| Figure 1: The Main Menu screen from the Business Fundamentals course. |
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North American Web Developers Conference, October 1998:
Universities are not traditionally regarded as business organizations, rather as the institutions for the dissemination of knowledge. The paradigm of incorporating business strategies within the traditional university mandate is becoming increasingly attractive as educational institutions face increasing funding cuts and decreasing enrolments. The Dr. J. Herbert Smith Centre at the University of New Brunswick is breaking a new mold by establishing a unique three-way partnership between a private business, a government agency and the university. The paper addresses the history of this venture, the unique aspects of such a partnership, as well as the necessary considerations in courseware development to meet the distinctive needs of the resulting new client.
The development of the virtual Business Management Skills Centre stemmed from a joint venture between Amulet Consulting Inc.- a private education developer - and the Greater Fredericton Economic Development Corporation to design business education courseware. The Dr. J. Herbert Smith Centre, a well-established centre for entrepreneurship education within the University of New Brunswick, was also in the process of developing an on-line introductory business course. The paper presents an overview of the successful partnering of these three organizations and describes how the strengths of all collaborators is being utilized to establish a lucrative and wide-reaching market for their product and to build a sustainable competitive advantage in the business of on-line business education.
The success of this endeavour lies not only in the effective business partnership, but also in the instructional design of the courseware. How do we reach out to students' individual needs and learning styles? What mechanisms are employed to motivate the on-line client? How do we ensure that content developers are savvy to the needs of the client? The paper addresses how the virtual Business Management Skills Centre has dealt with these critical issues of web-based education in the development of their courses through an examination of the integral parts of a typical course.
An online overview and demonstration of the learning system discussed in this paper can be viewed at http://www.bmscentre.com.
Keywords: Web-based Learning, new paradigm, courseware, continuing education, Instructional Design, Electronic Delivery, distance education, On-Line Courses, Business Management Skill Centre (BMSC), University of New Brunswick, Fredericton.
1. Introduction
The Dr. J. Herbert Smith/ACOA Chair in Technology Management and Entrepreneurship in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of New Brunswick has as its mission "to expose undergraduate and continuing education students to the realities of entrepreneurship and management in technology-based businesses and to contribute to the development of the skills necessary to be successful in business". The Centre accomplishes this mission through the provision of five university credit courses in which students are exposed to a vast array of issues of the "real world" of business and technology. Guest speakers in the two seminar courses share their own entrepreneurial successes (and failures) or experiences with business management involving emerging technologies. Basic business fundamentals such as finance, marketing, human resource management and product management are introduced in a third course and remaining courses, with some flexibility for students, expose students to issues that are common to larger corporations. Successful students not only acquire a Diploma in Technology Management and Entrepreneurship (TME), but also a beginning network and knowledge base, invaluable tools for their potential future business practices.
Since the Centre’s establishment in 1990, the Diploma has been offered on-site at the Fredericton campus of the University of New Brunswick. A major objective of the Centre is the development of an online distance education TME Diploma program featuring innovation in instructional design and the application of new learning paradigms necessary to meet the unique needs of the distance learner. At present, two such courses are being offered through a unique partnership between the university, an economic development agency, and a private sector consulting company. The evident success of this initial phase of the project has resulted in continued efforts to accomplish the objective of having the remaining TME courses online, thus making this program more accessible outside the traditional campus community.
2. The Distance Education Project
The TME program was founded as a response to increasing educational needs arising from an emerging global economy. It is evident that organizations today require employees with the sound technological knowledge they acquire through the engineering program, but also with an ability to function in a management/business environment. Teamwork skills, creative thinking, good communication and interpersonal skills and the ability to cope with ambiguity and change are all desirable characteristics of today’s employees. The growing emphasis on entrepreneurship in education is driven by the importance of the small business sector of the economy. This sector plays a critical role in the economic performance of Atlantic Canada. Entrepreneurship is the key to regional economic development in the future.
