Online Versus On-Campus Strategic Management Course: A Case Study
Conclusions
GPA and Age Differences
Similar to previous studies, this study revealed no significant difference in the academic standing based on the GPA of those students who selected the online format over the traditional on-campus format. The scholastic capabilities of both sections in the study were, therefore, approximately equal. However, there was an age difference in the online students versus the on-campus students in this study. The data showed that older students took the online course. This finding is different than some previous studies on this topic (Jennings & Bayless, 2003).
This difference in age may be because this was the first time this online capstone course was offered. Several of the online students had been out of school for several years since they had taken jobs in other cities before they had completed their bachelor's degree. This first offering may have experienced a "catch-up" phase from previous years.
Student Success
One of the most interesting findings of the study was the difference in student success in the three components of the final grade. The results of the study indicated that although the overall student success was similar for both methods of course delivery, the success in the component parts of the course were different: the online students scored better in the case discussions, the on-campus students scored better in the simulation exercise, and both classes scored similarly on the tests.
The lecture material and Powerpoint slides were the same for both types of classes. The test format was similar for both – multiple choice questions over the lecture material and short discussion questions on the main ideas in the course. Therefore, it seems logical that similar results would be achieved in the testing portion of the course. The results match previous studies on this topic (Jennings & Bayless, 2003).
Case analysis and discussion are key components of a capstone strategy course (Dess & Lumpkin, 2003). Students must analyze typical business problems, arrive at a solution by applying relevant course material, and defend their position during class discussion. Could these steps be satisfied during an online course? Brower (2003) reported that online courses were not only able to provide the same discussion format as on-campus courses, but often an even better format. All the students seemed to take part in online discussion, even the more shy students. A similar result was found in this study – the online students scored better in this grade component than the on-campus students. The on-campus discussions were often dominated by a few students, but the online discussions were more equally distributed.
The final component of a strategy course is the team exercises. One of the most used team exercise is the Capsim simulation game (Anderson & Coffey, 2004). Could online teams (virtual teams) perform as well as face-to-face teams? In today's business environment, virtual teams are quite common (deLisser, 1999). The Capsim simulation has developed a totally web-based version, which allows online courses to also use this simulation game. Although many recent users of the Capsim simulation are from online courses (approximately 5%, Hansen 2004), no reporting of online results was found in the review of literature. However, the results of this study seem to be as expected – the on-campus course with more convenient face-to-face team meetings tended to score better in this component of the course.
The online simulation results need deeper investigation via the student satisfaction survey. Some virtual teams scored as well as or better than the on-campus teams, but some virtual teams had problems. Team success seemed to depend on how the virtual team approached the team decision process. One team used the chat room for two hours each week and made good team decisions, while one team depended on e-mail which sometimes led to ineffective communication and caused confusion in making their decisions. The other teams used a variety of methods for team decisions with varying results. In future online classes, more direction will be given on the best methods for virtual team decision making.
Another key point for virtual teams is a face-to-face team meeting at the start of the course. For the online course, the first class meeting was on-campus. This gave the instructor the opportunity to review the syllabus, set up teams, and go over the simulation procedures. This gave the teams the opportunity to meet their team members. It was reported that even though later team meetings were via chat rooms or e-mail, the team members still felt that they "knew" their team. Businesses have also found that a face-to-face kick-off meeting for virtual teams is well worth the expense of the meeting (Townsend et al, 1998; Kelley, 2001; Furst , Reeves, Rosen, & Blackburn , 2004).
Student Satisfaction
The online students seemed to be satisfied overall with the online course based on the student satisfaction survey. The majority of students (81.25% or greater) responded positively in terms of satisfaction with each area of the online course. Greater insight in three specific areas (discussion boards, teams, and feedback) can be found by looking at the detailed student comments.
The online students seemed extremely satisfied with using the WebCT discussion board for case discussion. The class discussion was greater and more varied than in previous on-campus classes. Everyone took an active part. Similar conclusions have been found in previous online discussion studies (Brower, 2003). However, the exact reason for the greater participation is not clear in the current study. Was it due to the ease of use, non-domination by a few students, or because the grade credit was very easy to determine? Additional studies and/or surveys could help determine the exact reason(s).
The online students' satisfaction with teams was somewhat mixed – some teams were very happy and successful while some teams struggled. Similar mixed results occur during on-campus classes; but for this study, the level of satisfaction and team success tended to be related to the team's decision-making process. Teams that used all the available online techniques (e.g., chat room, instant messaging, e-mail) had more satisfaction and better performance. Teams that tried to make decisions using only e-mail or the telephone tended to be less satisfied and had lower performance. Businesses have found similar results with virtual teams – teams that meet via software such as NetMeeting have better performance (Duarte & Snyder, 1999; Hinds & Bailey, 2000; Lam & Shaubroeck, 2000; Kirkman et al, 2002; Martins et al, 2004). For faculty developing online classes with virtual teams, more direction should be given on the various methods for team decision making.
The final area of student satisfaction was instructor feedback. Although the instructor feedback survey questions received many excellent and very good ratings, there were still comments from students wanting even more feedback. As noted in the literature review (Holmes & Smith, 2003), students' satisfaction can be linked very closely with feedback from the instructor. Even though the online students felt that communication was good with the instructor through e-mail in this study, they indicated that they would like to have more feedback on the assignments and more posting of individual grades.
Faculty planning to use online classes must be aware of the need for more feedback. Feedback for online classes will take more time than feedback for on-campus classes. The instructor must make comments to the students' e-mail submissions and return these. This process is more time consuming than just making comments on a student's written case paper and returning it. Faculty must plan in advance an easy-to-use process for student feedback and allocate sufficient time for this task.