Online Facilitation and Motivation in Online MBA Courses

Introduction Online teaching and learning is making a significant impact on the fabric of higher education. In particular, online MBA programs have seen a rapid rise in student enrollments in recent years while the student enrollments in traditional in-residence MBA programs are in decline (Hayward, 2004; Lorenzo, 2004). This appears to be due, in part, to the convenience and flexibility of the delivery of online education, which enable adults with full-time jobs to attend classes without having to leave their current jobs (Mangan, 2001). Accordingly, many institutions of higher education are offering online programs to serve the growing learner population. Despite such an increase in the popularity of online education, there has been a concern in the higher education have keen interests in offering quality online MBA programs. Moreover, educators need to be aware that student expectations on the quality of online education programs are rising rapidly (Bonk, 2004). As online learning has gained its wide acceptance in higher education, there is an increasing awareness of the facilitative role of online instructors. While there is growing interest in examining instructor online facilitation roles in distance learning, few empirical studies have examined the issues and challenges the instructor are faced with when facilitating online courses. This gap in the research is especially apparent in facilitating online learning communities and teamwork. The results reported in this study extend previous findings regarding the moderating roles of online instructors In addition, they represent initial findings obtained from a long term research project intended to enhance the quality of instruction in a fast-growing online MBA program. This paper presents preliminary results of a study of an accredited online MBA program at a top ranked business school in a large Midwestern university. 323 students enrolled in the public online MBA program during the academic year of 2004-2005. This particular business school under investigation also offers corporate online MBA programs, which are offered in partnership with business organizations, and 403 students were enrolled in corporate online MBA programs in 2004. This online MBA program has grown to include hundreds of students in just a few years. Although this program has maintained a very high student retention rate over the past years since its inception, there was a need for a systematic approach to evaluating the program due to the low response rate of course evaluations from the students. The purpose of this study is to explore the …

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