Development of a distant education internet-based foundationcourse for the MBA program

Course development is a task that requires a methodology if it is to result in a cohesive, well organized unit. This paper details the procedures to develop a distant education foundation course for the MBA program. All MBA courses using this methodology are delivered to students enrolled in several universities within the Wisconsin System. INTRODUCTION In the University of Wisconsin system, several institutions have been designated as non-doctoral institutions. Of the twelve institutions in this category, several provide an MBA program. Even though all of these institutions have been engaged in distance education media such as compressed video, two-way audio/ video, and Internet delivery, they were basically functioning as independent institutions. Looking to provide efficiency and effectiveness in education, five of the institutions formed a consortium to supply foundation courses leading toward the MBA program. It was the intention of the consortium to allow each institution to continue to provide the MBA as they had envisioned it and, at the same time, to allow students to obtain prerequisite educational background prior to entering the MBA without eating up the resources needed to administer the graduate program. In addition, the administration at each of these institutions wanted to have the flexibility of providing enrolled students in the respective MBA programs the opportunity to take courses from another institution if they so desired. The increasingly volatile business environment that students face when they graduate drives the need for ongoing curricular improvement. Alumni report that their familiarity with technology and their ability to use it for self-training have enhanced their position in the business world. Integrating the use of learning technologies into the curriculum can provide students hands-on experience in using both the Internet and groupware applications, such as Lotus Notes. By using both synchronous and asynchronous technologies, the institutions sought to achieve the goal of providing students throughout Wisconsin with access to quality educational opportunities while lessening the need for costly duplicate investment in educational resources. Through a careful mix of faculty and technology , consortium participants felt the quality of course offerings could be enhanced.