Project Details

Team

Ruth Smith: Instructional Designer
Lee Ann Gillen: Instructional Designer
Yan Shen: Instructional Designer
David Howard: Instructional Designer
Laura Stephenson: Mediasite Trainer and Support
Joe Gray: Mediasite Technology Support
Peter Watson: Mediasite Help Desk Support
Cleo Magnuson: Instructional Designer
Philip Meilleur: Technical Writer
Lisa Fiedor: Accessibility and Learning Technology Consultant
Lidia Churakova: Motion Graphics Designer and Developer
Darren Ley: Videographer
John Gordon: Videographer

Client

Steve Allen: Poole College of Management
Cecil Bozarth: Poole College of Management

Technologies

Moodle
Video
Camtasia
Mediasite
Google Calendar

Timeline

January 2011 to June 2013

MBA Online Program

DELTA provided assistance to the MBA Online program leading up to the initial launch and during the first two years of the program.

Challenges

Launching a Distance Education (DE) degree program has many challenges, so this is not intended to be an exhaustive list. There were a few challenges that DELTA helped to address:

Students in a program want to have some connection among the courses they take.
Program faculty and college administrators want to be confident that the online program gives students an equivalent educational experience to an onsite program.
A program is a big effort involving a lot of faculty, and providing support for a group that large can be difficult for a department or college.

Solutions

DELTA worked with the MBA program for more than two years to try and address these challenges and more, both before launch and over the first two years of the program.

DELTA instructional designers worked with program faculty to design a template that could be used in all courses. This template means that students get used to a single look and feel no matter which course they are taking. The template also includes examples of good practices for instructors to look at, copy or modify in their courses.
DELTA instructional designers worked with program faculty to assist with common practices across the program. Some of these included a common day for each course “week” to begin and end, a set of common groups that could exist across courses, common online workspaces for the cross-program groups, and a program calendar with important dates that is available from every course.
In working with college administrators, the program director and program faculty, DELTA provided professional assurance and research showing that a well-designed online program could provide equivalent results to onsite programs. DELTA also provided support over the first two years of the program as needed (e.g. for technology snags, student feedback with desired improvements, or new faculty in the program).
DELTA instructional designers worked with instructors to design each course in the program.
DELTA provided expert support and training in the use of lecture recording software and hardware.
DELTA shot and produced welcome videos for each course in the program.

Most importantly, this program could not have been successful without the initiative and drive of the program director, program faculty and college administrators. DELTA’s support for the launch of this program is just that–support.