The Development and Delivery of an Online Graduate Course: Lessons Learned and Future Direction

In meeting the growing demand for advanced technical knowledge among non-traditional students and young professionals, our university has recently developed an online Master of Science (MS) degree program. In this paper, we describe the approach taken in the development and delivery of a new course, Management of Information Technology Resources, in this program. The course had an enrollment of 15 students. Approximately two thirds of these students were enrolled in the new online program exclusively, while the remaining students were registered on campus and whose reasons for doing this course varies and include: course scheduling convenience, interests in course content, and time flexibility. The on-campus students did not benefit from any advantage due to their proximity to the instructor since all pedagogically related communication was exclusively addressed online via email or the messaging/chat/discussion features of the Learning Management System (LMS). The material is presented from the perspective of the course developer and instructor. We outlined the content areas, the pedagogical techniques employed and discussed the performance of the students. Performance was assessed based on test results and participation in online discussions/forums. We also examined the students' attitudes towards online classes. A qualitative assessment was also done to learn about the differences in perceptions between the two groups of students; that is, on-campus registered students and off-campus (distant education) students who were all employed full-time while pursuing their studies. We outlined lessons learned and discussed how this will affect future offering of the course and the impact on the overall program.