Students enrolled in the executive degree program at the University of California, Irvine’s Graduate School of Management don’t have to drive to Orange County to attend some teacher-assistant sessions. They turn to the laptop computer each student receives, snag a high-speed Internet connection and attend the 90-minute session online. Students see and hear video of the class. They can e-mail questions to the instructor.

In the teaching assistant sessions that supplement graduate business courses, students may review accounting principles or go over homework. For San Diegans, it may not make sense to “drive three hours for a one and a half-hour session midweek,” says John Clarke, GSM assistant dean and chief information officer.

Online learning, also known as distance learning, is a growing option for students. Some enroll in Internet courses if they move in the middle of a degree program. When travel is part of a job, distance learning is a way to attend class while out of town. For working professionals earning master of business administration degrees, online learning opportunities range from part of some courses to entire degree programs.

In addition, the Internet can provide access to instructional material. Some UC Irvine instructors make short online tutorials that students can watch and replay. The university’s health care executive MBA program Web site contains seven videotaped sessions of a health care conference.

At the University of San Diego, MBA students enrolled in the Graduate Business Study Abroad program spent three weeks online before traveling this month to China and Spain for two weeks.

Students can enroll in one or two three-unit courses. Those who go to Barcelona will study “International Marketing” and “International Comparative Management.” Those going to Beijing and Shanghai study “International Marketing” and “Strategic Alliances and Technology.”

The online portion of those courses started May 2. Several weeks before that, the professor posted assignments and questions online, says Kira Mendez, program coordinator. Students need to “read and type to get interjected into a course,” Mendez says. An instructor with 20 students in a course may divide them into groups. That way, the instructor “only waits for six answers, not 20.”

Online courses can present connection problems. Mendez advises students to test their computer setup several weeks before starting a course. People who use a computer on the job may need to deal with firewalls.

Each class consists of five sessions held every other day. Students participate in chat sessions, upload assignments, watch streaming videos and work on projects. They place follow-up questions on an online bulletin board and submit assignments to an online drop box. Students contact each other by e-mail or phone. When the online sessions end, students go abroad and visit companies with their online classmates. “They meet MBAs from all over the United States,” says Mendez.

At the University of Phoenix, graduate business students can take some or all of their courses online. “Programs are identical. The curriculum is the same; sometimes the instructors are the same,” says Brian Mueller, University of Phoenix Online chief operating officer. School supplies for an online student include Microsoft Windows 95 or 98, CD-ROM and Windows-based word processing and spreadsheet applications. Project management software is required for some degree programs.

Enrollment is limited to eight to 13 students for the courses that run from five to six weeks. Students are expected to go to the online class site five days each week. The instructor is online every day and returns assignments within 24 to 48 hours.

Each class has a group mailbox that serves as an electronic classroom. On the first day of class, the instructors usually provide introductory information on the week’s topics and assignments. Students also receive biographies of their instructors and classmates.

Course work consists of weekly components. The instructor posts a lecture or elaborates on material. Also posted are discussion questions that students work on throughout the week. Students use the computer conferencing system to participate in classroom discussions and contact the instructor.

“They can get involved in discussions any time that is convenient,” says Mueller. “They learn as much or more (than in a traditional classroom). Written communication is a strongly desired business skill.”

University of Phoenix also offers courses that combine the Internet with the classroom, says Bruce Williams, vice president and director of UOP San Diego campuses. Students meet in the classroom for the first and last sessions. In between, they learn online. “It’s how business is done these days,” says Williams.

Slim Scheduling

At Keller Graduate School of Management, courses offered through the Online Education Center in Chicago are an option when a course isn’t offered at a local campus, says Thomas Horstmann, San Diego center director. Courses on campus are more personal and provide more interaction with the instructor, students and center staff, says Horstmann.

Neither California State University, San Marcos nor San Diego State University’s executive MBA program schedule online courses. SDSU’s regular MBA program experimented with distance learning about a year ago, says Ken Marino, associate dean of the College of Business.

Around 10 students took the experimental electronic course. They met one night a week as a group and spent other course time studying on their own. Students and faculty enjoyed the experience, and the College of Business is exploring policy issues such as accreditation. “There is no distance program as of yet, but it will be integrated in the future,” says Marino.

This month, Chapman University expands its online offerings, says associate dean Maria Gier. The summer brings 10 online courses and plans are in place for 40 distance-learning degree courses by the end of the year. Courses will include business and computer science. Gier attributes the increase in Internet courses to the hiring last September of Dennis DeLong as dean of distance education.

Chapman’s previous online offerings include offshore distance learning. Through a contract with the U.S. Navy, Chapman provided CD-ROM-based courses so military personnel at sea could earn undergraduate credit.

Chapman offers some certificate programs online or in the classroom. These include the human resource management certificate for people preparing for national examinations in professional human resources or senior professionals in human resources. Chapman’s online and classroom versions are available in partnership with the national Society for Human Resources Management, says Mimi Murray, Chapman program manager of human resources and corporate development.

Overseas Courses

At the University of Redlands, students go to the school’s Web-based Blackboard site to get their assignments or to take a test, says Lee Bertrand, dean of admissions for the School of Business.

“Students still have to meet,” he says. “We think they need the personal touch.”

Redlands also offers overseas business courses that begin with online and in-person work. Global integration is the focus of a Cambridge, England, course that includes an optional visit to the European Union headquarters in Brussels. Students learn about financial topics while spending a week in Tokyo and a week in Hong Kong.

Redlands will offer four online-enhanced business courses in the fall. Globalization is the focus of the courses that include topics such as the global political economy and global marketing, says associate professor Gerald Groshek.

Students will meet in person for the first and last Saturdays of the courses. In between, they learn online. Groshek says the challenge in creating online courses is developing the “right dosage that is not too slow and not too fast” for students.

At Redlands, globalization courses are offered as alternates (electives) to the MBA core program. For students starting MBA programs in the fall, some courses can be used for core credits.

Distance learning also is on the rise at Alliant International University (formerly United States International University). Alliant’s online business offerings include economics, finance and marketing. With distance learning, students in China can finish degree programs at the San Diego campus, says Ali Abu-Rahma, assistant dean of the business administration college.

Closer to home, Alliant has provided a management degree program onsite at Samsung since spring of 2001. Students took nine courses at work. The 10th course, in economics, began online.

The Internet will connect business students from Santa Monica College with the local Alliant campus. This fall, students with associate arts degrees from the community college will complete their two years of upper division courses online, says Abu-Rahma.

Online learning isn’t just reading onscreen information and typing messages. Another facet of education technology is streaming video.

National University is working with streaming video that provides real-time instruction as well as videos that students can access on demand, says Ruth Black, the university’s online director.

NU is working on projects for the School of Education. Instructors can develop online course work using material such as clips from videotapes and PowerPoint presentations. The university uses Innovatv, a digital-based video application to create online, multimedia lessons.

The challenge for Black is when “the instructor comes in with 20 hours’ worth of material.” She works with the instructor to tailor down the presentation. The finished product could be a five-minute video. Black says the goal is to create a presentation that is meaningful and gets students excited.

The streaming video can present a real-life situation that demonstrates a topic to students. The technology could be incorporated into an assignment; a student could be asked to evaluate information in a video.

As MBA programs incorporate more technology into teaching, there is some concern that the Internet will replace the classroom. Gier of Chapman believes that instructional methods can co-exist. “Movies did not take away live theater. Videos did not take away movies. It’s not either/or (for graduate education),” she says.