Learn what happened when the Feliciano School of Business at Montclair State University took its traditional MBA program online. After a failed first attempt and sometimes rocky development process, the online MBA was successfully launched. The presentation details lessons that apply to any program in the higher education space.
Description
According to Nelson (2016) there are over 140 AACSB accredited online MBA programs. How does a business school at a state university complete in this already saturated market? This session will examine what happened when the Feliciano School of Business at Montclair State University took its traditional MBA program online. The university only had limited experience with online programs and the School of Business had already been through one failed attempt at developing an online MBA. After a false start and sometimes rocky development process, the online MBA was successfully launched in the Fall 2016. The program grew so fast that the leadership team needed to find innovative ways to handle the number of students. The lessons learned by the online MBA leadership team will be presented.
Nelson, Colin. (2016). Continued Growth in Accessibility of AACSB-Accredited Online Degrees. http://aacsbblogs.typepad.com/dataandresearch/2016/10/continued-growth-i...
Learning Goals
During this session attendees will learn:
- The often overlooked aspects of developing an online program
- How to work effectively with faculty, instructional designers, and the technology team
- When and how to work with outside companies
- How to setup their internal structures, policies, and procedures to ensure online program success
- What happens when growth greatly exceeds targets
Format
This session will be highly interactive and engaging through the use of discussions, audience response technologies, and live demos.
Program Overview
- Introduction of presenters and topic
- Background and history – interactive poll
- The 10 lessons – with feedback and discussion with audience
- Learn from past efforts (the FlexMBA)
- Take your time – don’t jump right in
- Honestly evaluate your school and university resources – what can they handle and what should be outsourced
- Honestly evaluate your school and university policies, procedures, and processes – what needs to change when you go online
- Define your model early (e.g., how many starts, asynchronous vs synchronous elements, concentrations, etc.)
- Involve your instructional design team from the beginning
- Involve your technical team from the beginning
- Identify your SMEs early and prepare them
- Plan for success
- Don’t assume
- Update on where the program is now
- Open discussion
- Wrap up