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50 To p a n d c e n t r e : U N B C
B C B U S I N E S S . C A
A P R I L 2 0 24
"
I've been doing
virtual for years
now. It can be just
as engaging—lots of
sharing of experiences.
And for people that are
not as comfortable,
they can use the chat
function. We use
annotate. We use
breakouts. There are
lots of different tools."
—Adrienne Serrao, instructor, executive core
leadership certificate,
UNBC
"I didn't want to spend years every evening
working on an
MBA where I would miss out
on time with them," Cherban explains.
She eventually decided on the executive
leadership certificate through
SFU's
continuing education department after
researching several contenders.
The program appealed to her because
of its flexibility and reasonable duration,
but, ultimately, the learning experience is
what won her over. "[The certificate] ended
up being far better than I was expecting,"
she explains. "You go into these things and
you're not quite sure what you're getting
yourself into."
Online courses offer the most flexibil-
ity, especially if they're asynchronous. You
just log in and learn as easily as you might
watch Netflix. But ultimate flexibility comes
with trade-offs—participants lose the added
benefit of peer-to-peer interaction. Adri-
enne Serrao instructs
UNBC's executive core
leadership certificate, where students get
together at scheduled times for workshops
on Zoom. She asserts that online sessions
provide ample opportunity for intimacy
and sharing when done right. "I've been
doing virtual for years now," she says. "It
can be just as engaging—lots of sharing of
experiences. And for people that are not
as comfortable, they can use the chat func-
tion. We use annotate. We use breakouts.
There are lots of different tools."
And because those remote engage-
ments are scheduled on Pacific Time,
participants from across B.C. can learn
from each others' different experiences.
"There's a variety of industries and sec-
tors," Serrao points out.
GREAT HAUL
UNBC combines
virtual programs with
on-campus learning
at its five locations
