Innovations in Online Learning

Image courtesy AP Media

In the Labor/Management Relations course, students participate in a virtual labor contract negotiation as either a Union member or a member of the Management team.  The negotiation may or may not conclude in either groups’ favor; The goal is to provide students the opportunity to collaborate and create the outcome they desire based on their team’s priorities and collective bargaining demands, combined with course concepts and the knowledge they’ve acquired throughout the course.  Constructivist assessments like this negotiations activity require that students choose their own mode of expression, work collaboratively, think and reflect on their learning styles and processes, and to revise their individual ideas to accomodate collective goals while working through the early, middle and later stages of the activity. The emphasis is on the creation of personal meaning and the thought process, rather than on arriving at a correct answer.

In the Management Information Systems course, the activity that combines a performance assessment with a social learning opportunity for students  involves a consulting firm and a dirt bike company.  Divided into teams, students take the part of either the company owners or the managerial consultants working for Dirt Bike USA.  In collaboration, the teams exchange information and perform an overall systems analysis for Dirt Bike USA, considering things like business continuity planning, customer privacy policies, legal constraints, and environmental policies.  The “consultants” then make managerial recommendations to the “owners” of Dirt Bike USA, and the company responds accordingly.

In this activity, neither team of students is right or wrong. The end result for all participants is a deeper understanding of the complexities of managerial responsibilities and long-term systems planning through the acquisition of problem-solving skills and opportunities for hands-on applications of those skills.