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USM Forum -- Message Board -> AAUP-USM MESSAGE BOARD -> The Story of the Digital MBA...HD in his own words
Post Info TOPIC: The Story of the Digital MBA...HD in his own words
Email Packrat in CoB

Date:
The Story of the Digital MBA...HD in his own words
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Many of you will recall the hotly debated Digital MBA program that was ramrodded through the CoB last fall. Here is the complete set of email messages from Doty to the CoB faculty, plus an email from an administrative assistant to help clarify the timeline.

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Email 1:

To: All CoB
From: Doty
CC:
Subject: Video enhanced online capability
Sent: Mon 10/31/2005 10:02 AM

Hi all,

As many of you have probably heard, the CoB is currently exploring the possibility of developing the capability to produce video enhanced online courses. In a nutshell, this capability would allow us to make available to online students the opportunity to view from a remote location (via the internet) the actual face to face lecture, discussion, and student-professor interaction that occur in a corresponding traditional format class. Additionally, students in the traditional section of the course might be allowed to review the lecture and discussion after the class meeting to better master the course materials and improve their class performance. For cost and technological reasons, we may initially forgo the option of allowing the online students to view the traditional class in real time. However, the real time capability is attractive, and we will explore that option in the future. Dr. Williams has agreed to pilot our first experiment with video enhanced online courses this spring. Provided that we can acquire and install the technology in a timely fashion, we will offer a digital section of MBA 550 in January. At the current time we are focusing primarily on the MBA program although once established the video capability is completely transferable to the undergraduate courses we currently offer online. As we gain success with this approach, we will likely make the technology available to other colleges here at Southern Miss. It will take approximately two years to fully implement the MBA program so you may not have the opportunity to participate in the program for some time.

As is true with all new capabilities, there are many unanswered questions at this time. This week a committee is focusing on the technological challenges and I am trying to meet with the President and Provost to resolve the financial challenges that must be addressed prior to moving forward with this project. If we cannot resolve these challenges we can offer a more traditional online program such as the programs offered by other high quality providers of online business education including Arizona State, Florida State, RPI, the University of Florida, and so on. However, I believe the video enhancement will add a level of richness to our online offering that will distinguish our product.

Additional issues that must be addressed include protecting the video images from unauthorized copying, assignment of intellectual property rights, in-load versus overload course assignment and compensation, testing procedures, SACS criteria, and so on. It is likely that not all of these issues will be resolved prior to the first course offering. It is also likely that we will develop alternative methods for dealing with these issues as we gain more experience with the program and as more faculty become involved with the program. For example, it is unlikely that each faculty member will have exactly the same testing procedures. I have complete confidence in our ability to apply the continuous improvement logic and processes of the AACSB to this project and develop a high quality product that meets our state mandated objective of enhancing access to higher education throughout the region and state.

hd


Email 2:

To: All CoB
From: Doty
CC:
Subject: DMBA -- one question answered
Sent: Wed 11/2/2005 8:37 AM

At this point I am fairly confident that we can promise the use of proctored exams to distance learning students anywhere in the United States, at most military bases, and most other military postings from which a student could reasonably be expected to participate in a distance learning experience. I cannot speak to international students, but I don’t expect a strong international presence in the initial phases of the distance program. Further, the student has the responsibility to make arrangements with the proctoring site to take the exam, and the site must be approved by USM. The proctoring arrangements are currently handled through the office of the Provost. This should significantly reduce the burden on our faculty – the faculty member will be responsible for test administration at one local site (either Hattiesburg or Gulf Port) but the other testing sites are handled with minimal faculty involvement. I spoke with Stan Lewis yesterday and he says the current system works very well and he has complete confidence in the security of the testing procedure. This should put to rest the concerns that have been voiced about the validity of tests for DMBA students. The one downside I know of is that the instructor will need to establish a firm exam schedule in the course syllabus and have the exams for distance learning students prepared at the beginning of the semester.

hd


Email 3:

To: All CoB
From: Doty
CC: Sheri Rawls; 'Lin Harper'; 'valerie.craig@usm.edu'
Subject: More DMBA answers
Sent: Fri 11/4/2005 8:22 AM

Hi all

Late yesterday afternoon I met with an ad hoc committee including representatives from the faculty, staff, Itech, and the LEC. During this meeting I accepted the committee recommendation for the technology application package we will be using to pilot Digital MBA courses. I approved the purchase of the necessary software and hardware to convert JGH300 to the first DBMA classroom.

