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Oklahoma State University

Beyond the Classroom

Jerimy Sherin
Jerimy Sherin, the digital project manager for the Michael and Anne Greenwood Center for Online Excellence, works to produce a class presented by OSU faculty.

Online courses reach thousands of students around the world for Spears Business

by Jeff Joiner

Online degree programs have opened virtual doors to individuals who want to attain a degree but are restricted by career, family or travel commitments, as well as those who are unable to take courses on campus. Teaching university courses beyond the classroom has grown exponentially as technology has advanced from mailing lectures on VHS video tapes to livestreaming lectures.

The Spears School of Business’s online programs and courses currently reach several thousand students. What began as an inaugural telecommunications management master’s program has grown into 16 programs that are serving nearly 340 undergraduate and graduate students who receive their degree completely online (according to a fall 2018 report).

Since its inception, Spears Business’s online courses have also grown to serve the needs of on-campus students in Stillwater and Tulsa. A recent study cited in the Chronicle of Higher Education concluded that the average student nationwide is taking 20 percent to 40 percent of their courses online.

“Online courses can be particularly helpful to students with excessive work hours, student athletes, students with children or other dependents, students with medical issues or disabilities or students who need to resolve schedule conflicts,” said Carol Johnson, Spears Business associate dean of business intelligence. “The availability of online options can enable them to graduate more quickly, graduate with less debt, deal more effectively with child care issues and accommodate disabilities.”

In the Spring 2019 semester alone, Spears Business had over 5,500 enrollments from more than 3,500 unique students in 118 courses taught by 69 faculty members who have national and international reputations in their fields.

Supporting these online initiatives is a team of dedicated staff committed to delivering highquality, accessible and affordable online programs and courses. A gift from Michael and Anne Greenwood provided upgraded facilities (including state-of-the art video production studios) for the online learning center in the new Business Building, which opened in 2018. Today, students work toward the completion of five graduate and three undergraduate degree options, as well as eight graduate certificates.

Spears Business’s online offerings began through the former business school’s Business Extension program with one master’s degree.

“At the time, online learning courses (then called ‘distance learning’), were delivered synchronously via interactive video. Lectures were also recorded on VHS video tapes and then mailed to students,” said Shona Gambrell, director of the Michael and Anne Greenwood Center for Online Excellence. By the late 1990s, students could earn an MBA entirely online asynchronously.

Abbey Davis
Abbey Davis, director of the Eastin Center for Career Readiness and a Spears Business Instructor, records an online class in the Greenwood Center's studio.

The largest demand for online degrees has been in graduate studies (two-thirds of enrollees are graduate students), but undergraduate programs have also grown. Since 2014, it has been possible to earn a bachelor’s degree in general business, management or marketing online.

The most valued aspect of studying online is the flexibility to complete coursework whenever and wherever a student is located. Spears Business’s online students come from four countries and 37 states and territories, including 32 of the 77 counties in Oklahoma. The flexibility of working remotely has been particularly attractive to activeduty military personnel, who make up more than a quarter of enrolled online students. Students can complete coursework anywhere they are stationed, both in the U.S. and abroad, as long as they have access to the Internet. A military officer completed an online OSU class while serving aboard a Navy vessel.

According to Gambrell, the eight full-time staff at the Greenwood Center work to ensure that online students have the best possible experience by creating positive interactive learning environments where students connect with each other and their professors and interact effortlessly with the technology. Students and instructors communicate through video conferencing tools, discussion boards and live chat.

The staff at the Greenwood Center include video producers and instructional designers who work with faculty to adopt instructional strategies that keep the learner in mind.

“We like to say that we’re unique in that we empower our faculty in designing courses to meet the diverse learning styles of our students,” Gambrell said. “Courses are designed to promote student and faculty engagement and interactivity, resulting in a positive and enjoyable learning experience.”

Just one example of the success of Spears Business’s online programs can be found in the 2019 rankings of the country’s best online MBA programs by U.S. News and World Report, where OSU tied for 38th place out of over 300 schools, and 39th place out of 156 schools in best online graduate business programs.