scholarly journals Best Practices for Online Business Education

Author(s):  
Christian J. Grandzol ◽  
John. R. Grandzol PhD

This integrative review of literature on online educational best practices is intended to provide a quick reference for those interested in designing online business courses and programs. Primarily American in its perspective, this review may be helpful for business schools seeking optimal online course designs that foster quality learning experiences comparable in outcomes to traditional methods. Paramount in this review are the emphases on consistency, cohesiveness, and assessment.

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 431-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darwish Almoharby

In an attempt to diversify the economy and stimulate private enterprise development, government agencies and private institutions in many countries have emphasized the importance of setting up and developing small and medium-size enterprises and promoting entrepreneurship. An important question confronting policy makers, however, is how they can both promote local economic growth and enhance social development. Undergraduate and graduate business education is seen as a prerequisite if the objectives of economic growth are to be realized. This paper calls for a serious evaluation of current business education, particularly in Middle Eastern countries. As US business schools start to encounter numerous problems concerning the validity and viability of business courses and their methods of delivery, critical debates have arisen. The overwhelming majority of business schools in the Middle East are imitations of US schools and hence suffer similar problems. This paper seeks to raise awareness of such debates to stimulate more discussion and so to address issues of concern. Research propositions are formulated to serve as a basis for phase two of this study, which will involve empirical data collection. Thus the contribution of the paper lies in the adaptation of established knowledge and theory to meet specific challenges in the emerging economies of countries in the Middle East and beyond.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 248
Author(s):  
Delbert Goff ◽  
Jarrod Johnston ◽  
Bryan Bouboulis

As the number of online courses being offered at universities has increased dramatically over the past several years, the level of oversight has lagged and created an environment ripe for cheating. We find that students admit to higher levels of cheating in online classes and believe other students also cheat more relative to face-to-face classes. This is likely due to the lack of tools to combat online cheating and the lack of policy from universities. We know from previous studies that business colleges have a comparatively high level of cheating and the amount of cheating at universities has been rising. These trends threaten to create an unfair system where cheaters are rewarded with higher grades than non-cheaters, thereby encouraging otherwise honest students to cheat. This may result in declining and erratic knowledge among university graduates, diminishing the value of a university education.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 12426
Author(s):  
Ahmed Tlili ◽  
Mouna Denden ◽  
Saida Affouneh ◽  
Soheil Hussein Salha ◽  
Zhenyu Cai ◽  
...  

The provision of online learning experiences has been implemented by many universities worldwide to overcome several challenges, including inequality in education. However, this experience is still not a common approach in public universities in the Arab region. Furthermore, several research studies have pointed out that a country’s culture should be considered in order to enhance online learning, as students may behave differently based on their cultural backgrounds. Nevertheless, little is known about how a given culture may affect the learning behavioral patterns of students. Therefore, to better understand the cultural phenomenon and to enhance the adoption of online learning in the Arab region, this study aims to understand how an Arab culture may affect the online learning behaviors of students. Specifically, this study applies a lag sequential analysis (LSA) approach to understand the behavioral patterns of 116 students from Tunisia in a six-week online course. The study then further discusses the different learning behavior patterns based on the theoretical framework of Hofstede’s national cultural dimensions. The findings highlight that culture can affect how students engage in online learning discussions and how they maintain their learning performance online. The findings further indicate that online learning experiences may be beneficial for female students who experience social pressures in Arab cultures.


2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (8) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
James C. McHann ◽  
Laura A. Frost

Research demonstrates that the capacity to implement strategy and to execute plans drives business success (Hrebiniak, 2007) and that businesses’ inability to succeed by executing effectively arises from the ubiquitous incapacity of business professionals to overcome the gap between what they know and what they are actually able to do, whether personally or professionally (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2000). Research and experience also demonstrates that the capacity to execute is not primarily about operational or tactical skills.  Rather, it is more a “discipline to learn” (Bossidy, Charan & Burck, 2002; i.e., the capacity to execute is primarily a discipline of continuously learning to acquire, to interpret, and especially to apply information (Garvin, 2000) in a never-ending spiral of improvement. Business professionals must possess this capacity in order to succeed over the long-term. The purpose of business education is to prepare professionals for successful performance in businesses.  However, unlike the preparation of medical doctors and many other professionals, the education in most business schools remains more theoretical than experiential in the andragogy employed. Even the typical case study, like many instructional techniques used in business schools, is still relatively “theoretical” in that it is not a business experience in which the student is personally involved. This paper introduces an instructional method, the journal entry assignment, to help address the challenge of creating a more experiential education and preparation for business. This assignment enables students to “learn by doing” and, in effect, it creates a “living case study” experience for students.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 238-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Starr-Glass

