FOME’s autumn conference held in Berlin
On the 17th of November 2021, members of the Future of Management Education (FOME) Alliance gathered at ESMT Berlin for their annual all member conference. The previous all members’ conference was hosted at Singapore Management University in 2020, and in June 2021, Ivey Business School hosted a conference for the FOME Management Committee.
Despite the continued unpredictability caused by the pandemic, the conference proceeded with a hybrid delivery model. Forty-eight members of the alliance were given the opportunity to reconnect in person, and thanks to ESMT’s state of the art technology, forty-three members from around the world attended virtually. It was an invaluable experience for FOME members to reconvene and progress key action points.
A series of interactive sessions and content-driven workshops took place across two full days, allowing FOME members to focus on their shared vision: to catalyse digital innovation in business education. A number of presentations were led by external FOME members and educational experts, including Dr. Melanie Stilz, a Postdoctoral Researcher at Technische Universität Berlin, and Talia Kolodny, Director of Partnerships, EMEA at Engageli. They shared their expertise within the digital education landscape, including how to create better online learning experiences for students, reflecting the priorities of the FOME Alliance to continually scope new technologies.
Members from the alliance participated in collaborative workshops, sharing their own online learning experiences using the insendi platform, and discussing platform performance and functionality. They provided insight into their institutions’ current programmes and practises on insendi, as well as their future plans to further utilise the platform. This inspired FOME members to consider new applications of the platform.
Members also deliberated on new models of collaboration and different ways to further enhance the student experience within the executive and higher education space. As underscored by Nick Barniville, Associate Dean, and outgoing FOME Chair, “the criteria for FOME membership is represented through a willingness to share knowledge in the most transparent way possible, as well as a commitment to excellent online pedagogy.”
Alongside the interactive sessions and working groups, attendees were given meaningful opportunities to socialise and deepen connections with one another. Insendi sponsored welcome drinks to kick off the conference while ESMT hosted a dinner at the famous German restaurant, Max und Moritz, to conclude the event. The opportunity for members to reconnect underpinned a feeling of unity, shared vision, and camaraderie.
The conference closed with the inaugural FOME Learning Design Innovation Awards, sponsored by insendi. The awards seek to commend intelligent, well-crafted pedagogical designs that aid students in achieving the intended learning objectives. Terry Sweeney, insendi CEO, announced the award winners, noting the universally high standard of the submissions.
EDHEC Business School received the bronze award for their work on 'How to apply Bloom's Taxonomy to learning design'. Two of Imperial College Business School's submissions tied for second place, with "Computing matrix powers' and "identifying and combating customer toxicity.” Finally, ESMT were awarded gold for their outstanding submission on 'The Drawbridge learning sequence in the Ethics and Responsibility course'.
As the winners collected their awards and everyone began to part ways, there was a strong feeling of accomplishment amongst FOME members. The conference provided two days of valuable reconnection between partner schools and a realignment of the educational priorities of the alliance.
Driven by a shared pedagogical vision, the FOME members will continue to work closely with one another, despite the distance between schools, reuniting this year at BI Norwegian Business School, who have taken over from ESMT as FOME Chair.
