634 Balancing Accuracy of Promised Ship Date and IT Costs supply chain simulation under order-to-delivery environment. In Proceedings of the 2002 Winter Simulation Conference. E. Yücesan, C. H. Chen, J. L. Snowdon, & J. M. Charnes (Eds.) (pp. 1260- 1268). This work was previously published in the International Journal of Information Systems and Supply Chain Management, edited by J. Wang, Volume 1, Issue 1, pp. 1-14, copyright 2008 by IGI Publishing (an imprint of IGI Global). 635 Copyright © 2009, IGI Global, distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 2.19 Developing and Delivering Online Courses Jayavel Sounderpandian University of Wisconsin-Parkside, USA Manohar Madan University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, USA ABSTRACT Distance education, which started out with closed circuit TV technology, has evolved into completely online courses. Not surprisingly, online education has emerged as a major form of e-business. This chapter offers helpful suggestions for those who are planning to develop and deliver online courses, either as part of an existing degree program or as a new totally online degree program. Wherever needed, an online MBA program is used as an example. The chapter considers such things as mission, curriculum planning, curriculum control, marketing, scheduling, course development, ex- pectations from students and faculty, and strengths and weaknesses of online education. INTRODUCTION Traditional classroom (or face-to-face, or F2F) instruction requires the students and instructor to be at the same place at the same time. In other words, the instructor and the students are place bound and time bound. Early forms of distance education 1 removed the need for them to be place bound. The earliest form of distance education started with the closed-circuit TV technology, where the audio and video signals of an instructor’s lecture were transmitted to a distant location so WKDWVWXGHQWVDWWKDWORFDWLRQFRXOGDOVR³DWWHQG the class.” A clear advantage of this technology was that it eliminated or greatly reduced commut- ing needs for students and instructors. Later, the signals were compressed and carried via closed circuit or broadcasted using a satellite so that the signals could be delivered to several remote ORFDWLRQVHI¿FLHQWO\&RQVHTXHQWO\FRPSUHVVHG video became a popular technology for distance education. The advent of Internet changed the technology radically so that asynchronous communication could be utilized. Reading materials and activi- ties of a course could be stored at a Web site for 636 Developing and Delivering Online Courses secure access from anywhere at any time. Stu- GHQWVDQGLQVWUXFWRUVFRXOG³FRPHWRWKHFODVV´ individually at a time convenient to them and carry out all classroom activities. This turned out to be a great convenience to them, because not only are they not place bound but now they are also not time bound. As a result, demand for online education grew rapidly. Today, a Google VHDUFKRIWKHSKUDVH³RQOLQHHGXFDWLRQ´SURGXFHV more than a billion hits. Worldwidelearn.com, DirectoryofSchools.com, USNews.com and Get- Educated.com are good Web sites to get a list of available online degree programs. For a survey of literature on distance education, including online education, see Bryant et al. (Bryant, Kahle, & Schafer, 2005). MBA has been a popular degree program since the 1960s, and it still enjoys a high demand. It is no wonder that online MBA programs are increasing in popularity, because the advantages of being not place bound and not time bound are especially attractive to business employees. Private and public schools have raced to claim their share of the online market. Crawford (2005) reports an estimate of 125,000 online MBA stu- dents in the year 2005. A list of well-recognized MBA programs can be found at the Web site, BusinessWeek.com, and online MBA programs at GetEducated.com. Since many online programs are constantly being added and deleted, most lists are not up-to-date. Online training of employees has also been increasing rapidly. Corporations have found it more cost effective to train their employees using online programs. Such programs eliminate the need for employees to travel, saving a sizeable amount of money for the company. For details on the advantages of online training of employees, see Blake et al. (Blake, Gibson, & Blackwell, 2005). CONSONANCE WITH THE MISSION A university interested in starting an online GHJUHHSURJUDPVKRXOG¿UVWH[DPLQHLIVXFKDQ action is in line