The system has many positive features, and clearly was the best choice for the initial startup. The package will support two types of video enhancement for online courses. In the simplest case, the instructor can simply record the entire duration of a face to face class and make this video available to online students. Additionally, the instructor may choice to produce a number of shorter video clips to supplement the online offering. The instructor may also use some combination of these two approaches. Further, the instructor could use some of the video clips in the traditional face to face setting. This has some interesting potential for guest lectures, special speakers, etc.

There are two important limitations to the technology we adopted. First, as I had already suggested, we will not have the capability for real time broadcasting. Second, the initial software will not allow us to edit the video segments. I do not think these are serious limitations in the initial phase of the project. I believe that the potential for using this approach to overcome our need to offer many small 500 level MBA courses at multiple locations is a superior solution to requiring a single faculty member to travel to the multiple sites to cover a single course. As the project expands, however, we may need to overcome these limitations, especially the inability to edit the video. I was assured by the committee that while incorporating the ability to edit the video might require a change in processing software the change would have little if any impact on the system users.

I also asked Sheri Rawls from the LEC if she thought other colleges might be interested in experimenting with our technology in their online programs. She believes there is already strong demand for this technology and many instructors in other colleges will be very interested in using our facility. As a consequence of this, I asked her to invite four other instructors, one from each of the other colleges, to experiment with our capability. We can also make this capability available to some of our faculty already teaching online undergraduate courses.

hd


Email 4:

To: All CoB
From: Doty
CC:
Subject: Good news, more answers
Sent: Fri 11/11/2005 1:43 PM

Hi all, and TGIF

I had a meeting yesterday with President Thames at which I presented a funding proposal for our digital MBA project. The President accepted the proposal and agreed to fund the project at the level I requested. He understands that the university cannot recoup the investment on the MBA program alone, but believes that the CoB can develop a capability that can be used university wide to help increase access to higher education for citizens across south Mississippi. This would help to fulfill the university’s state mandated mission.

One constraint that the President will probably impose is that we erase recorded lectures at the end of each semester so the lectures cannot be reused. He believes that program quality cannot be protected if lectures are allowed to become dated. I believe that this constraint has another benefit – it will address the intellectual property concerns that have been expressed. Clearly we still have many details to sort through, but I believe that concerns about resource constraints have now been put to rest.

And the story continues …


Email 5:

To: All CoB
From: [Redacted]
CC:
Subject: Faculty Meeting - December 9, 2005
Sent: Fri 11/11/2005 4:36 PM

Hello,

The next CoB Faculty Meeting will be held on Friday, December 9th at 2pm in JGH 303. Please make plans to attend.

Agenda topics include but are not limited to the following:
 Approval of December graduates
 Consideration of an assortment of online MBA courses
 AACSB update
 New Fashion Merchandising report

If you have any items that need to be added to the current agenda topics, please let me know.


Email 6:

To: All CoB
From: Doty
CC:
Subject: MBA courses
Sent: Fri 11/11/2005 5:17 PM

The first set of DMBA courses will be submitted to the CoB graduate programs committee for consideration sometime next week. As I recall, the next graduate program committee meeting is scheduled soon after Thanksgiving. Although the syllabi and proposals were developed by different faculty members Katie will pull the final package together. Thus, the courses will be submitted to the committee as a single package from the dean’s office rather than by individual faculty members. This should reduce the workload on individual faculty members. The package does not propose new courses, but rather reformats existing courses for an alternative delivery approach. We will have some of the MBA courses ready for discussion at the December faculty meeting, and will continue working on the rest for future consideration. We need to finish the revision and approval process early next spring.

In the interim, I encourage you to continue expressing your specific concerns about our online offerings and programs to a member of the graduate program committee, your department chair, or a member of the dean’s office. We’ve received some great suggestions from many different faculty members, and significant help from those of you who have online teaching experience. Over the last several months we have made many changes to the program plan and implementation timetable based on faculty suggestions so our participation structure seems to be working well. I believe we have managed to resolve most of the serious concerns that have been expressed to date – compensation issues, workload issues, testing security issues, intellectual property issues, resource issues, and so on. However, I am sure we will continue to discover new challenges as we move forward. Many of the issues that have been raised have been fairly complex, and it has taken significant time, effort and investigation to develop solutions. Thus the sooner we know about remaining issues the more likely we will be able to address these issues before we offer the first course.

