Carlson students are often working adults. Many travel for work, have family obligations, or other requirements that make attending class on-campus a challenge. Many students who opted to take Dr. Abrams’ negotiation course online referenced these challenges as the rationale for doing so. Students are demanding more online options, and this course created more access to those students.
The use of Moodle, Adobe Connect, and Skype enabled the students to access the course and complete the activities from wherever they may have been. Several students joined the course “from the road,” and they appreciated the flexibility this course’s design enabled. Before this course was created, these students may have been required to take time off due to their schedule. The online offering allowed them to maintain momentum.
In fact, Dr. Abrams had one student who had been relocated temporarily to India. Before this online offering, he would have been forced to suspend his studies until his return. Instead, he was able to find a friend with Internet access, and he’d join the class in the middle of night in India. Another learner joined most classes from an airport – even once he joined from inside the airplane itself.
This survey, which collected feedback from two offerings of Dr. Abrams’ online course, illustrates the level of student satisfaction with her course.
Because the ability to use freeware like Skype and Screencastomatic, designing a course that reflects these practices needn't cost much at all beyond the time needed to create the instructional content, produce the course in the LMS, and facilitate the learning experience.
Attached you will find the navigation guide provided to students to help them meet the requirements/expectations of the online negotiation course.