with its mission. The university may have an obligation to its on-site students as laid out in its mission. Starting an online program should not in any way jeopardize that obligation. A reason for concern is that the new program will need substantial investments during the beginning years, and some recurring needs for resources in later years. In return, of course, the RQOLQHSURJUDPSURPLVHVWRJHQHUDWHVXI¿FLHQW revenues in future years. However, Folkers (2005) has cited several examples of failures of online education. Such examples and their reasons for failure will have to be analyzed to ensure that the contemplated online program will succeed and existing on-site programs will not be adversely affected. Folkers (2005) also provides a detailed discussion of incorporating online education as part of higher learning. An additional consideration with respect to the mission is whether the online program is EHQH¿WLQJWKHFOLHQWHOHLQWHQGHGLQWKHPLVVLRQ For instance, suppose the mission implies service to only a regional population. The economics of an online program may require admitting a large proportion of students from outside the region. Whether this affects the mission of serving the region should be carefully examined. It could be that by offering an online program that educates nonregional students, a university generates substantial additional income that can be used to educate regional students F2F. In this case, the RQOLQHSURJUDPZLOOEHMXVWL¿HG7KHLQVWLWXWLRQ may also consider amending the mission in light of online opportunities. For certain programs, the mission may call for maintaining a minimum quality level, usually in the form of maintaining an accreditation. For MBA programs, the accreditation by AACSB International (Association for Advancement of 637 Developing and Delivering Online Courses Collegiate Schools of Business, International) is valued highly. The accreditation standards call for certain minimum requirements in starting new programs and ma intaining the quality of an existing program that is newly delivered online. 7KH VWDQGDUGV DUH UH¿QHG FRQWLQXDOO\ DQG WKH current information can be found at the AACSB Web site (http:// www.aacsb.edu). At the time this article was written, the standards for every new program required the following . Demand Analysis $MXVWL¿FDWLRQIRUVWDUWLQJDQHZSURJUDPUHTXLUHV a proof of healthy demand for the program. This may be done in several ways. One way is to conduct a survey of the intended market. Another way is to analyze the demand for existing similar programs at other comparable schools and apply it to the intended program at the intended location. Resource Analysis As already explained, the new program will need ¿QDQFLDO LQVWUXFWLRQDO DQG DGPLQLVWUDWLYH UH- sources. These requirements should be estimated, DQGUHVRXUFHVPXVWEHLGHQWL¿HG Learning Goals For any new program, a set of learning goals VKRXOGEH¿QDOL]HG/HDUQLQJJRDOVVKRXOGEHHV- tablished not only for each course, but also for the whole program. AACSB is keen on program-level learning goals, and expects detailed processes for assurance of learning. These processes are discussed next. Assurance of Learning For each program level learning goal, processes should be in place to ensure that at least some minimum percentage of students are achieving those goals before they graduate. The assurance that a particular student has achieved a particular goal can come about through embedded exer- cises and exam questions in selected courses. The assessment of a student’s achievement of DJRDOVKRXOGEHYHUL¿HGE\DJURXSRIIDFXOW\ members rather than by a single person, prefer- ably including some outsiders. When the number of students in the program is large, sampling a representative set of students and assessing only the sampled students is admissible. A detailed discussion of assurance of learning is presented in a subsequent section. Organizational Structure Developing and delivering online courses involve many personnel whose efforts need to be coordi- nated. It also involves a considerable amount of monetary investment. Needless to say, the whole process needs to be systematically organized. The commonly observed organization structure is shown in Figure 1. At the top we have the Project Management Team, which typically consists of representatives from university administration, faculty, and technical services. This team is re- sponsible for managing the whole project, with special attention to budgets and deadlines. Below it are the Curriculum Planning