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Blended Format

Experimental “Blended” Executive Format

To assist client organizations reduce their travel costs, we are experimenting with a new masters delivery model that blends the executive/weekend format (monthly one-day face-to-face class sessions) with the distance education model (classes recorded in a studio and mailed on DVD to distance students).

The following structure will be tested, starting with two classes in Spring 2006. Each class will be composed of nine sessions, one eight-hour and eight four-hour.

  • Initial session (week 0). One-day, face-to-face class on Dallas/Legacy campus, following the usual executive format.
  • Recorded session 1 (week 2). Instructor records a four-hour lecture session (with any available local students), which is distributed to the rest of class via DVD or streaming web.
  • Online session 1 (week 4). Instructor and all students have a four-hour interactive session using (a) a dial-in conference call and (b) an on-line WebEx session run from the instructor’s PC. Instructor can display applications (e.g., Powerpoint, web browser, any PC application software), make real-time annotations, temporarily turn control over to other attendees (for group presentations), etc. Participants can be anywhere that there is a high-speed Internet link, including home. Instructor can answer questions about the lecture, give real-time exercises to students, have case-study discussions, and whatever student-centered activities are normally used in class.
  • Recorded session 2 (after online session, week 6 at the latest).
  • Online session 2 (week 8)
  • Recorded session 3 (after online session, week 10 at the latest)
  • Online session 3 (week 12)
  • Recorded session 4 (after online session, week 16 at the latest)
  • Online session 4 (week 18)

The format will yield the required minimum of 40 student contact hours and provide time for both lecture and participatory classes.

A group of EMIS faculty have tested out the WebEx online software system and found it to have all of the capability that they need and more. The instructor has good control over the on-line class and we will have training sessions to familiarize everyone.

If this works well, the driver client will be able to draw students from a much larger population and form class sizes between 20 and 30 (our current maximum).

 

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