These attributes and economic conditions not only apply to our young graduating engineers or entry level employees. There are many people with this same profile - interested in the basics of business/entrepreneurship/management - but for whom a degree program is not a desired/viable option. There is a growing need and professional requirement for experienced employees to continuously upgrade their skills. Furthermore, because of trends such as downsizing and flatter organization structures, many employees are being empowered with a broader range of responsibilities. In many cases, employees who had previously played narrow technical roles are being expected to assume management responsibilities.
The Centre sees a need, therefore, for easy access to online courses that will meet the needs of the above target learners - entrepreneurs of all ages and educational levels, professionals needing to fulfill continuing education requirements, as well as individuals and organizations interested in corporate management development.
3. The Partnership
The Dr. J. Herbert Smith Centre has established a unique three-way partnership that is capable of producing the desired top quality, easily accessible, online product in a relatively short time. The "Business Management Skills Centre" (BMSC) began as a joint venture between Amulet Consulting Ltd. - a private sector corporate training and consulting company, and the Greater Fredericton Economic Development Corporation - an economic development company. Realizing that the vision of that venture was harmonious with that of the Centre, the three groups have established a public/private partnership that effectively pools their varied experiences, expertise, and resources thus enabling "fast track" development, marketing, and delivery of the online business courses.
Recognizing the need for a diversity of content areas under the business umbrella, a plan for involving content developers into the process has been developed. Content developers, for the most part, are faculty from the university who are presently offering their courses on-site. A manual is available to developers to aid them in structuring their content to fit in with the learning parameters consistent with the instructional design of the present courseware.
4. The Vision
Presently, four courses are available online through the Business Management Skills Centre - Introduction to Entrepreneurship, an introductory level course, Business Fundamentals, Financial Management for Non-Financial Managers, and Understanding Financial Statements, intermediate level courses. A primary objective of the distance education project is to have the entire TME Diploma accessible online within a year. In addition to diploma courseware, it is planned to establish a collection of business related courses at varying levels. All courses, as described below, will be modular in design thus allowing learners to tailor their curriculum to their specific needs. The vision includes an online Business Service Centre where existing and prospective entrepreneurs or business managers can get easy and free access to a variety of services including online mentors, site links, information on upcoming events, and an interactive business planning tool.
5. Adapting the Learning Paradigm
One important realization that we have made regarding the target market for the Business Management Skills Centre is that their personal learning needs are widespread and varied. Asynchronous access to courses and services is necessary, and a flexible and adaptable learning environment is crucial.
Courses and services are available continuously - online registration can happen 365 days per year. Learners have the added option of taking some courses for university credit, where evaluation of mastery is more rigorous and to university standards, or simply as non-credit courses.
All courses will be modular in structure and learners can purchase only those parts that they require. Prior learning assessment tools are included in each module to aid the learner in determining their specific requirements. All courses/modules are object-oriented and a complete listing of learning objectives associated with the topic structure is available. These outline specific abilities or knowledge that the learner can expect to do/know after completing the module. In addition, the customer can undertake a module review exercise interactively online in order to determine prior knowledge or needs for that particular subject area. Once the customer has selected the courses/modules best suited to his/her needs, they proceed at their own pace, dependent on their particular situations. Each module is designed to be completed in four to six hours and it is anticipated that courses would/should be completed within a six month period.
A web-based product was chosen for distance delivery in order to facilitate convenience and accessibility for both the learners and the Centre. The courseware can easily be revised and updated, thus ensuring up-to-date and accurate information for the learner. The courseware is designed for a minimum bandwidth (28.8 k modem) and there is the option for electronic commerce. Additional resource materials are also available and described below.
The courseware has been designed with the needs of the distant learner in mind. With this learning environment, it was critical to develop tools and strategies that could reach out to the learner and both address their individual needs and learning styles and enable them to feel part of a larger group, a virtual campus community.
