Project Narrative

Need to be Addressed and Learners to be Served

This course, MGT 440, will address the need to provide asynchronous business administration courses for the DegreeLink Program.  DegreeLink is a partnership between Indiana State University (ISU), Vincennes University, and Ivy Tech State College that provides statewide baccalaureate degree-completion programs to Indiana residents who wish to complete their college degrees at a distance.

A DegreeLink statewide-approved degree, Business Administration, needs this course to be offered at a distance in order for students to complete their degrees. MGT 440 is a required education course for Management and other business degrees, and is a frequently chosen elective for the various emphases in the Business Administration degree.  The Management program is currently working toward offering a statewide degree in Management.  Currently, MGT 440 is not available in any distance format that is easily accessible by DegreeLink Students.  A survey of state-supported universities indicates this course doesn’t currently exist in asynchronous electronic format.

A secondary need this course addresses is to assist Indiana students who are interested in human resources management as part of various business administration disciplines.  Additional needs for this course exist within the human resources community, who would use this course as part of employee development and continuing education efforts among administrative staff.

Rationale for Choice of Course

As DegreeLink enters its third year of program delivery, more Business Administration courses need to be developed to ensure that DegreeLink students can meet the requirements for their degrees.  As part of the articulation agreements among the participating colleges and universities, ISU will offer only upper-division undergraduate courses for DegreeLink students.  MGT 440 meets the following important requirements. 

• It is an upper division business administration course.
• It is a requirement for management majors and is an important elective for other business administration students. 
• It is a frequently chosen elective for the Business Administration degree, especially for the Management emphasis. 
• MGT 440 will be the third asynchronous management course on-line as part of the Organizational Department's plan to offer credit hours in undergraduate management courses to Indiana students. 
• It is required of all business administration students.
• This course is not offered, in this format, by any Indiana university.
• This course supplements the DegreeLink initiative, and has been identified as a priority course by Indiana State University.
• The course offers significant enrollment potential.
• There is currently marketing capacity through Continuing Education and through the School of Business at Indiana State University.

Choice of Technologies

Because the audience for MGT 440 is largely time- and place-bound, an asynchronous on-line course will be most accessible to the largest number of students in the target audience.  Using the Internet as the main technology choice will increase the opportunities for interactivity and communication between and among participants in course delivery.

Another reason for using the Internet as the primary technology choice for this course is to provide access to a wide range of Web sites for research and data collection to distance students whose access to on-site resources and libraries may be limited.  Also, a wide variety of simulations and human resource technologies, like job analysis, is Web available.  This will provide students with ability to integrate their course readings with additional, practical technologies related to human resources management.

Institutional Capacity

MGT 440 has been offered on the ISU campus for many years. Students involved in many areas of business take this course.  The course is popular among business students and is an integral part of their business education.  The Organizational Department in the School of Business has several faculty members who are qualified to deliver the course both on-line and in the classroom.  The advantage of having several faculty members who are qualified to teach this course is the ability to develop instructional materials and collaborate in the effort to ensure delivery quality and peer review of activities. 

Institutional Commitment

ISU has committed extensive resources to helping faculty develop courses for the DegreeLink program.  This includes design, development, training, and evaluation assistance from instructional designers and Continuing Education/Instructional Services (CEIS) and staff in Media Technologies and Resources (MTR).  Marketing support from CEIS Planning and Program Development and implementation support from the CEIS staff has also been assured.

Instructional Design Plan

• Course Description

Because MGT 440 is a survey course, students are exposed to a variety of fundamental HR principles, histories, technologies, and current issues related to the attraction, selection, development, and maintenance of organizational human resources.

Students will become knowledgeable about the current state of human resources practice and will become aware of such activities as recruitment, selection, EEO/AA compliance, performance appraisal, promotion, compensation, training, development, and separation. Students will be able to apply the human resource process to computer technologies like Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) as well.

• Design Considerations

Design should take place in three phases.  They are envisioned below:

• Phase 1: Envisioning MGT 440 for the Web. Dr. Douglas Peterson will take a fresh look at how to involve students in guided, active practice in analyzing and applying both information found in textbooks, information acquired through computer application of human resource information, and application of the rich resources available on the Web for human resources professionals.
• Phase 2: Designing tutorials that explain step-by-step the activities involved in HR will be the primary focus here.  The slide shows and applications will follow the model and example developed by ISU for the various courses that are already developed for the Web. 
• Phase 3: This phase will involve developing the course Web site using a web-based courseware from Blackboard called Course-Info.   Course-Info is a web-based course development tool helpful in course development and delivery. Indiana State University currently has a license to use this product.  The author of this proposal currently has training on course development using Course-Info. Information on lessons and assignments will be created and placed on the course site.  An important aspect of this phase is connecting the tutorials to the appropriate lessons to ensure a coherent and flowing content.

