INTEGRATING TWO COURSE DELIVERY

PLATFORMS FOR A BUSINESS

SIMULATIONPRESENTED BY

JORGE CARDENAS, DBA FORBES SCHOOL OF BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

WILLIAM WOODS, PHD FORBES SCHOOL OF BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY

MARCH 21, 2019

Jorge Cardenas, DBAAssociate Dean, Board Member of the International Accreditation Council for Business Education

His primary responsibilities include the general management of the Professional Studies Division with total enrollment of over 7,200 students. Directly manages six program chairs and leads twelve full-time faculty. He previously was an Associate Professor and content area Chair. Prior to joining Ashford, he worked for a pioneering distance education company, the International Training Center, utilizing telecommunication technologies to deliver educational programs to public, private, government, and civil society institutions in over 20 countries. He has taught graduate-level business courses at several universities in both traditional and online classroom settings. He has a BS and MS in Business Administration from San Diego State University and a Doctor of Business Administration from Alliant International University. His research interests include entrepreneurship, strategy, and the sport industry.

Dr. William G. Woods holds a PhD in Organization and Management specializing in Leadership. He is a Professor in the Forbes School of Business and Technology MBA Program. He serves as Faculty Senate Chair at Ashford University. He is an Executive Board member for the Bridgepoint Education Political Action Committee. In January, 2018 he was awarded the Martin Luther King Jr Peace and Justice Award. In 2018 he Authored the State of Wisconsin Peace Week Proclamation. In 2017 he authored the State of Iowa Peace Week Proclamation. He was awarded the City of Clinton, IA 2012 Human Rights Award. He serves on the Council of Advisors for Golden Key International Honour Society.

AGENDA

• MBA Program History • Selecting a SIM Vendor• Developing Vendor Relationship • Vendor Requirements • BUS687 MBA Capstone Overview• Faculty Training • Timeline • Course Data • Challenges • Successes • Moving Forward

• 2005• Program Version 1

• 33 credits• 8-11 core courses• 3 specialization courses• 0-12 specialization options from 2005-2009• Enrollment June 30, 2005- 15 students

• 2010• Program Version 2

• 33 credits• Launched in 2010• 9 core courses• 3 specialization courses• 14 specialization options• Enrollment June 30, 2010- 2,169 students

• 2011• 42 credits• Added MAT 540 Statistical Concepts for Research, BUS591 Financial Accounting & Analysis, BUS 642

Business Research Methods and Tools• Enrollment June 30, 2011- 2,536 Students

• 2015• Enrollment June 30, 2015- 1,905 Students• Program Review action item was to provide an experiential learning experience for MBA students.

MBA PROGRAM HISTORY

SELECTING A SIM VENDOR

• Criteria• Technology

• Utilizes technology and not paper-based• Data visualization• Personalization• Data analytics

• Realism• Time constraints• Budget constraints• Dealing with multiple stakeholders• Business strategy• Crisis situations

• Response and Feedback• Simulation response to inputs

• Visual prompts, trend lines, budget change indicators, financial spreadsheet.

• Process and Outcome-focused• Do participants create value?• Do participants have opportunity for dialogue and

competition?

• Technology• Utilizes technology, provides data

analytics, customizable• Realism

• Business decision deadlines, budget allocation constraints, business strategy development, role play with stakeholders

• Response and Feedback• Waterfall charts, financial statements

generated after each quarterly decision, indicators if decisions go over budget, expected NI and cash flow variance walks

• Process and Outcome-focused• Net income commitment of $300K-

$400K, role play with stakeholders, students compete with two other companies

DEVELOPING VENDOR RELATIONSHIP

• Tri-Corp met with Forbes School of Business & Technology (FSBT) Deans.• Tri-Corp met with MBA Program Chair and full time faculty. • Tri-Corp met with Ashford University support departments; educational

technology, instructional design, and procurement teams.• Scheduled regular face-to-face and/or remote meetings to maintain

progress towards project completion.

VENDOR REQUIRMENTS• Ashford University (AU) Third Party Integration

Requirements• LTI

• Our LMS, Canvas by Instructure only supports LTI integration. They currently support up to LTI v2.0

• Gradebook • For any third party, in which the student is leaving the LMS and

performing a gradable event in the third party (quiz, assignment, or discussion thread responses), Ashford would need the third party to post those grades back into our LMS gradebook.

• Support Master Course Concept • AU uses a master course concept where all revisions and

development are completed in the master course and then that “shell”.

• A new term starts every week; Undergraduate courses run for 5 weeks and Graduate courses run for 6 weeks.

• It’s important that any integration supports this workflow to prevent additional steps being needed in every individual section (both on the Ashford and third party side).

