Wikis for Collaborative Learning and Knowledge Construction

Background information:  This is long-winded, I always make things far more complicated than they need to be.  But now this project is done, if you would like to see full course schedule please e-mail and I will share it with you.  – Lynn

Beginning Fall 2013 KSU’s College of Business began offering a Professional MBA online (PMBA). The curriculum of the PMBA is the same as the traditional MBA except courses are offered in the eight-week format.  The MBA Practicum is the capstone course in our program and serves similarly to a master’s thesis.  While I am not the instructor of record for this course for the past 10 years I have coordinated many of the activities of this program and have helped to maintain the continuity from year to year.  In the 16 years I have served in my present position, there have been four Graduate Program Directors/Assistant or Associate Deans and countless graduate committee configurations.   A video spot is posted under another post on my page. 

Because the program is designed for eight-week courses everything is being updated and changed to fit this format.  We anticipate the MBA Practicum will be offered in the online program beginning spring 2015.  I have started the conversion process for this assignment.

Target audience - Admission to the program requires a minimum of 3 – 5 years of professional experience, generally appeals to early level management professionals, professional engineers seeking higher management level positions.

Google Docs is currently used with the on-campus MBA Practicum it is a team project, the PMBA will be an individual project.  The Google Docs will be used for collaboration and feedback between the student and the faculty advisor and other campus personnel if necessary.

Zoom video conferencing will be used for meetings and presentations not located in the Manhattan area.

GENBA 890  MBA Practicum

Course Objective:

The objective of the MBA Practicum project is to provide students an opportunity to carry out, under faculty supervision, an in-depth investigation of a selected business problem within their organization or another economic entity. In many ways, the MBA Practicum project serves the same educational purpose as a master’s thesis. It is incumbent on MBA candidates to approach the MBA Practicum project with the level of attention appropriate for a final degree demonstration project at the graduate level. The project is intended to enhance organizational diagnostic skills, develop innovative and practical responses to complex interdisciplinary problems or entrepreneurial opportunities, demonstrate the ability to work effectively with executives and peers, and demonstrate professional levels of communication skills.

The principal players:  Student, PMBA Director & Instructor (also serves as the academic advisor to students in program), Graduate Innovation Committee members, faculty advisor (one per student), Client/Company representatives.  

Faculty Advisor:  Each PMBA student will be assigned a faculty advisor.  The faculty advisor’s role is to serve as a guide and resource in the student’s quest to resolve the issue put forth by the client company.  The faculty advisor will typically:     See chart posted on KSOL for additional faculty advisor duties.

Course Details:

The practicum project provides MBA students with challenging, hands-on consulting experience.  The student acts as a consultant to a corporation, not-for-profit organization, or governmental agency. This task will include discussions with organization management to define the scope of a significant problem focusing on one or more functional business areas (e.g., finance, marketing, operations, strategy, etc.).  The Student is called upon to use the knowledge and skills learned in the PMBA program to make critical strategic recommendations for the company involved.

The practicum is self-directed. The student is expected to devote an average of 15-20 hours per week to the project.  The practicum is not patterned after a normal, structured classroom course.  Instead, students will collaborate with the faculty advisor who serves as a guide and resource in the student’s quest to resolve the issue put forth by the client company.  The final output will typically consist of a written professional report as well as an oral presentation to the senior management of your sponsoring firm and a campus representative.

2.      Recommended Resources:

The following recommendations are dependent on the type of project.  Effective communication skills will be critical to the success of your project.  Please consult with the faculty advisor for the appropriateness of a particular resource and for additional relevant readings.
For information about basic writing, presentation, and report writing skills:

• The Elements of Style, (2007) Author: Strunk, Coyote Canyon Press.
• Effective Communication, (1996) Authors: Woods, Whetten and Cameron, Pearson Education

For business planning formats:

• Business Plan Pro (http://www.paloalto.com/ps/bp)

For information about marketing plans:

• The Marketing Plan, 4^rd Edition (2007). Author: William Cohen, John Wiley & Sons publisher

For information on the consulting process:

• The Advice Business (2004).  Fombrun and Nevins.  Pearson Prentice Hall.

Critical Dates:

October – Novembers 2014–

Contact project sponsor and schedule and Engagement Meeting prior to December 15.  Create account on Google Docs for collaboration with faculty advisor and Graduate Innovations Committee.  Postings will be made each week to track project progress. This account should be password protected as all client information is confidential. If you have not already created an account on www.Zoom.us face to face meetings may not be possible.