and Control Com- mittee, the Technical Services Committee, and the Marketing and Public Relations Committee. The functions of Curriculum and Technical Services Committees are described in some detail. The Marketing and Public Relations Committee is responsible for building the image of the program and recruiting students. The developers of individual online courses report to the Curriculum Planning and Control Committee, and the Web technicians report to the Technical Services Committee. The Project Management Team should be aware of possible turnover of personnel, especially among the Web technicians, and must be prepared to manage it. 638 Developing and Delivering Online Courses The organization chart in Figure 1 applies only to the course development phase. After the courses are developed and the program is started, other entities such as course instructors, business services, and student information system come into play. REVENUE ALLOCATION 7KH¿QDQFLDOVLGHRIRQOLQHFRXUVHGHYHORSPHQW and delivery can be different from that of onsite development and delivery due to the differences that exist between the two modes. Essentially, there are the following cost centers that would need to share the revenue: • Program administration • Instruction • Technical services • Student information system • Student services • Business services • Marketing Program administration is the owner of the enterprise and holds the equity. The administra- tion needs to arrive at a formula for sharing the revenue among the cost centers. The formula may LQFOXGH¿[HGSD\PHQWVSOXVDSHUFHQWDJHRIWKH revenues. For example, at the course development stage, the instructors who develop the course DUHSDLGD¿[HGDPRXQWXVXDOO\DFFRUGLQJWRD negotiated contract. When a course is offered, WKHLQVWUXFWRULVXVXDOO\SDLGD¿[HGDPRXQWWR teach that course. Some universities may pay an additional bonus on a per-student basis, recogniz- ing the fact that the teaching effort increases with the number of students in the class. Occasionally, an instructor may be paid a bonus for teaching H[FHOOHQFHWKDWLVUHÀHFWHGLQVD\WKHVWXGHQWV¶ feedback on instructor performance. 6LPLODUO\DWWKHEHJLQQLQJRIDFRXUVHD¿[HG amount of effort from technical services depart- ment is needed to set up the Web site. Addition- ally, as the course proceeds, the technical effort needed for the course increases with the number of students in the course. The technical service Figure 1. Organization chart for online course development Course Development Project Management Curriculum Planning & Control Committee Technical Services Committee Marketing and Public Relations Committee Individual Course Developers Technicians 639 Developing and Delivering Online Courses GHSDUWPHQWLVWKHUHIRUHSDLGD¿[HGVXPSOXVD per-student fee. Student information system keeps track of student enrollments and grades. Student services LQFOXGHDGYLVLQJ¿QDQFLDODLGDQGFRXQVHOLQJ 7KHVHVHUYLFHVZLOOLQFXUERWK¿[HGDQGSHUVWX- dent costs. Finally, the marketing department may EHSDLGD¿ [HGIHHIRUU X Q Q L QJWKHDGYHU W LVHPHQW V and recruiting students. The department may be SDLGD¿[HGDPRXQWSHU\HDUIRUDGYHUWLVLQJHIIRUWV and a per-student amount for students recruited by that department. CURRICULUM PLANNING If an existing F2F program is being planned for online delivery, then no new curriculum needs to be designed. But if the planned online program is completely new, then the whole curriculum of the program needs to be carefully designed. The ¿UVWVWHSLVWR¿QDOL]HWKHOHDUQLQJJRDOVIRUWKH curriculum as a whole, which will serve as a guide for developing individual courses. Because the overall curriculum plan drives all the individual courses, this plan is very important. It should be designed by a Curriculum Planning and Control Committee of faculty members, with representa- tion from each functional area of the program. The curriculum plan for an MBA program will typically include foundation courses, core courses, and elective courses. The foundation courses are needed for those who enter the program without a business background, such as science or engineering graduates. Those who have a recent Figure 2. The concepts vs. courses matrix ACCT 701 ACCT 702 FIN 731 FIN 732 HRM 741 HRM 742 MIS 721 MKT 751 MKT 752 Accounting Double Entry Method x Financial Statements xx Cos ting Methods x Activity Based Costing x Transfer Pricing x GAAP xx x Finance Time Value of Money xx Financial Ratios xxx Cos t of Capital xx Working Capital Mgmt x Financial Markets x Financial Institutions x Investment x Human Res. Mgmt. Info. Systems Marketing Busi ne ss S tra tegy Required Courses A n x mark in the matrix entry implies the topic on the row is covered in the course on the column. 