Because the main learning objectives focus on students being able to apply fundamental human resources knowledge and application to current issues and assignments, students will be expected to demonstrate mastery of the subject matter through writing applied essays, and submitting them through the Internet. These essays will be based upon current events relating to human resources and applications that have been researched using Internet and library resources.   Further learning objectives center on developing skills related to the practice of human resources management.  These skills include interviewing, selecting, designing tests, training, designing compensation systems, and performing job analysis using previously established, industry standard practices. Students will also have the opportunity to demonstrate their integration of the differing perspectives and skills through constant asynchronous online discussions using the discussion tool and group discussion that is available on the web site.

Project Schedule

Summer 2000: Development Time. Dr. Peterson will dedicate 250 hours of time to regenerate notes and develop information for electronic use. Additional time will be dedicated to turn that information into course information that can be loaded into the software.

Fall 2000: Revision of Course Materials.  Dr. Peterson will work additional time beyond regular teaching and research duties to redraft and load the substance of the material.

Spring 2001: Beta testing of the course.  Dr. Peterson will teach the course as an on-line offering.

Summer 2001: Fine tuning for future delivery.  Dr. Peterson will dedicate another 100 hours for fine-tuning and final revision of materials.

Course Evaluation Plan

Formative Evaluation

On-campus students will beta-test the course and provide feedback through periodic on-line surveys, administered by the Educational Development Center at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.  Information gathered from these surveys will be used to revise course content and procedures to be used in the implementation phase.  During the implementation phase, students will provide feedback through periodic, anonymous on-line surveys, email communications, synchronous focus group discussion and asynchronous focus group discussion posting.

Summative Evaluation

During the beta-testing phase, on-campus students will take a summative course and instructor evaluation, offered on-line, to provide information and feedback for revision of the course and evaluation instruments.  The results of these evaluations will be used to modify course content and procedures for the implementation phase.  During the implementation phase, students will use a revised course and instructor evaluation instrument during the conduct, and at the end, of the course.  Results from the evaluation will be used to revise course delivery during "real time" delivery, and then to further revise course content and procedures for future course delivery. 

Distribution of Evaluation Information

Information from evaluations of course content and procedures, along with revisions, will be presented through various CEIS publications.  The information will provide guidance for other faculty in effective teaching and learning strategies for on-line course delivery. 

Peer Review

Dr. Tammy Davis, SPHR will be used as a peer reviewer for the project.  Dr. Davis has authored a variety of human resource education materials.  Her work includes academic and practitioner publications and extensive consulting experience with Human Resources professionals throughout the United States.  Because of her technical, educational, and practical experience it is believed she will provide a strong critical evaluation of the on-line course. 

Strategies Strengthening Quality And Inter-Institutional Acceptance

font-weight:normal'>This course, Human Resources Management, is commonly required as part of a business administration degree. This course would satisfy the course requirement in business administration at all three campuses, and that would help the implementation of the business administration programs in the DegreeLink initiative.

Information concerning the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of the course will be disseminated in various campus-wide publications such as Interaction, which is an e-mail based faculty newsletter. This information will be shared with the Course Transformation Academy (CTA), which is a series of professional workshops that are offered to faculty who are planning to transform on-campus courses for the distance environment. 

Course Development Personnel

The primary author for this course is Dr. Douglas K. Peterson.  He is currently Assistant Professor of Management in the Organizational Department at Indiana State University.  Besides being author of this course, he will serve as the Project Director, and will also be the chief instructor for this effort.

 Dr. Herschel Chait will serve as a course content consultant.  Dr. Chait is considered an authority in the field.  A brief biography of Dr. Chait's experiences follows the Summary of Lead Professor's experience.

Additionally a Course Development Team will be formed.  The team will consist of the primary instructor, an instructional designer and development personnel from the Faculty Computing Resource Center.  Don Kaufman, ISU Instructional Designer, will serve as Project Manager, coordinating the resources utilized in the design and development of the course.

Proposed Budget and Narrative

The bulk of the award request from IPSE for the project focuses upon providing funding for the equivalent of two summer courses in order to provide release time for Dr. Peterson to design, develop, and implement the course.  Faculty summer salaries are derived as 15% of the instructor's base salary with fringe benefits derived as 11.65% of the summer salary.  This amount would be $5,717.00, with benefits of $666.00.  Consultant support with benefits would add $4,745.00 to the cost.  An additional $800 is requested for an electronic scanner and a digital CD writer.

