Internet-based master's programs in business administration (M.B.A.s) serve a market that could bring significant revenues to business schools, providing new access to mid- to upper-level managers who want degrees to advance their careers but who cannot take time from work, or to young executives whose bosses offer to pay for the degree but not…

We discuss the development of an instructional design model, WisCom (Wisdom Communities), based on socio-constructivist and sociocultural learning philosophies and distance education principles for the development of online wisdom communities, and the application and evaluation of the model in an online graduate course in the USA. The WisCom model…

The authors of this article contend that most doctoral students in the arts do not fully appreciate the meaning of their PhD, and that the current system of graduate education perpetuates this phenomenon, with each generation of professors passing down their understanding of the doctorate to succeeding generations. The authors argue that what is…

With the alarming increase in the mental health needs of youth today, traditional preservice preparation training programs for school-based personnel in the area of mental health are overwhelmingly insufficient. While school professionals often lack basic specific evidence-based knowledge and skills to identify and intervene with students at risk…

This article examines issues related to graduate programs in agricultural and extension education for students from developing nations who are studying in developed countries. Implications are drawn for developing graduate programs that prepare individuals for their most likely career paths. Such programs may not be congruent given the current…

This study explored what factors influenced learner participation in two sections of a graduate online course at a Midwestern university. Findings indicated that online learner participation and patterns of participation are influenced by the following factors: technology and interface characteristics, content area experience, student roles and…

It is generally accepted that the undergraduate cumulative point average (UCPA) is associated with graduate performance of the same discipline. Less known, however, is how good the UCPA at predicting graduate performance in a different discipline. This paper discusses a study on the relationship between UCPA, undergraduate program of study, and…

This report provides a two-part evaluation of the IntelliMetric[SM] automated essay scoring system based on its performance scoring essays from the Analytic Writing Assessment of the Graduate Management Admission Test[TM] (GMAT[TM]). The IntelliMetric system performance is first compared to that of individual human raters, a Bayesian system…

The authors present a model for teaching group at the master's level that integrates classroom with experiential group practice. The basis for this adult learning model is an understanding of addiction, a model of how people change, and an appreciation of the stages of group development. The components of the model are didactic presentation, class…

By 2001, 15.9 million students were enrolled in 4,074 American colleges and universities; 2.2 million were enrolled in graduate and first-professional programs, more than half of them--1.4 million--at the master's level. Graduate enrollments rose about 38% between 1985 and 2001; first-professional enrollments increased 13% between 1990 and 2001…

Anecdotal evidence suggests that instructor performance in the online discussion portion of online courses has a major impact on learning and learner satisfaction. If this is the case, faculty development is an important component of success. This paper describes the development of a taxonomy of six categories to describe instructor postings to…

Purpose: To illustrate the applicability of "kaizen" in higher education. Design/methodology/approach: "Kaizen" process was used for ten courses contained in a part-time executive MS degree program in management. Findings: "Kaizen" was found to be an effective process for improving graduate business school courses and the value proposition for…

Ulises Mejias examines how social software--information and communications technologies that facilitate the collaboration and exchange of ideas--enables students to participate in distributed research, an approach to learning in which knowledge is collectively constructed and shared. During Fall 2005, Mejias taught a graduate seminar that provided…

The current paper builds on Reports #34 and 35 in this series, which discussed the use of collaborative software to develop online communities in distance education (DE). The paper illustrates the manner in which an educational community's needs should be carefully examined, in the process of designing techniques that fulfill these needs at a…

This article develops a model of problem-based learning (PBL) and shows how PBL has been used for a decade in one graduate management program. PBL capitalizes on synergies among cognitive, affective, and behavioral learning. Although management education usually privileges cognitive learning, affective learning is equally important. By focusing on…