640 Developing and Delivering Online Courses undergraduate degree in business are usually waived from foundation courses. The core courses are required of all students. They are expected to cover all the functional areas of business, and additionally, essential compo- nents such as ethics, leadership, communication, global economy, and information technology. Fi- nally, there should be opportunity for the students to integrate their knowledge gained from various functional areas and apply them to tackle real or hypothetical business problems. Real-world case studies are routinely employed for this purpose. An important requirement of the core courses is that together they should cover all the concepts that are necessary to achieve the learning goals set for the program. Electives are meant to give a student the opportunity to specialize in an area that he/she wishes. AACSB requires at least a total of 30 credits for core and elective courses put together. If a school has a total of 30 credits in its MBA program, it is common to see anywhere between 9 to 15 credits of electives. A simple technique that may be used to sum- marize the essential part of the curriculum plan is the concepts vs. courses matrix. Though simple, the matrix proves to be an effective tool. The rows in the matrix represent the concepts (or topics) that are planned to be covered in the program. The columns are the required courses in the program. (See Figure 2.) The entries in the matrix are either a check mark to show that a concept is covered in the corresponding course, or a number that rep- resents the hours that an average student spends on that topic by completing the program. Such a matrix gives a nice summary of the curriculum with respect to the concepts planned in the cur- riculum. It helps not only the implementation of the plan, but also the maintenance of the whole curriculum. For instance, if a course is revised for any reason, the matrix can be used to ensure all the concepts that are necessary to keep in the revised version. In the next section, we shall see how to implement this plan. CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION AND MAINTENANCE Curriculum control is necessary for any program, whether it is online or F2F, for proper implemen- tation. Fortunately, curriculum control is a lot easier in online programs, because the content FDQ EH HDVLO\ YHUL¿HG E\ MXVW ORRNLQJ LQWR WKH course Web site. The process of collecting data for concepts vs. courses matrix is as follows. For every required course, the instructor of the course submits a course overview form to the school. (See Figure 3.) At the top of the form there are details such as course name and number, semester, instructor name, and textbook used. Below this information is a matrix where the rows are the concepts and the columns are the weeks of the course. If there are 8 weeks of classes, then there will be eight columns in the matrix. The instructor of the course enters, at the top of each column, the list of activi- ties that the students perform that week, and the description of the concept along the rows. (Later in this chapter it will be seen that every course is W R E H D V V LJ Q H G D ³ I D F X O W \ L Q F K D U J H´RI L W V F R Q W H QW If the instructor is not the faculty-in-charge, then the instructor will consult the faculty-in-charge LQGHVLJQLQJWKHFRXUVHFRQWHQWDQG¿OOLQJLQWKH course overview form.) The entries in the matrix are the number of hours an average student spends on each topic. By collecting this information for all required courses, the coverage of the concepts can be summarized. A spreadsheet format is very convenient for this purpose. All course overview forms are organized as worksheets within a single workbook, and a sum- mary sheet in the front adds the number of hours spent on each concept. The summary sheet thus provides a listing of concepts and the emphasis placed on each concept in the program. This in- formation is very valuable for curriculum control. Each sheet workbook can serve as a record of course content that can be communicated to any other instructor who is asked to teach the same 641 Developing and Delivering Online Courses course. The individual course sheets and the sum- mary sheet should be continually updated. It should be noted that the course overview