Accrediting bodies require consistency in evaluation, measurement, and teaching across modalities. Simultaneously, mission-driven education is a priority whereby program goals and course level outcomes consistently reflect the mission at the classroom level. With the prevalence of online teaching, educators need to convert in-person classes to other formats while maintaining consistency that aligns with the school's mission. This is challenging because some classes are not a natural candidate for online. This chapter presents a conceptual model of instruction for teaching across modalities for any course to align the assurance of learning process so that the class level will reflect mission, program, and course-level outcomes across modalities. It is an instructional model that classifies educational course goals and objectives by providing a systematic, organizational structure that can be utilized for teaching any subject as in-person, online, or hybrid.
TopIntroduction
Educational programs are structured to ensure consistent, high-quality education for the same degree programs regardless of differences and changes in technology and delivery modes. (AACSB International – The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, 2017, p. 35)
Advances in rapidly progressing technology have created new and evolving learning management platforms bringing a concern among accrediting bodies for consistency in evaluation, measurement, and teaching across formats. This push for consistency is challenging given universities’ shrinking budgets, lower local student enrollments, and a rising prevalence of online education which requires extra preparation and different instructional techniques (Akroyd, Patton, & Bracken, 2013; Allen & Seaman, 2013; Brinthaupt et al., 2011). When teaching and evaluating course learning outcomes for classes offered via different formats, it is imperative to ensure that each class taught consistently reflects program goals, which ultimately express the mission of the school. Mission statements inform curriculum (Brink et al., 2014), but often mission statements are not incorporated into daily operations such as teaching (Urde, 2003). Given that learning outcomes are the foundation of curriculum and at the same time illuminate the business school’s mission statement (Brink, Palmer, & Costigan, 2014), this chapter provides a model of instruction for teaching across modalities in order to align the business school’s mission statement through course learning objectives with course learning activities across various course formats. While providing guidance for educators in any subject, this chapter contributes to the need for curricular studies as “studies that are attentive to the impacts upon curriculum design and learning from accreditation institutions are atypical” (Lowrie & Willmott, 2009, p. 412). This chapter presents a teaching innovation that aims to assist faculty in creating classes across modalities, thereby executing the mission statement of business schools within the classroom, regardless of format.
This chapter introduces a conceptual model for Curricular Reach Across Formats Teaching Subjects (CRAFTS). CRAFTS is an instructional model that classifies educational course goals and objectives by providing a systematic, organizational structure that can be utilized for teaching a variety of courses, such as in-person defined as face-to-face with the instructor present, online occurring asynchronously via a learning management system with the instructor not physically present, or hybrid a mix of in-person and online classes. CRAFTS can also help ease the transition for those who have not taught online or hybrid classes by providing a way to organize and setup the class with weekly assignments and teaching materials.
In the next sections of the chapter, the conceptual model is presented. Two key research questions are addressed: 1) How does an existing class taught in-person effectively be taught in online or hybrid formats? and 2) How should a class that does not appear to be a natural candidate for online be taught in non-traditional formats? Direct evidence of the model’s effectiveness is provided by quantitatively measuring learning outcomes using rubric assignments and qualitatively using student reflections compared across three modalities: (1) face-to-face, (2) online, and (3) hybrid in professional selling and consumer behavior courses. Discussion of the results and implications of the study conclude the chapter.
TopThe Crafts Model
CRAFTS is an instructional model that classifies educational goals and objectives through an organizational structure that can be utilized for teaching any subject across modalities including in-person, online, or hybrid classes. As shown in Figure 1, CRAFTS begins with a cumulative, hierarchal setup in all course formats, across platforms. The model originates from the mission statement, which informs program-level goals, and course learning outcomes. Program-level and learning goals are derived and consistent with a business school’s unique mission statement and reflective of the outcomes most valued by the school’s program (Harvey & McCrohan, 2017). Resources on creating a mission statement or developing program and learning goals are available (See Brink, Palmer, & Costigan, 2014; Harvey & McCrohan, 2017; Orwig & Zachary Finney, 2007; Wilson, Meyer, & McNeal, 2012).