Following is a rationale for the budget figures.  It takes an average of 12 hours of overall design and development work to transform one hour of student learning in a traditional course to an online environment.  Some would say this is a very conservative estimate.  "The figure of 18 hours average for Web development seems to be just right with this supporting data. Perhaps we could be more accurate by providing a range of 15-23 hours."  (Judith V. Boettcher, "How much does it cost to develop an on line course?"  Syllabus, 1998).  Because a web-based courseware called Blackboard will be used, the estimate is represented as the mean between these figures, or 18 hours.

There are 45 student learning hours in a three-hour college course.  Using this figure, one can estimate the time it might take to develop on line courses.  The proposal's estimate is 810 hours, which is represented as the time of student learning hours multiplied by the number of hours taken to develop each hour.  CEIS feels this is a reasonable estimate since Boettcher estimates that it takes at least 810 hours to develop a course for the web.  If an assumption holds that additional time will be required for startup, and that additional time will be necessary to conceptualize course materials for the on-line format, it is easy to see how one may approach 1000 hours for course development. 

Teaching two summer courses takes 90 hours of in-class time.  Time for preparation, for reading and evaluating exams, for student counseling, and for office hours requires an additional three hours for every hour spent in class.  This gives us a total of 360 hours of release time required.  Because faculty release time accounts for only 360 hours of the 810 hour estimate, it is assumed that support staff and graduate assistants will use the remaining time (450 hours) to help develop courses for the web. 

These hours of design and development are accounted for in the following tasks.  The design work for the professor and the instructional designer is in identifying and recreating instructional media so they can be applied to the asynchronous environment.  This reproduction of materials includes materials from lecture, classroom discussions, in-class explanations, group-work and student-professor conferences.  For this material to be effective, the interactivity must be reproduced with highly interactive, Internet based learning materials, activities and assignments. 

An additional design activity that requires considerable time is designing and developing evaluation mechanisms for the online course in order to gain feedback on performance improvement and on usefulness to student requirements.  

Faculty Computing Resource Center staff will be utilized in the transformation of print materials such as handouts, reserve readings, study guides, videos and slide shows into online information and into print mailings.  Also time-consuming for the FCRC staff is the production of quizzes, tests and surveys for the online environment.  A final part of the development time is taken with editing, proofreading, and revising documents based on feedback from evaluation mechanisms, peer review, and instructor-perceived need.

The breakdown for the in-kind institutional services costs follows.  Except for the office expenses, these services are listed as "Other Direct Costs" on the budget form. 

220 hours of Instructional Designer time @$50/hour. $11,000.

220 hours of Faculty Computing Resource Staff time @$30/hour. $6,600.

10 hours of Course Editorial time @$25/hour.  $250.

Total of Institutional Resources Match.  $17,850. 

Summary of Lead Professor's Experience. 

Dr. Douglas K. Peterson earned his Ph.D. in Human Resources Management from the University of Nebraska in 1997.  He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Organizational Department in the School of Business at Indiana State University.  He teaches in the areas of management, human resources management, international management, strategic management and organizational theory.  Dr. Peterson has published and performed both basic and applied research in the areas of human resources management, compensation, international human resources management, entrepreneurship and organizational behavior.  Dr. Peterson is a frequent guest speaker in corporations, government entities, and educational institutions.  He also frequently consults with corporations worldwide, with governments, and with educational institutions in areas relating to compensation, employee attitude development, and expatriate issues.     

Summary of Consultant's Experience

Herschel Chait is Associate Professor of Management. For the past 25 years, he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in human resource management and has consulted and written in that area. Chait graduated with honors from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York with a major in Psychology. Following a year as a research assistant in the Psychiatry Department of Downstate Medical Center, Chait entered Indiana University and was awarded a Ph.D. in Psychology and Human Resource Management in 1974.

Before coming to Indiana State University in 1981, he taught at Marshall University, the Graduate School of Industrial Relations of St. Francis College, and in the Graduate Business Program at Sangamon State University (now University of Illinois at Springfield). At Indiana State University, Chait served as an acting department chair, MBA Director, and Acting Associate Dean of the School of Business. He has published and consulted in the Human Resource Management area for the past 25 years.

Chait holds lifetime certification as a Senior Professional in Human Resource from the Human Resource Certification institute and is a Past-President of the Wabash Valley Human Resource Association and the Midwest Society for Human Resources and Industrial Relations. Chait is a member of the Human Resources Committee of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and, for several years, was a member of the United State Senate Productivity Award Committee sponsored by Senator Richard Lugar. His current publication have been in the areas of Human Resource Management public policy issues, the role of Human Resource professionals in influencing public policy, and personnel selection in the service sector.