IRUPVDQGWKHVXPPDU\DUHRQO\³LQSXWV´WRWKH students. More actions and documentation are needed to achieve assurance of learning. In the case of MBA programs, the accrediting body, AACSB, is less interested in the inputs, and a lot more interested in assurance of learning. This brings us to the next section on assurance of learning. ASSURANCE OF LEARNING Assessment of a program is necessary to main- tain and continuously improve its quality. The literature on assessment is very vast. Suskie (2004), Walvoord (2004), Gronlund (2005), and Palomba and Banta (1999) are standard references for assessment. Lately, the emphasis has shifted to learning from teaching. Thus, one should concentrate on assurance of learning rather than the teaching aspects in a program. The important steps in assurance of learning are: 'H¿QHOHDUQLQJJRDOV 2. Provide students opportunities for achieving the learning goals. 3. Assess student learning. 4. Use assessment results to assure learning. /HDUQLQJ JRDOV DUH GH¿QHG XVLQJ %ORRP¶V taxonomy (Bloom, 1984). For MBA programs, AACSB recommends four to eight such goals at the program level. At the individual course level, there will be separate sets of goals. The differ- ence in program-level learning goals (PLLGs) compared to course-level learning goals (CLLGs) is that PLLGs are to be tracked more closely Figure 3. Course overview form Course Overview Name of the Course: Name of the Instructor: Textbook Used: Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Learning Activities Asse sse d Topics Total Topic 1 Topic 2 Topic 3 Topic 4 Topic 5 Topic 6 Topic 7 Topic 8 Topic 9 Topic 10 The entries in the matrix are hours spent by a typical student during the week on the topic 642 Developing and Delivering Online Courses than CLLGs. One way to track PLLGs is to create a (fake) online course using the software Desire2Learn (D2L) for assurance of learning, and enroll all active students in it. D2L allows an online grade book that can be set up to track the progress of each student against each PLLG. 7KLVPDNHVIRUDQHI¿FLHQWZD\WRDVVXUHWKDW every student achieves every PLLG. The second step is to provide opportunities to students to achieve the learning goals. For example, if attaining public speaking skills is a goal, then it is not enough to just ask the students to speak at a public forum. The curriculum should include a required course where students are taught public speaking principles. The concept vs. course matrix in Figure 2 can help to ensure that learning opportunities exist in the curriculum for every goal. The next step is assessment of each learning goal. One way to assess CLLGs of core courses is to employ the standardized tests offered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS). ETS offers tests for many majors including business administration at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Such tests are called Major Field Tests, and are available at reasonable cost. The advantage of the Major Field Tests is that they have exter- nal validation, and can be used to compare one institution with another or the national average. Interested readers should consult the ETS Web site (http://ets.org) for the availability and details of standardized tests in a desired major. 7KH¿QDOVWHSFORVHVWKHORRS5HVXOWVIURP the assessment of student achievement should be formally compiled and used for continuous improvement of the curriculum. A committee comprising faculty and other stakeholders should ORRNDWWKHFRPSLOHGUHVXOWVORFDWHGH¿FLHQFLHVLQ student performance, and formulate action plans WRUHPRYHWKRVHGH¿FLHQFLHV Almost all the literature on assurance of learning or assessment assumes onsite courses rather than online courses. Online courses may need some special treatment. Marks et al. (Marks, Sibley, & Arbaugh, 2005) discuss numerous as- pects of online courses and how they may affect student learning. Such studies can help a school formulate special plans for assurance of learning. They can also help to formulate action plans for improving the curriculum after receiving a formal assurance of learning report. Technical Support Offering online courses need extensive technical support from a technical department. Technical support is crucial to the success of the program. Typically, the technical support provider is re- sponsible for the following tasks. Maintain the Web Servers The service provider has to use reliable hardware DV:HEVHUYHUV7KHVHUYHUVVKRXOGKDYHVXI¿FLHQW capacity to handle the peak projected demand for Internet