Co‑Creative Learning
The Corporate Residency MBA is unique in its structure, design and approach to learning. It brings together the needs and interests of employers, students and faculty.
Co-creative learning refers to the triangle of stakeholders who share important relationships with each other (students, Employer Partners and MBA faculty/staff) and who collaboratively design the curriculum through pre-development consultations and ongoing feedback mechanisms. Co-creative also refers to the integration and innovation that exist around the four main program components—academic curriculum, corporate residency, flexible electives and personal/professional effectiveness. Instead of existing as individual silos, these program components are pieces of a system that inform and influence each other and rely on each other for optimal program delivery.
Learning in context
The corporate residency puts the students’ academic learning in context. The work experience becomes the textbook they draw upon for examples and the learning outcomes are strengthened because students take ownership. This process brings faculty, students and employers together in a co-creative learning environment.
Innovative design
At Dalhousie, an MBA is more than the completion of a set number of stand-alone courses. The design of the Corporate Residency MBA ensures a balance between a comprehensive world view and sound practical skills. By creating a series of integrative seminars employing real cases, the connections and inter-relationships become clear. People learn to appreciate complex and ambiguous situations and refine their competencies through numerous assignments, field visits and the experiences of others.
Another key feature of the program is the personal and professional effectiveness stream—the commitment to help every MBA candidate become ‘job ready’ in preparation for the corporate residency in January of year one.
Approach to learning
Another aspect of our approach is ‘peer to peer learning’. Teamwork, feedback and collaboration are essential in today’s workplaces and in the learning process. With that in mind, there is great emphasis on complementing individual strengths and talents with high-level group skills.
Perhaps most importantly, the learning approach is one of continuing inquiry and developing the skills for lifelong and multidisciplinary learning.
