Abstract
During the summer of 2002, a partnership between Clemson University [HREF 1] and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America (B&GCA)[HREF2]was announced to establish the federally funded Strom Thurmond Boys & Girls Club Leadership Institute at Clemson University. This initiative was to honor South Carolina’s native son and the longest serving United States Senator, Strom Thurmond. In January, 2003 Clemson University approved the online master’s degree in human resource development for Boys & Girls Clubs of America. The degree is one facet of the partnership to establish The Strom Thurmond Boys & Girls Club Leadership Institute at Clemson University. Clemson is providing an advanced curriculum and using state of the art technology to help the national youth development organization recruit, train, and retain and develop the professional and volunteer leaders who work with 3.3 million young people annually. The curriculum is taught by nationally recognized faculty and tailored to meet the specific needs of Boys & Girls Clubs personnel. (ClemsonNews,2003)
The Boys & Girls Clubs of America serve over 3.3 million boys & girls in 3,103 Club locations. Club locations are in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands plus domestic and international military bases. There are over 36,000 trained professional staff both full time and volunteers. The Mission of the Boys & Girls Clubs Movement is to inspire and enable all young people, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances, to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens [HREF 2].
As with similar organizations, work schedules of the personnel for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America often prevent them from committing to a traditional graduate degree program. Many personnel are frequently required by their organizations to alter their schedules to travel out of the area, work extended hours, etc. Many employees are also faced with decisions to balance work, family, and education which lead to making decisions based on inflexible schedule of regular college classes. There are also employees who desire to take graduate level courses who are physically unable to attend on-site classes or who are prohibited from taking classes due to the travel time to a traditional location.
The online graduate human resource degree program offers an opportunity that did not previously exist for these personnel. As the first totally online degree program at Clemson University, it is anticipated that the Boys & Girls Clubs of America Online MHRD Program will serve as a model and encouragement for development of other distant learning programs on this campus and therefore expand opportunities for other BGCA employees throughout the world. It is expected that in the future there will be additional demand for this program from other organizations.
Developing and Implementing an Online Masters of Human Resource Development Program for Mid-Level Managers of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America
In a “Turnover and HR Effectiveness Analysis” conducted by Deloitte & Touche in 2001, it was determined that turnover and retention among the management and program staff of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America (B&GCA) [HREF 2] are major concerns and that training and professional development programs are among the best retention tools. Clemson University and the Strom Thurmond Institute were chosen to assist in an effort to reduce turnover and increase retention among BGCA personnel through advanced leadership and professional development initiatives. This partnership, finalized in the summer, 2002 is for a 3 year leadership institute and the development and delivery of an online graduate degree program.
In November, 2002 focus group sessions were held with B&GCA Administration and mid-level managers from the Pacific Rim Region to validate the Deloitte & Touche findings and to establish a direction for development of a needs and competency follow-up survey. Following the focus group meetings, an online survey was developed and administered to B&GCA personnel during December, 2002. Over 400 surveys were returned to be analyzed. Results of the focus group meetings and survey will be used in the development of course content, case studies and in the selection and development of courses for the application and cognate areas of the Masters in Human Resource Development Program.
MHRD Program History & Description
The South Carolina Commission on Higher Education approved the Masters of Human Resource Development Program (MHRD) [HREF 3]in 1991 to be offered on the campus of Clemson University and at the University Center in Greenville, South Carolina. The MHRD program was developed to provide professionals in the field of human resource development the opportunity to pursue a graduate degree with an emphasis in the area of training and development. The core content of the program was developed around the competencies identified by the American Society for Training and Development as essential for effective leadership in the area of training and development.
MHRD Program Mission
The MHRD program is designed to prepare graduates to serve as competent professionals in a variety of education, training, and development settings within industrial, business, and public sector environments. This program is designed to involve students in a variety of professional activities throughout their program of study that will enhance their abilities to provide organizations with leadership in the areas of human performance improvement. A major focus of the program is continuous quality improvement through effective and efficient program analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation. This program has effectively served professionals working in the areas of manufacturing, construction, health occupations, financial services, graphic communications, transportation, non-profit, information services, and personnel management.
Graduate Enrollment
The MHRD program has grown to a current enrollment of over 125 full and part-time students, with over 200 graduates since the program was established in 1991. Graduates of the program are employed in a broad variety of organizations ranging from manufacturing, transportation, health, financial, social services, state and local government, and education performing a broad range of human resource functions within state, region, and global organizations. Graduates of the MHRD Program are currently performing HRD/ training and development functions for numerous organizations that include Sperion, BMW, Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCA, Sealed Air/Cryovac, Milliken, Michelin, Marriott, Price Waterhouse, ZF Lemforder, Bosch, Duke Energy, New South Communication, Torrington, Square D, and Schlumberger. Numerous companies throughout the US as well as international corporations also employ graduates.
