A 10-metre, ocean-going catamaran became the classroom for students of the University of Queensland's master of business administration (MBA) program recently.
In early September, 10 students used the experience of sailing the boat in Moreton Bay to understand occupational health and safety theory and practice.
The Graduate School of Management's Occupational Health and Safety course lecturer Anne Pisarski said the one-day field trip, introduced this year, was part of the MBA elective's flexible and self-directed learning ethos.
She said the elective's emphasis on flexible delivery (in which students learn at their own pace) placed it at the cutting edge in terms of occupational health and safety units offered within MBA programs worldwide.
"The field trip translates the classroom experience into a real-world situation. The boat is used as a metaphor for a self-contained organisation which can literally go under if not operated according to safe procedures," she said.
"Students have to navigate a course, continually checking the surrounding environment for changed conditions. Similarly, in an organisation it's not enough just to have formal occupational health and safety procedures. Managers must continually monitor the environment to check the guidelines are working and are still relevant."
Each student rotated between 10 tasks on the catamaran including captaining, navigating and crewing the vessel, Ms Pisarski, an experienced sailor, said.
Students had two briefing sessions on the boat and completed a health and safety audit. The field trip was discussed as part of two intensive weekends of classes, one before and one after the event.
Student Donna Keogh said in her seven years' experience studying at tertiary institutions throughout Queensland, the trip had been the "most innovative, enjoyable and educational experiences I have had".
Roberta Dreghorn said the sailing field trip had been a very challenging hands-on experience. "Well worthwhile," she said.
"A very creative tool to get theory to meet practice in order to accelerate the learning process," according to another student, Jason Levick.
"Dynamic team learning out of the classroom just as it happens in the real world - excellent," according to Ravi Goonewardene.
The Occupational Health and Safety elective of the University's MBA began in 1995 initially funded by a $50,000 Worksafe Australia grant. Course materials were developed by Graduate School of Management senior lecturer Dr Philip Bohle and Professor Michael Quinlan from the University of New South Wales.
Patrick Palmer, from the University's Tertiary Education Institute, contributed to the instructional design of the elective. Mr Palmer is currently incorporating many of the flexible and self-directed learning ideas used in developing this elective into undergraduate business programs to be offered at UQ Ipswich from early 1999.
Dr Bohle said students must complete core modules that incorporate the perspectives of medicine, sociology, psychology, ergonomics and industrial relations but could then choose from a series of optional modules such as Women and Occupational Health and Safety, Migrant Workers and Occupational Health and Safety, over-use injuries or engineering disasters.
"Assessment focuses on the development and understanding of occupational health and safety issues in students' own workplaces. This allows them to develop materials relevant to their workplaces," Dr Bohle said.
The sailing field trip was developed after an approach by Bob Van Bodegraven, principal of Brisbane-based Sentinel Sailing, a company specialising in adventure-based learning for executives.
The University of Queensland's Graduate School of Management (GSM) ended 1997 with high honours awarded both nationally and internationally.
One of the largest master of business administration programs in Australia, the School was ranked 12 in the Top 25 Asian MBA schools in an annual survey undertaken by Hong Kong-based publication ASIA INC.
ASIA INC ranks 80 schools, from 13 countries, that offer full-time, two-year MBA programs. The rankings are based on criteria which include quality of incoming students (28 percent), quality of education (34 percent) and market value of students (38 percent).
The School also ranked in the Top 20 of all Asia Pacific business schools according to World Executive Digest, an MBA career guide which surveyed more than 1000 recruiters around the world to rank Asia Pacific business schools.
In 1997, the School doubled the number of enrolled students from 350 to 700 in fewer than three years and achieved $1.2 million in competitive grants for research funding in 1997, believed to the largest graduate school of business recipient of Australian Research Council funding for the year.
And according to the 1997 edition of Management Research in Australia published by the National Board of Employment, Education and Training, the University of Queensland Graduate School of Management ranks first in Australia on the basis of management-related doctorate enrolments and third in a comparison of management research output.
For more information, contact Ms Pisarski (telephone 07 3365 8285 at work or 07 3379 7207 at home) or Dr Bohle (telephone 07 3365 6676 at work or 07 3397 4196 at home).
