had something special.

Since then, we’ve hit several pivotal milestones. In 2015, HBS began offering CORe to incoming MBA students as a preparatory program, providing essential foundational knowledge to get them ready for the MBA Program. By 2016, we were welcoming participants in-person to our first Connext conference on campus, creating a space for connection and inspiration.

In the early days, HBS Online was known as HBX. Market research made us realize that people didn’t always connect “HBX” with HBS, so we rebranded as HBS Online in 2019. This helped clarify our identity, and since then, everything public facing has been under HBS Online, though internally, some of us still call it HBX from time to time.

Since the rebrand, we’ve expanded our reach, surpassing 100,000 learners by 2020—another key milestone, and recently reaching 255,000 enrollments.

How do you translate HBS content and pedagogy online—can you tell us more about how you deliver content?
HBS Online’s certificate and credential programs are delivered through a custom-built platform, launched in 2014 as the "HBX content platform" with CORe. Now known as the HBS Online platform, it replicates the dynamism of the HBS classroom through three key elements: active learning, social connection, and real-world cases.

The platform keeps learners engaged with activities every three to five minutes, such as polls, problem-solving exercises, and the renowned HBS cold call. These interactive features ensure knowledge is applied in real time.

Social interaction is a cornerstone, allowing participants to connect through forums, group discussions, and the HBS Online Community. This collaboration often extends beyond the program, fostering long-lasting networks. Real-world cases immerse learners in real business challenges, enabling them to apply Harvard’s case method in a practical, hands-on way.

HBS Online also helped pioneer the Live Online Classroom (LOC), which is designed to recreate the look and feel of the HBS classroom. The LOC has now evolved into a school-wide platform for synchronous learning, which is managed by HBS IT and utilized across the School by multiple departments.

What challenges did you face in building and scaling HBS Online, and how did you overcome them?
Technology was our first big hurdle. Back then, there wasn’t a platform that could handle the type of case-based, inductive learning Harvard Business School is known for, so we had to create it ourselves. It took a lot of trial and error, some pretty intense engineering, and a few key partnerships to make it work.

Then, there was the challenge of scaling. It wasn’t just about having a platform that could handle thousands of learners; we also needed a way to reach them. We had to build our marketing from the ground up to get the word out about HBS Online, and it’s been a journey. Over time, our platform and our operations have grown more complex.

Now, we manage multiple offerings, including our long-form courses, the Credential of Leadership, Impact, and Management in Business, the Certificate of School Management and Leadership (in collaboration with the Harvard Graduate School of Education), and the Harvard Business Analytics Program (in collaboration with the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences).

How does HBS Online tailor its offerings to meet the needs of a diverse, global audience?
One thing that’s been crucial to us is staying true to our case-based learning approach, but we’re also very intentional about making sure our content speaks to a wide range of experiences. The faculty who create our courses include cases from different industries, various parts of the world, and across organizational levels, from CEOs to frontline managers. This way, learners from diverse backgrounds can see themselves and their challenges reflected in what they’re studying.

Currently, all our content is in English, but technology is opening possibilities that weren’t feasible even a few years ago, and it’s exciting to think about the ways we can broaden our reach and better serve a global audience by translating HBS Online courses.

How is HBS Online staying ahead in online education, and what new developments can learners expect?
Our mission has always been to stay true to HBS’s values by delivering programs that resonate with the right audiences, using a case-based, real-world learning approach. But as the online landscape changes, we’re adapting as well.

A big step for us is transitioning to the new university-wide Learning Experience Platform (LXP). This new platform is more modern, flexible, and dynamic. The LXP will also allow learners to access courses across Harvard’s schools. Plus, it’s mobile-first, which greatly improves accessibility and flexibility.

We’re also exploring AI to make learning more personalized. Imagine tools that help professionals pinpoint exactly what they need for specific leadership or management challenges—this could truly transform how learners engage with our content.

Beyond content, we’re working closely with Executive Education and Harvard Business Publishing to develop purpose-built programs for different audiences. It’s still early days, but there’s a lot of potential for growth, and we’re excited to see where it takes us.

We’ve significantly expanded—and want to continue expanding—our scholarship offerings to make HBS Online accessible to learners from diverse backgrounds. Supporting access to quality education is a big focus for us, and scholarships are a key part of that commitment.

Is there anything else you’d like to mention?
None of this would be possible without our incredible team. They are innovative, dedicated, and highly collaborative. Every new program involves cross-functional collaboration across faculty, content and creative, product management, marketing, sales, technology, program services, and business operations. This teamwork is what has driven our success over the years.

We have people who come together to problem-solve in ways that are inspiring to watch, especially when we’re launching something new. Each team member brings their expertise to the table, from engineers building a seamless platform experience to marketing strategists reaching global audiences, and content developers crafting impactful learning experiences. We’re lucky to have such a talented group, and it’s one of the reasons we’ve come as far as we have.

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