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__________________
gill

Date:
Permalink Closed

Notice that he begins the first e-mail with, essentially, Some of you may have heard the rumor. . .


Notice that on 11/4 he's ordering equipment (thru infamous ad hoc committee) before any collegewide faculty vote.


Notice that . . .



__________________
memo

Date:
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THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI


Interoffice Correspondence


President’s Office


Box 5001


 


 


February 11, 2005


 


 


TO:                 Drs. Harold Doty, Farhang Niroomand, Alvin Williams, Roderick Posey,


                        Mark Klinedinst, and President’s Executive Cabinet


 


FROM:           Shelby F. Thames


                        President


 


 


I am sorry that there has been so much misunderstanding with respect to plans for an alternate delivery of your MBA program.  Clearly, all aspects of the MBA degree are the responsibility of the faculty of the College of Business and include but may not be limited to curriculum, method of delivery, locations or sites offered, course schedules, faculty selection, and faculty credentials.  When you and your colleagues have completed your work, we will, of course, pursue any necessary approvals from the IHL Board of Trustees, AACSB, and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and any other necessary accrediting body prior to implementation.


 


As University administrators you are acutely aware of our funding needs and the continual decline in state support for our University system.  It appears this year will be no exception to the recent past and more budget cuts are expected.  I have stated many times that the support of our educational mission primarily originates from three sources--tuition, state support, and external sources such as contracts, grants, and charitable foundations.  Over the last several years, state support has declined, tuition has risen, and external funds have increased substantially due principally to the growth of our research component.


 


It is my belief that universities hold a unique position and responsibility to perform theoretical and fundamental research, as knowledge is created within our university borders.  Therefore, we must continue our pursuit of theoretical and basic research in order to create knowledge for generations to come.  Theoretical/basic research is the genesis of applied research and thus is indispensable to our economic and academic well being.  I applaud your strong fundamental research component and encourage its propagation to societies’ needs.


 


Please know that I, as President, appreciate and support your efforts, and I encourage you to share this memorandum with your faculty.



__________________
Theoretical, fundamental, and basic research

Date:
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memo wrote:

  It is my belief that universities hold a unique position and responsibility to perform theoretical and fundamental research, as knowledge is created within our university borders.  Therefore, we must continue our pursuit of theoretical and basic research in order to create knowledge for generations to come.  Theoretical/basic research is the genesis of applied research and thus is indispensable to our economic and academic well being.  I applaud your strong fundamental research component and encourage its propagation to societies’ needs. 
Theoretical, fundamental, and basic research? Are stealth raises available for those activities?

__________________
iOmega

Date:
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this situation is another good example of conditions in the cob.  
examine email 1. it starts out "as many of you have probabily heard, the cob is exploring [the digital mba degree]..."  it is an admission that no formal discussions had been held up to that point (october 31, 2005).  the message then indicates that decisions are being made.  doty tells the cob that the option for students to view the traditional class in real time may have to be nixed due to cost considerations.  the email also indicates that dr. williams will offer a course in january, assuming the equipment can be installed in time.  notice the number of statements like "we will explore" and "we will offer" and "we are focusing" that he uses in the first paragraph.  the "we" is never defined; remember, the email begins with "you have probably heard..."  later in the same email doty that "a committee" is already focusing on technological challenges, while hd is trying to meet with the president and provost to discuss financial challenges, all before he has formally introduced the project to cob faculty.  the last part simply says that there is a myriad of unresolved issues, but hd is confident the cob can resolve those.   


now examine email 2. it arrives 2 days later, and it purports to answer a question that was never "asked" in any formal way (phantom question?).  apparently, everyone is worried about the proctoring of the exams, so doty turns into the energizer bunny for two days, talks to people, and is happy to announce that all proctoring issues are resolved.  too bad they really aren't.



email 3 arrives 2 days later, and it introduces the cob faculty to the now infamous "ad hoc committee" that was to play an integral role in the process.  that committee got together and order a load of equipment for installation in a cob classroom.  faculty, staff, itech, and the lec.  already, cob faculty are sorely outnumbered in the process, which is a sham.  it's november 4th, just 5 days after his opening salvo "you have probably heard" and a bunch of money has been spent on equipment on the advise and counsel of an "ad hoc committee" that, to this, has not had its composition revealed to cob faculty.  he spends the remainder of the email discussing limitations of the equipment that was chosen, though he provides a boost to the community by saying that he will be gracious enough to assist in universitywide adoption of this technology.