Purpose This study aims to reflect on the dominance of a narrowly focused analytical approach within business schools, which provides an artificially fractured and disjointed understanding of the contextual complexities and interconnectedness that students will encounter in the future. This approach unnecessarily constrains sensemaking and inhibits creative response to future social and organizational complexity. As business schools and their graduates come under sustained scrutiny and criticism, it perhaps appropriate to reexamine and reframe their analytical bias. Design/methodology/approach The central direction taken in this study is that of critical reflection on the present author’s practice and experience in teaching undergraduate economics and accounting. Although the analysis may have limited generalizability, it is hoped that it may prove of interest and value to business school educators. Findings The preferential business school reliance on analytical perspectives suggest that they fail to appreciate the nature of business, its embeddedness in broader society and the competencies required by undergraduates and graduates. This study argues that an emphasis on holistic systems, synthetic fusion and an appreciation of complexity – rather than a reductive analytical agenda – might benefit business schools, their graduates and society at large. Originality/value This study provides an original, albeit personal, insight into a significant problem in business education. It offers original perspectives on the problem and presents faculty-centered suggestions on how business students might be encouraged and empowered to see quality as well as quantitative perspectives in their first-year courses.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mar Vazquez-Noguerol ◽  
Iván González-Boubeta ◽  
Iago Portela-Caramés ◽  
J. Carlos Prado-Prado

PurposeGrocery sellers that have entered the online business must now carry out order fulfilment activities previously done by the customer. Consequently, in a context of online sales growth, the purpose of this study is to identify and implement best practices in order to redesign the order picking process in a retailer with a store-based model.Design/methodology/approachTo identify different work alternatives, an approach is developed to analyse the methods used in distinct stores of one large Spanish grocer. The methodology employed is a three-step statistical analysis that combines ANOVA and MANOVA techniques to settle on the best alternatives in each case.FindingsSubstantial improvements can be achieved by analysing the different working methods. The three-step statistical analysis identified best practices in terms of their impact on preparation time, allowing a faster working method.Practical implicationsTo manage business processes efficiently, online grocers that operate store-based fulfilment strategies can redesign their working method using a criterion based on their own performance.Originality/valueThis is one of the few contributions focusing on the improvement of e-grocery fulfilment operations by disseminating best practices through decision-making criteria. This study contributes by addressing the lack of approaches studying the order picking process by considering its various features and applying best practices.


2018 ◽  
pp. 1083-1103
Author(s):  
Elise Kiregian

This chapter looks at the transformation of Post-Soviet Russian business education. The extraordinary metamorphosis shapes the new generation of Russians profoundly. Russians are now far more likely to speak English, to hold personal investment portfolios and to be able to work outside of Russia in global businesses. The old-fashioned idea of central control of every aspect of life is largely gone as are business courses extolling the virtues of Marxism. Research shows the wide acceptance of western business concepts such as strategic planning and case analysis and the rapid growth of the Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree. One unexpected outcome is the rise of Russian women to management positions in Russian corporations.


2022 ◽  
pp. 71-91
Author(s):  
Jusuke J. J. Ikegami

In Japan, the most prominent players in business education are corporations because they provide on-the-job training to their employees, particularly new graduates. However, with the low growth of the Japanese economy after the collapse of the bubble economy around 1990 and the recent drastic changes in the international environment, it is necessary to reexamine business education. To cope with the drastically changing environment, many Japanese companies are evolving their education model to emphasize off-the-job training in addition to on-the-job training. The main target of such training now includes senior executives, in addition to junior- to mid-level executives. Business schools play a role in educating senior executives. Although major Japanese companies utilize top business schools overseas, Japanese business schools are still the major education providers. This chapter discusses the recent changes, prospects, and issues concerning Japanese business schools.


2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 36-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Peres ◽  
Anabela Mesquita

This article describes the European project GainTime developed in the educational field. The objectives of the project concern the development of professional and pedagogical competences among teachers and trainers. It intends to enhance learning through the use of Information and Communication Technologies and increase the access to Open Educational Resources (OER) with the aim to combine higher levels of excellence and attractiveness with increased opportunities for all. To attain the objectives, an online course that teaches teachers on how to innovate in their classroom, specially using flipped classroom and games supported on OER, will be developed. The target of the project is secondary education. In order to identify the best practices in Portugal concerning the use of flipped classroom and games as well as creative classroom, a questionnaire was administered and results are presented. Furthermore, the handbook regarding the master model developed as well as the online courses are also presented.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven R. Hawks ◽  
Hailey A. Judd

The release of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in 2016, the growing use of online delivery formats for public health education, and the urgent need to train an expanding global health workforce all reflect the need to adopt best practices in the design and delivery of online global health courses. The purpose of this coaching article is to share peer-to-peer strategies and best practices for developing a global health survey course for online delivery. Important elements for consideration include the use of a backward design approach, global health competency review and selection, the scope and sequencing of key content areas, meaningful assessments of competency mastery, the development of authentic learning strategies, the potential use of open educational resources, and strategies for ongoing course evaluation and refinement. A backward course design, with well-selected content domains and competencies, opens the way for the development of the best possible learning experiences that are consistent with national benchmarks for online course development. The use of this strategy has resulted in a much keener sense of course “ownership” on our part, along with enhanced learning experiences and satisfaction for students.


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