Figures 1 and 2 illustrate examples of the user-friendly web design. The navigational system is simple and straight-forward, allowing learners to proceed through the material in a logical and sequential manner. Additional advice and information is incorporated in "pop-up windows" that enrich the learning experience by elaborating on important concepts. In order to further increase distant learning comfort, it was necessary to "second guess" the needs of the learner and incorporate additional features. Throughout each module, effective use is made of examples to illustrate and clarify concepts.
| Figure 1: The Main Menu screen from the Business Fundamentals course. |
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The examples are based on real-life experiences in business and focus on everyday applications that all learners can identify with and clearly understand. A complete glossary of terms is accessible from all modules providing consistent and up-to-date terminology. A Frequently Asked Questions section is included for all topic areas and relevant links to other online resources is provided giving the learner the option to investigate topics/questions independently. We also realize that the distant learner may occasionally need to access direct, real time assistance and either online (E-mail) or offline (phone or fax) help is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. In order for learners to self-assess their comprehension of the topics presented in each module, interactive review exercises have also been included. They consist of questions of varying degrees of difficulty and can be monitored by an instructor if applicable/desirable. Learners submit their answers and receive immediate scores and explanations of the correct answers.
| Figure 2. A typical content outline screen for a Business Fundamentals module. |
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Additional features included in the instructional design of all courses/modules address the requirement of the target market to have ready access to practical and usable tools that they can apply to their own business or management situations. The Business Analysis Toolkit is one such feature. All analysis tools discussed or referenced in the courseware are interactively designed and downloadable and are made available to the learner to use with their own data.
Recognizing that effective learning utilizes a variety of input mechanisms, we have included offline resources that can be used to supplement the courseware or, in some cases, as alternative learning media. Videotapes of on-site lectures are available for some of the courses and workbooks that contain outlines, learning objectives, and summaries have been developed for each module. Learners are encouraged to make use of each of the learning tools in such a way that reflects their own preferred learning styles.
The courses that are or will be available through the Business Management Skills Centre are only part of an integrated learning system that encompasses a number of unique features. Potential customers can access the BMSC online to conduct their own prior learning assessment. Once their needs are determined, they can register online through a system that enables electronic commerce transactions. The process is then linked into the University of New Brunswick’s Presentation System for Courses (PSyCo) which provides an interface between course design and delivery. PSyCo also enables effective communication between the course instructor and the learners as well as between learners through managed online conferencing and E-mail. It also provides the venue for the secure testing that is required for credit courses. Through PSyCo, the Centre can also monitor/track individual student usage of the various features and provides valuable statistics for ongoing evaluation of the project.
6. Summary
A shift in focus by organizations to a more adaptive, innovative and entrepreneurial approach, the growing emphasis on entrepreneurship in education, the trend towards professional associations establishing mandatory continuing education requirements, and the natural transition that engineers make from technical to management roles clearly indicate that there is and will continue to be growth in the adult education market in the area of business education. A flexible, convenient, and low cost approach is ideally suited for this target market.
The project described herein addresses the needs of this market by effectively leveraging the intellectual property assets of the Technology Management and Entrepreneurship Program at the University of New Brunswick through distributed learning. The Dr. J. Herbert Smith Centre is breaking new ground and, admittedly, we are learning as we go the psychology of web-based learning in this field. What works, what does not, what needs to be restructured, removed, added, or redesigned are issues that we are continually analyzing, the results of which are incorporated into the ongoing design of the Business Management Skills Centre.
Marie Jo Thibault
Research and Administrative Assistant
Dr. J. Herbert Smith Centre, University of New Brunswick
P.O. Box 4400, Fredericton, NB, CANADA, E3B 5A3
Tel: (506) 453-3540
Fax: (506) 453-4997
mjotibo@unb.ca
http://www.unb.ca/web/jhsc/
© 1998. The author(s), B.G. Bisson, M.J. Thibault, and K.E. Zundel, assign(s) to the University of New Brunswick and other educational and non-profit institutions a non-exclusive license to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The author(s) also grant(s) a non-exclusive license to the University of New Brunswick to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web and on CD-ROM and in printed form with the conference papers, and for the document to be published on mirrors on the World Wide Web. Any other usage is prohibited without the express permission of the author(s).