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Photo courtesy Gary Kuwahara |
| The successful roll out of undergraduate classes taught online gives students the added flexibility of not having to come to campus. |
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CBAPP Launches First Online Undergraduate Course, More to Come
In
January, CBAPP’s first online class for undergraduates got underway.
The Principles in Marketing class finished in April with astounding
feedback on the course’s success, both from the students and the
college itself. Spearheaded by Roger Berry, associate professor of
marketing, and Dean Jim Strong, its success has led the college to
plan to roll out seven more undergraduate classes online over the
summer and fall. CBAPP has long been known for its online graduate programs like the online M.B.A., which is regarded as one of the best in the industry and growing online M.P.A. Yet, the foray into undergraduate programs was still an unknown, which made the roll out of the class a bit nerve-wracking. “I remember in December saying to Roger, ‘geez, I’m worried we’re not going to have enough students to justify this – it was a different start date than the rest of the semester and we had done no publicity to get the word out about it,’” says Strong. A few weeks later, his concerns proved unfounded. “We were hoping for 30 to 40 students, which is the typical enrollment for this class on campus. Then, the enrollment numbers came in and we had 96 enrolled,” says Berry. In the end, the 86 students finished the class – 10 being a typical drop count for sections on campus as well – and they raved about the new course offering in three separate surveys Berry conducted at the beginning, middle, and end of the course. In fact, by week seven when the second survey was administered, 86 percent of the students said they’d recommended the course to another student. Only two students responded that they’d have rather taken the class on campus. The course followed a similar framework to the on-campus version, with Berry making his typical lecture notes available to provide guidance and annotate the class’s textbook. He also provided feedback on a regular basis and the course was evaluated in the same format with four exams and one major project. Invariably, the reason the students took the class was the added flexibility it afforded – the “ability to ‘go to class” at 2 a.m. in their pajamas if they want’ as Strong explains. For students such as those who attend CSUDH, who face the constant competing demands of families and careers even before they set foot in the classroom, this was a watershed moment for them to be able to balance those demands a little more easily. Yet, even with high enrollment and satisfaction, the point is to offer a class where the concepts are taught well and understood. In other words, it needs to be effective. Berry, who has taught online through the M.B.A. program for years, suggests that this question has been answered successfully too, pointing to the final grade distribution as very similar to the in-class sections he has taught in the past. As one student wrote in the final survey: “I was hesitant about taking an online course, but I thought I would give it a try. The course has taught me how to study and has caused me to realize that I am responsible for my performance. The course has been a good experience for me. Thank you for making it available.” “Adding to our enrollment numbers is great for us, but the point is for students to learn the material,” says Strong. “I’ve been thrilled with what Roger put together. Given who our students are and the number of things they have going on in their lives, this showed that as long as you put a good quality product out there, it works. Online is certainly not for every student, but for those who can adapt and keep their focus, this is a great option.” To capitalize on this first class’s success, CBAPP is currently working to roll out seven more undergraduate classes online for the fall semester. They will cover a number of the core classes in business administration and public administration as well as two electives. On the heels of such a success and with CBAPP’s impressive feedback for its online graduate offerings that were started in 1999, the natural question is to ask why it took so long to step into the undergraduate online arena. The answer is that these courses require a significant amount of hard work to get them up and running. Since the graduate courses typically focus on case studies, there was not a lot of cross-over to the undergraduate class that focused on the fundamental principles and understanding of concepts. That meant a lot of work for Berry to fold his on-campus marketing class into one that would work online. For the forthcoming batch of classes that will roll out over the summer and fall, Strong credits Berry, Kaye Bragg, associate dean, and the CBAPP Online Committee comprised of committee chair Kaye Bragg, Kenneth Poertner, director of graduate programs, Burhan Yavas, professor of finance and quantitative methods, and Jeff Badrtelai, director of applied studies, for putting in the hours to convert the on-campus classes into versions that will work online. Ultimately, he sees no reason why the college’s entire curriculum can’t be rolled out online over the course of years provided student interest, feedback, and understanding of the material remains high. “This has the potential to meet students’ needs in ways that no one in the CSU has been able to yet,” he says, referring to the fact that no other CSU currently offers complete business, public administration, or criminal justice undergraduate majors with an online delivery format. “We are building toward offering these majors completely online. It will take us time, and we will of course keep the traditional ground-based delivery but I really think the sky is the limit. Online delivery will dramatically enhance student accessibility to our programs, and that is what the CSU is all about.” |