December 2014 – Engagement Meeting.  The student should meet with the project sponsor, faculty advisor and key client personnel to identify client expectations about the project purpose, scope, activities and deliverables and collect initial data.   Based on this meeting, prepare a written project engagement letter.  Student should include an attachment with a list of the major tasks that need to be performed and a realistic timeline for accomplishment. Get buy-in from your advisor prior to submitting the engagement letter to the client. 

Human Subjects: Students conducting a survey or other data collection must complete human subjects training and have their project approved by the K-State Institutional Review Board. Online training information is located at:  http://urco.ksu.edu/. Consult with the practicum faculty advisor concerning paperwork necessary for Institutional Review Board approval.   This can take several weeks, so plan early.

January 20, 2015 –View the Practicum overview video posted on K-State Online (KSOL).  It will be important that you stay on task on the project. Begin journaling your project progress on Google Docs update major tasks list.  Use of Google Doc will allow faculty advisor to make comments and offer suggestions as the project continues.

January 26, 2015 – This week post progress, challenges and successes to date on the  project; set your tasks for the following weeks, the faculty advisor will able to offer guidance or point out something you are missing. 

February 3, 2015 – Mid-term progress report & presentation.  This brief report and presentation on Zoom conference; should include a revised statement of purpose, a description of the tasks that have been completed and a list of those that remain to be completed, with a revised time line. This should be presented (most likely informally) to the faculty advisor and key client members.  This should be posted to your Google Docs page as well, and the faculty advisor will offer feedback via GoogleDocs.

February 9, 2015 -   Continue work on project. Post to GoogleDoc the progress being made and whether the project is progressing as it should to be completed by early March. Be honest and realistic with projections. Ask questions as needed of the faculty advisor and company representative.  What are your major tasks for the following week?

February 17, 2015 – Outline for Anticipated Report Due. Submit a rough outline of the project report to faculty advisor.  Consult with faculty advisor and discuss what constitutes a good report. See “Report Writing Guidelines” handout and PowerPoint slides posted on KSOL.  Feedback and revision suggestions will be provided.

March  3, 2015 - Submit first draft of final project to faculty advisor.  After being reviewed by the faculty advisor, constructive suggestions will be provided to help improve the project before final presentation to the client. 

March 3 – 10, 2015 – 30 minute Practice Presentation. Student will present the final 15 – 30 minute Zoom presentation to the faculty advisor and at least one other member of the Graduate Innovation Committee. This should be professional and “client ready”. 

March 3 – 10, 2015 – three days prior to final presentation - Final report submitted for approval.  Before submitting the final project report to the client, the formatting and appropriateness of language must be approved by the faculty advisor and practicum instructor .

March 3 – 13, 2015 – Present final report and presentation to client/company, and at least one campus representative (via Zoom).  Turn in one copy of the final report to the faculty advisor and two copies to the PMBA Sufficient numbers of copies of the report for client personnel should be provided at the time of the final presentation or before.  Client/Company will be provided a rubric for evaluation of the final presentation.

March 13, 2015 – Debriefing Meeting.  This meeting with the faculty advisor provides the opportunity to discuss pertinent grading points and suggestions for improving future projects.

 Handouts and videos located on K-State Online:

• Practicum overview video  (still in production, I was hoping it would be ready to be included here)
• Faculty Advisor responsibiites 
• Report Writing Guidelines and PPT presentation

 

Grading:

Proposal presentation/report	* sufficient/insufficient
Project update presentation/report	* sufficient/insufficient
First-draft report	* sufficient/insufficient
Practice Presentation and Client Presentation	20%  Includes proposal and project update
Final client report	80% Includes first draft
Professional Conduct	May be used to adjust final grades for individual students

 

* Items marked with an * will be evaluated as sufficient/insufficient at the time of the presentation/report.  Insufficient work must be corrected and resubmitted until deemed sufficient.  The quality of your work on practice presentations and the draft report will be considered when assigning a grade for the final presentation and report.

The presentations and reports will be evaluated on a variety of factors including: (1) quality of analysis, (2) adequacy of effort, (3) logical/supportable inferences made from analysis of data, (4) well-grounded assumptions, (5) thoroughness of analysis (i.e., not missing any major pieces), (6) potential value to client, and (7) action taken on suggestions made by faculty and client in previous meetings.

Professional conduct consists of how you interact with the practicum client, your faculty advisor, members of the graduate studies committee and the Associate Dean for Academic Programs.  Information will be collected via observation and evaluations performed  by your advisor and the practicum client.  At the end of the semester you will complete a self-evaluation.