• Data Requirements • Must provide all possible methods for extracting user data

from your system.• AU is required to report daily on “attendance” events that a

student completes within their course or any 3rd party that is a component of their course. (Events = assignment, quiz submission, threaded discussion posts)

• Course Customization• Support customization of course

content (e.g., course syllabus, rubrics, simulation feedback in PDF format)

• QA of integration with Canvas LMS and course design.

• Faculty training on SIM platform.• Faculty and student support via “Help

Desk”.• Pilot support at no cost.

• Course Description• The course presents a simulation of a company (Hisco) competing against two

other competitors (Matek and Redex). Students perform business functions to market a Medical Reader to medical providers. Students in the role of managers have interaction through video with various stakeholders. Through critical analysis and decision making students will work to become number one in the Medical Reader market.

• Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)

• Evaluate quantitative and qualitative techniques for business analysis and decision-making.

• Assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with the corporate strategy & policy process.

• Utilize tools from finance, marketing, information technology and human resources management to manage the profitability of overall business operations.

• Create specific business tactics to achieve organizational survival and growth.

BUS 687 MBA CAPSTONE OVERVIEW

• SIM Learning Activities • Pre-test• Interpreting financial reports• Creating a SWOT Analysis• Creating a Business Strategy • Purchasing marketing Information• Creating Quarterly Business Reviews• Making Quarterly adjustments to business operations• Annual Operating Review• HISCO Summary Annual Report• Watch HISCO Videos concerning operations• Simulated Phone calls to Vendors, Clients and Management• Final Rankings against Competitors

• Canvas Learning Activities• Reflective Journals • Discussion Forums

BUS 687 MBA CAPSTONE OVERVIEW

CREDIT HOUR ANALYSIS

Requirement: 1. Courses must have a sufficient range of learning activities to qualify as

being acceptable at the Master Degree Level. 2. The acceptable range of learning activities is 135 – 177 credit hours

Outcomes:BUS 687 = 167.9 Credit hoursAll reading assignmentsDiscussionsTestsJournalsQBRsAORsAnnual ReportSWOT and PlanSimulation Videos

• Selection of faculty

• Zoom meeting trainings

• Faculty Trained by TRI Corp Consultant, Associate Dean, and Forbes Faculty

• Faculty given Full Access to the TRI Corp Simulation

FACULTY TRAINING

• Contact vendor - 2015• Develop course - 2017• Hire Tri-Corp Consultant 2017 • Select and Train Faculty 2017• Launch a Pilot 2017• Identify and fix technical concerns 2017• Adopt the new course into the MBA Program 2018• Launch the New Course 2018

TIMELINE

• 8 sections (68 students) have been taught.• 2 sections currently running per month.• 10 faculty approved to teach.

COURSE DATA

Data Associated With Learning Activities

Assignment Learning Activity Distinguished Proficient Basic

BUS687 QBR 1

Evaluate the Quantitative and Qualitative Techniques for Business Analysis and Decision Making

64.00% 36.00% 0.00%

BUS687QBR 2

Evaluate the Quantitative and Qualitative Techniques for Business Analysis and Decision Making

50.00% 34.62% 15.38%

BUS687.QBR 3

Evaluate the Quantitative and Qualitative Techniques for Business Analysis and Decision Making

57.69% 34.62% 7.69%

Assignment Learning Activity Distinguished Proficient BasicBUS687AOR

Evaluate the Quantitative and Qualitative Techniques for Business Analysis and Decision Making

57.69% 42.31% 0.00%

BUS687SWOTAnalysis

Describes HISCO’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT Analysis)

48.15% 40.74% 11.11%

BUS687HISCO Summary Annual Report

Compare the Qualitative and Quantitative Aspects of the Current Year to the Prior Year in a Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A)

64.71% 11.76% 0.00%

BUS687Weekly Journals

Describe lessons learned from simulation

82.35% 17.65% 0.00%

CHALLENGES

• Incorporating a SIM into a 6 week format.• Canvas grade book integration.• Designing course curriculum to ensure attendance is tracked daily via a “gradable

event” (e.g., assignment submission, discussion post).• Single sign on for access to SIM platform.• Setup “sandbox” (test environment).• Building initial cohort of students for new BUS687 MBA Capstone.

SUCCESSES

1. High number of students able to perform at Distinguished and Proficient levels

2. All MBA students’ performance now measured in a single course that is summative of their MBA experience.

3. Longitudinal data can now be produced to track student performance according to the same set of course learning outcomes

4. A Core set of faculty are trained and performing well instructing the capstone

5. Strong Relationship with TRI-CORP Management

MOVING FORWARD

1. Identify and train more faculty as demand increases

2. Plan on converting the simulation into a team exercise tomore closely emulate real world business practices.

Q & A

Thank You