communication, assuming all the students are online at the same time. Provide Course Development Support Faculty members will have to work closely with technicians in developing the Web pages of a course. If the page requires advanced features such D V Y LGH R D Q G DXG L R ¿ O H V W K H Q H H G H G V X S S R U W Z L O O E H correspondingly more. Additionally, there will be ongoing revisions to the course content. Processes must be in place to take care of revisions. Place the Courses Online When a course is developed, it will have to be made available at the desired URL. The techni- cians should place the courses at the URL in a timely manner so the instructors can check it well DKHDGRIWKH¿UVWGD\RIFODVVHV 643 Developing and Delivering Online Courses Provide Technical Support to Students 2QHLPSRUWDQWEHQH¿WRIRQOLQHHGXFDWLRQLVWKH WHPSRUDOÀH[LELOLW\WKDWLVSURYLGLQJFKRLFHRI time of learning to the students (Demirdjian, $VRQOLQHOHDUQLQJUHTXLUHVVLJQL¿FDQW use of technology, students will invariably face technical problems. Hence, students will require DVVLVWDQFHIURPTXDOL¿HGWHFKQLFLDQVWRDQVZHU their questions on a 24/7 basis. Maintain Uniformity of Web Pages Across Different Courses Students would expect/prefer standardization of format of lectures, assignments, discussions, and exams in all courses. The technicians are expected to convey to the faculty their schemes for formatting the different items in course Web pages, and maintaining uniformity of pages across all courses. Conduct Student Surveys for Feedback Online courses require more frequent monitoring than on-site courses. It is customary to conduct a course evaluation at least twice, midway through the course and at the end, in order to facilitate continuous improvement. Since this needs a survey to be conducted online, the technicians are once again involved. As can be seen from the list of duties for tech- QLFDOVWDIILWLVYHU\LPSRUWDQWWRKDYHTXDOL¿HG and reliable technical support. A school may or may not have such capability within the campus. While on-campus technical support is common, PDQ\VFKRROVGRXVHFRPPHUFLDORXW¿WVIRUWKH purpose. If a school is planning to employ a com- PHUFLDORXW¿WQHHGOHVVWRVD\WKHRXW¿WVKRXOG be selected carefully. Marketing Plans The need for marketing an online degree program cannot be overemphasized. A typical online program may have the ability to attract a num- ber of potential students outside the region. A good marketing plan should include advertising at popular Web sites. In the case of MBA, this could be Businessweek.com. There are also spe- cialized Web sites such as GetEducated.com and Onlinedegrees.net. Of course, the university must have its own attractive Web site. Many students will check a program’s Web site to estimate the quality of the program. To attract regional students, it is necessary to resort to traditional methods of marketing and promotion. Printing well-designed brochures and mailing them to local businesses and potential students is a must. Additionally, the university should conduct open houses and other forms of informational sessions. Offering scholarships is another way to attract students who may otherwise go elsewhere. Since many potential students may be outside the region, the university must use recruiting agents who travel to other campuses and educa- tional fairs, domestic and foreign, to advertise the program or conduct informational sessions. A recent phenomenon is the emergence of commercial agencies that offer recruiting services. In populous countries such as India and China, such agencies provide local expertise in recruiting HIIRUWV6XFKDJHQFLHVEULQJVLJQL¿FDQWHI¿FLHQ- cies in recruiting and tend to be quite successful in identifying and attracting a sizeable number RISURVSHFWLYHVWXGHQWVZKRVDWLVI\WKHVSHFL¿HG admission requirements. Scheduling Another important part of the plan for a new pro- gram is the scheduling of courses. The required . ex- pectations from students and faculty, and strengths and weaknesses of online education. INTRODUCTION Traditional classroom (or face-to-face, or F2F) instruction requires the students and instructor to. Services Committee, and the Marketing and Public Relations Committee. The functions of Curriculum and Technical Services Committees are described in some detail. The Marketing and Public Relations. main- tain and continuously improve its quality. The literature on assessment is very vast. Suskie (2004), Walvoord (2004), Gronlund (2005), and Palomba and Banta (1999) are standard references