email 4 is short and sweet.  it comes a week after email 3, and in it doty informs faculty that he has met with thames to present the plan for dmba.  he told thames what it would cost to implement --- of course this wouldn't have been an estimate since hd had already ordered the equipment for it --- and thames told him that a check was in the mail.  the email concludes with doty's account of how thames explained that program quality was of utmost importance, and sft offered several suggestions for cob in boosting educational quality.  the email concludes with "and the story continues...."  it really is like a story at this point.  cob faculty hang on each email like chapters in a novel, waiting to see how this major change in the way they do business evolves right before their eyes, but without their participation.  who said thames cornered the market on micromanagement and top-down governance?


email 5. arrives on the same day as email 4.  it invites cob faculty to a college meeting at which a vote on the dmba courses will occur.  buy the equipment, then secure the funding for the equipment, then hold the vote.  what's the saying about the cart and the horse?  well, at least the college's graduate programs committee has approved the plan.  not all is lost.


 
email 6. also arrives on the same day as emails 4 and 5.  wait, it appears that the college graduate programs committee has not yet met to vote on the dmba courses.  email 6 informs cob faculty that the course list will be submitted to the college committee the following week, the week of november 14-18.  and, the committee doesn't meet until after thanksgiving.  gee, i hope the college curriculum committee meets before the collegewide vote is held.  wait (again), i forgot that the equipment has been ordered and dr. williams is already prepping for his dmba course to start in about 6 weeks.  oh well.  the email seems to say that doty has engineered this process in a way that reduced the faculty's workload.  thanks guy.  notice the ending.  the last paragraph begins with "in the interim, i encourage you to continue expressing your concerns about our online offerings . . . to a member of the graduate program committee . . ." sure thing, hd.  here's a beauty: "over the last several months we have made many changes to the program plan and implementation timetable . . ."  last several months?  was my email turned off?  who knows. 


just another bad cob story with proof.



__________________
Paul Harvey

Date:
Permalink Closed

And now, the rest of the story:


The emails presented here tell most of the DMBA story.  What hasn't been presented lately (though it was discussed in this forum months ago) is that the COB grad committee actually held two votes on the DMBA after email 6 was circulated.  In the first vote, the program was voted down.  Doty was furious with the committee for killing his brainchild, so he "visited" with a few committee members.  Soon, one of Doty's sympathetic committee members called for a revote.  It is the result of this revote that was reported to the USM Graduate Council.  Also not represented here are the minutes of the COB faculty meeting in which this was discussed (those minutes have not been presented to the faculty for approval as of yet). 


Thames eventually killed the DMBA plan by pulling funds that were previously promised.  In the end, Doty caused a maelstrom in the COB by circumventing the faculty driven processes he claims to support.  Rememeber, he told a gathering at the University of South Florida that he is "...a big believer in faculty votes."  Only if they're in his favor and/or after the fact, I suppose.



__________________
Quantum Mechanic

Date:
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Let's take these emails at face value.  Doty initiated a program without a vote of the faculty that would have to support said program.  That's a problem, and it mirrors some of SFT's behavior. 


Now a question.  How much money did Doty spend on this digital program without a faculty vote to support the program?  Does anyone know for sure?  If he spent only a few hundred dollars, then the act may be forgivable if he is contrite.  If he spent thousands of dollars, the situation is more serious financially.  The dollar amount doesn't diminish the seriousness of going around his faculty, though.



__________________
Cossack

Date:
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Quantum Mechanic,

It was small loss in monetary costs, but a large loss in reputational capital.

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Quantum Mechanic

Date:
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Cossack wrote:

Quantum Mechanic, It was small loss in monetary costs, but a large loss in reputational capital.
Did the business faculty members seriously consider a vote of "No Confidence" in Doty?  If so, did it happen?  If not, why not?

__________________
DMMBEB

Date:
Permalink Closed

There was not a vote of "no confidence" at that meeting.  I think the vote was 40-17 or something like that.  There is a story that the staff members who were there voted.  Several people had loads of proxies, it was mini-chaos in the room at that time.  Doty questioned the motion for a secret ballot vote on the DMBA program when it was made --- he asked why there was no vote on having a secret ballot.  The "parliamentarians" in the meeting said the Robert's Rules allowed for secret ballot with a motion from the floor.  Doty looked defeated.  He seriously wanted to make junior profs cast a voice vote on the plan, which he won anyway.  He wanted to win 50-7 I guess.

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