 

Grading Rubric are used for evaluation of final report and presentation. (These forms are used as the final assessment tool to fulfill our Assessment of Learning requirements for all our accrediting organizations i.e. AACSB and HLC.)  Follow-up assessment forms are sent to each client following final presentation and report, they will also be asked to evaluate student/client interaction during the semester.   Copies can be provided upon e-mail request.

Additional resources:

Maryland Adult Literacy Resource Center  http://www.umbc.edu/alrc/Toolkit.html

West, J. & West, M. (2009). Using Wikis for online collaboration: The power of the read-write web. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

 

 

Wikis: Pros and Cons for Adult Learners

What is a wiki?  Noun: a Website that allows visitors to make changes, contributions, or corrections (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wiki).  According to King and Cox (2011) the term wiki comes from the Hawaiian word Wikiwiki, which means quick.  The overall purpose of a wiki is to support a team’s needs for building a shared understanding of a topic, goal, or objective; to support team processes such as planning, research, and problem solving; and to create team outcomes through shared document or set of documents (West & West, 2009).

I have had very limited and not so wonderful experiences with a wiki, and I did not find it particularly “quick” or easy, but that was probably due in part to the dysfunction of our team.  I am, however, willing to keep an open mind on the subject.  The most recognized wiki is, of course, Wikipedia.  I could not find the specific figure but I recently heard a news story about the vast amount of new content added to Wikipedia each week.  It was an astounding figure and I am sorry I could not find it to include in this post.  This widespread use gives me hope that I will catch on to it at some point.   

Pros:

• Wikis allow learners to actively participate in their own knowledge construction and also participate in co-writing with others (Boulous, Marambal & Wheeler, 2006).
• Can think out-loud while writing and collaborating and others can add thoughts and build synergy.
• “Easy” to create
• Ability to share all types of media in one location.

Cons:

• Intimidating to the new user.
• Inadequate editing features.
• Security issues - permits unwanted and/or unwelcomed editing if site is unsecured. 

References:

Boulous, M., Marambal, I., & Wheeler, S. (2006). Wikis, blogs and podcasts: A new generation of web-based tools for virtual collaborative clinical practice and education.  BMG Medical Educations, 6(41). Available online at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6920/6/41

King, K. & Cox, T. (2011). The professor’s guide to taming technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

 

West, J. & West, M. (2009). Using Wikis for online collaboration: The power of the read-write web. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

 

KSU Professional MBA Online

For Fall 2013, the College of Business Administration began a Professional MBA online.  This program is designed for individuals with a minimum of 3 - 5 years of professional experience.  While it greatly added to my work load it has been fun and I have gotten to talk with many interesting people.

Below is the video that was created by the K-State Communication staffs of the CBA and University .  The star is a member of the CBA Staff and an MBA student! 

“Blogging: Pros and Cons for Adult Learners”

I am a novice at blogging, but I have enjoyed my limited exposure because it has permitted me to be creative but not overly concerned with academic formality.  I think this would appeal to most adult learners.  In the chat room setting it appears more formal and structured; this may just be an illusion on my part.  A major issue I have with the Chat Room format on KSOL is that it is so easy to get lost in the exchanges with the newest information at the bottom; I like the idea of newest entries on the top.

Blogging is an interesting avenue through which to pursue thoughts and build on ideas.  It feels like a great way to gently integrate communications, creativity, and technology into a classroom or program.  I hope to apply the Engagement Theory to my own feelings and situation.  The concept of Relate – Create – Donate fits many things that I believe and do in my everyday life.  I can Relate personal stories and practical applications related to many theories and concepts that I have studied in the Adult and Continuing Education curriculum.  The blog will, hopefully, permit me to Create a meaningful and readable site and Donate or share useful knowledge with others (Santos, 2011).    

There are many applications of the practice of blogging and the integration into education is a practical idea and widely practiced.  Orvaec (2002) found that Journalism students used weblogs as a method to train and emulate professional journalists.  Maintaining weblogs over time can give these students a sense of the discipline needed to become a professional (Orvaec, 2002). 

As I begin the journey of blogging about the topics in this course, I am excited to see where it will take me and what I can contribute to the knowledge of my classmates.  I hope you enjoy and maybe even learn something from me over the next few weeks.

 

Oravec, J. A. (2002). Bookmarking the world: Weblog applications in education.  Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45 (7), 616-621.

Santos, A. N. (2011). Blogs as a learning space: Creating text of talks.  Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 4 (6), 15-19.