BSBA Approaches & Examples

Although these online courses are available and appropriate for traditional (i.e. on-campus/undergraduate) students, they have been purposefully designed to meet the unique needs of non-traditional students. "Non-traditional students" can be defined and identified using various criteria. For the purposes of online course design for the BSBA program, non-traditional students are: 

• Students engaging in the program while retaining full-time or part-time employment. 
• Students with care-taking responsibilities (dependent children, parents, or siblings). 
• Students with limited or no previous experience with an online learning delivery format. 
• Students with disability status.

Through an asynchronous delivery format and flexible participation dates, students with full or part-time employment responsibilities, as well as students with care-taking responsibilities, are able to create a personalized learning schedule around existing responsibilities.

Formatting of online BSBA courses included segmenting larger course topics into reasonable "chunks" of information delivery, thereby allowing students to fit their personal learning schedule into smaller windows of time throughout the week, if necessary. 

A standardized design framework used throughout all online BSBA courses establishes a consistent course navigation format, content delivery schedule, and assignment submission dates (the segmenting larger course concepts is an aspect of the standardized design framework used to build online BSBA courses). 

Heavy emphasis was placed on ensuring the highest level of accessibility to meet the needs of students with various disability status. All courses were designed through the lens of Universal Design for Learning principles, strive to meet ADA Compliance for online course design, and provide alternative access solutions to account for potential assistive technology limitations.  

Auburn Online builds online, asynchronous learning opportunities designed to increase student engagement with instructors, course material, and cohort peers. Courses within the BSBA program suite emphasize instructor presence, dynamic content delivery, web and media-based interactive learning features, and opportunities for cohort community building. 

Dynamic Content Delivery & Interactive Learning Features:

• Course content is delivered through engaging, interactive elements designed to increase engagement with online course materials and promote learning through multiple methods of content delivery. Student learning and interaction is stimulated through:

• Responsive Canvas features (tabs, expanders, quick checks, etc.) as touch points to encourage interaction with page content.
• Relevant supplemental content such as interactive reading lists and timelines, interactive practice opportunities, YouTube videos, and hyperlinks to enrich core learning materials.
• Instructor-led content such lecture videos, Learning Glass videos, Top-Down demonstration videos, Role-Play/Modeling videos, and synchronous (real-time attendance optional) sessions.
• Guest lectures featuring question-and-answer formats.

Opportunities of cohort community building: 

• Multiple methods are used throughout courses to foster classmates' engagement in meaningful discussion and build a cohort community of inquiry.

• Course design features such as the "Introduce Yourself" page, Canvas Chat, and "Q&A" page provide an avenue for students to get to know their classmates, participate in synchronous conversation, and ask questions/provide answers regarding course content and assignments.
• Course discussion boards necessitate an original response and meaningful replies to at least two classmates. Throughout all courses, students typically replied to more than two classmates and responses often led to in-depth discussion among multiple students.
• Pair and small-group based assignments elicited peer-based communication, collaboration, and feedback while increasing classmate visibility and presence in the online classroom. 

Instructors model online engagement and set student expectations at the onset of every course. Instructor presence in the online BSBA classroom is elevated through course design features such as:

• The "Meet the Professor" page and virtual Office Hours
• Weekly Module Intro videos
• Instructor-based actions such as engaging in producing course media for instructor-led content delivery
• Offering optional Zoom access to weekly in-person classes
• Recording demonstration examples of media-based student assignments
• Providing individualized student feedback on assignments
• Posting timely and responsive course announcements

To ensure consistency and easy navigation for students, courses are designed with certain key elements that are the same throughout the program.

• Students are greeted with a custom Home page for each course
• Each course is organized into 7 modules to correspond with weeks in the term
• At A Glance pages aligns the content, assignments, and course objectives
• Each module contains an Overview, offering students clear direction for the upcoming module
• A cohesive color scheme creates a pleasant experience for students