i2i Challenge, Second Place: Alex Howland & Ron Rembisz, “Collaboration in the Virtual World”
Alex Howland (pictured here) heard about the i2i Challenge from one of his professors at Alliant University’s Marshall Goldsmith School of Management. Immediately, he considered partnering with Ron Rembisz, founder of Rembisz & Associates, where Alex is an intern.
“Collaborating with Ron was a no brainer,” Alex said. “Ron is a mentor who is committed to developing leaders and is always seeking innovative ways to do so.” He told Ron about the challenge, and they went on to become the only duo to make the winner’s list.
Alex and Ron looked to cyberspace to improve graduate management education. Ron and his associates are already working on a virtual environment in which to assess and develop executives. Using that framework, Ron and Alex researched universities to see what kind of virtual communities are already in place.
“Despite increased popularity,” they found, “use of virtual world platforms for graduate management education lacks strategic focus.”
“We were quite impressed,” Alex added, “but realized little collaboration is currently taking place.”
To leverage the latest technology, Alex and Ron recommended building a graduate management virtual education community around two values: inclusion and innovation. Their idea would remove the constraints of time and space from the business school experience.
In this virtual environment, Ron sees a future in which working and collaborating online will be commonplace and preferred, where information and ideas can be exchanged and discussed quickly and openly. Alex and Ron’s idea would embed that environment in graduate management education from the start, using the virtual space for classes, conferences, field trips, and more.
“The environment will be dynamic and creative—a world of exploration and imagination,” Ron said.
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