tailieunhanh - The Effectiveness of an Online MBA Program in Meeting Mid-Career Student Expectations

While critics call for targeting more experienced managers as MBA candidates, it is interesting to note that certain types of MBA programs tend to attract these types of students. For example executive MBA students tend to be experienced managers with a good sense of „real world‟ needs (Lorange, 2005). Yet much of the research we describe below has focused on more traditional MBA programs or on the perceptions of more experienced MBA students in executive MBA programs outside North America. In our description of the exploratory research reported in this paper, we discuss the perceptions, expectations, and motivations of. | The Effectiveness of an Online MBA Program in Meeting Mid-Career Student Expectations Maurice Grzeda Laurentian University Gloria E Miller Isle of Man International Business School Abstract Advances in teaching technologies have made online MBA programs more accessible to midcareer learners precisely those who many suggest should be targeted. Previous research on the value of the MBA has focused on various student motivations but not specifically on the experiences of North American mid-career learners. This study reports the results of a survey which asked online MBA students about expected career outcomes why they had chosen the online format and what skills they expected to acquire. A better understanding of the expectations of mid-career learners enrolled in online MBA studies may assist program designers in developing meaningful curriculum and lead to improved pedagogies. Acknowledgment The authors would like to acknowledge Joy McPherson whose assistance with questionnaire design data collection and project management was invaluable. Keywords MBA online education mid-career learners motivations expectations The Journal of Educators Online Volume 6 Number 2 July 2009 1 Introduction As MBA programs have increased in number so have their critiques. Even before the expansion to web-based programs graduate business education represented a significant sector within post-secondary education conferring almost 25 of all Master s degrees by the late 1990 s Boyd Halfond 2001 . From 2001 to 2003 the number of online graduate degree programs had increased from 48 to 246 with 41 programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International Kyle Festervand 2005 . Concurrently criticism of management education has also increased as leaders in the field questioned the value of teaching functional skills to MBA students who have little work experience Mintzberg 2004 . Management educators have been urged to target practicing managers with .