During the past 3 years, the majority of the 7 core courses in the MHRD curriculum have been developed for online delivery using WebCT as the primary support program. Courses identified by the competency survey to be developed for the Application and Cognate area of the B&GCA online program include Legal Issues in HR, Multicultural Counseling, Microcomputer Applications, Nonprofit Leadership and Management, and Public Relations. The conversion of these courses for online delivery will provide the opportunity for a multi-disciplinary program utilizing Clemson University faculty from four different program areas. Through the support of the Clemson University Off-Campus and Distance Office, faculty converting traditional courses to online format will be attending an 8 week workshop on web-based development during the summer, 2003. All faculties in the BGCA Online Program who have not taught an online course will be required to attend an online development and delivery workshop prior to teaching a course.
Beginning in August, 2003, 30 mid-level managers of the BGCA will have the opportunity to proceed through the Clemson University graduate HRD Program in a 2 ˝ year process. One cohort of 16 participants will begin in August, 2003 with another cohort of 14 participants beginning in January, 2004. Students will be taking 2 courses in each fall and spring semester and 1 course each summer session. Each cohort group will be assigned a Clemson University faculty adviser and a B&GCA national staff to support their progress through the program to help ensure retention in the program. All participants must meet the regular Clemson University Graduate School Admissions policies prior to entering the program. To assist participants, 50 % of tuition costs for the program will be paid by the project.
The MHRD Online cohort will utilize a variety of distributed learning technology, (including, but not limited to the Internet, two-way interactive videoconferencing, teleconferencing, Computer Based Training) to provide students the opportunity to complete the degree program in an efficient and timely manner while avoiding conflicts with work or family schedules. This online program is designed for the non-traditional student who may have difficulty attending a traditional on-site class due to physical challenges, geographic location or a restricted schedule.
The Masters in Human Resource Development Distance Learning Program has been approved by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools designed to meet the needs of Human Resource Training and Development Professionals who might otherwise be restricted from completing a graduate degree in a traditional on-site program. The online cohort program will consist of the same curriculum, course work and student expectations as the onsite program with the exception that courses would be offered through a variety of distance learning technology.
All course materials are being developed following principles and best practices in adult education with emphasis on varying adult learning styles. Students will access the course materials through a combination of web based management tools (WebCT [HREF 4], Clemson University Collaborative Learning Environment [HREF 5], etc.) internet web pages and print materials. Teacher-learner and learner-learner interactions will take place through computer-mediated threaded discussions, electronic mail, traditional mail, and telephone or FAX as needed. Regular communication between faculty and cohort team members will be an essential element of the program with extensive use of chat sessions, threaded discussion and e-mail. The use of streaming video, CD-Rom, and VHS will be used for specific courses. It is also anticipated that groups of students within the program will have the opportunity to attend other leadership institute programs and conferences to meet face - to – face. All distance students will have access to extensive online library resources through Clemson University.
Both summative and formative evaluation methodology will be used throughout the project. Individual course and faculty evaluation will be conducted during the project in addition to student achievement to measure learner feedback and outcomes. Online testing will be used as well as the submission of assignments via e-mail and regular mail when necessary. All students will be required to submit a portfolio of activities and complete a comprehensive examination at the conclusion of the program. Extensive research will be ongoing to compare the effectiveness of online delivery versus traditional onsite programs that will be used to contribute to the knowledge base of distance education.
Conclusion
During the past six years, faculty in the MHRD Program area have been developing web based content to support traditional classroom courses that are currently offered on-site at Clemson University and the University Center, Greenville. Through continued evaluation and refinement of the graduate MHRD core courses, the quality of the online content, instruction and support has reached a level that would ensure success of a stand alone web based program. These courses would be offered as major component of the Strom Thurmond Leadership Institute Project for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. The partnership between the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the Strom Thurmond Leadership Institute at Clemson University has provided the opportunity to develop and implement the first totally online degree program at Clemson University.
The primary focus of this project is to provide advanced leadership development opportunities for mid-level managers of the Boys and Girls Clubs throughout the United States. As part of this project, 2 cohort groups of 16 students would have the opportunity to participate in the MHRD Program during the next 3 years. The cohort option would also help to facilitate the development and implementation of other online courses, therefore assuring a much higher quality distributed learning MHRD program in the future. It is further anticipated that as technology allows, the use of various other delivery e.g. two way interactive video conferencing, streaming video, HDTV will be incorporated to enhance the quality of this option.
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Hypertext References
HREF1 http://www.clemson.edu
HREF2 http://www.bgca.org
HREF 3 http://www.Hehd.clemson.edu/thrd/thrd.htm
HREF 4 http://www.Cle.clemson.edu
HREF 5 http://www.webct.com
HREF 6 http://www.shrm.org
HREF 7 http://www.cstdnet.org
© Copyright 2003. The authors, Clinton H. Isbell, Ed.D. and Phillip McGee, Ed.D., assign 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 authors also grant 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 authors.