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Welcome to the Introduction to Management MOOC – or massive, open, online, course.
There’s been a lot written about these kinds of classes as well as the concept of online education in general
so I wanted to tell you a little bit about why I wanted to develop the first MOOC at the University of Oklahoma, and why I wanted it to be on the subject of management.
To do that, I thought it might be a good idea to walk through what this concept of MOOC means - at least in my mind and in regard to this course.
The first idea ties to the concept of being massive.
This doesn’t guarantee that thousands of individuals will sign up for a class
but the goal here is to make something scalable where access isn’t limited by physical resources such as room size or proximity to campus.
And this idea of reaching a massive audience is important to me because I take the mission of my university very seriously.
At OU, we want to reach out to our students and give them an excellent learning environment.
And our mission highlights the fact that we also serve our state as well as greater society.
And opening up access to the knowledge we hold as scholars and educators allows us to fulfill this mission in a very tangible way.
Another key element to the concept of a MOOC is open enrollment.
In this class, anyone in the world can enroll for free. To receive credit, you must be a registered OU student.
But if you are just curious to learn more about management, you pay nothing.
Even OU students are welcome to take the non-credit version to learn more about management risk free.
When I ponder the concept of open education I always think about the movie Good Will Hunting.
The movie involves a 20 year old genius who works as a janitor for MIT.
At one point in the movie he quips that a friend has spent $150,000 for an education that could have been earned through $1.50 in late charges from the public library.
This is an important point because right now there is a huge differential in access to college based on ethnicity, family income, and a host of other factors.
And that’s just in the US. The differential is much greater in many parts of the world.
For example, recently the mother of a prospective student was tragically trampled in a stampede that occurred at the University of Johannesburg
as they worked to open college access in South Africa and extend opportunities to all of their country’s residents.
Historically access had been limited only to whites.
Because everyone doesn’t have access to a university education this class provides one modest way to give back to society
and open the curtain to get an understanding of the concepts, research, ideas, and implications of what a student could learn
if they had the opportunity to attend a class on campus at OU.
This class will work to help you manage relationships, time, goals, career, groups, individuals, and many other areas of work and life.
And I want to help you manage those elements to lead a fuller, more productive life – if I can.
To create a massive, open access course we leverage online technology.
This decision certainly has its trade-offs.
I can’t provide the same level of feedback to students as I would if we were in the same room and course activities are also limited.
On the other hand, this environment allows me to carefully choose my thoughts and words and minimize instances where I might misspeak in a traditional classroom setting.
And because information is recorded ahead of time lectures will never be cancelled.
So this is potentially an improvement in delivery in courses that typically involve large amounts of lecture that need to service many students.
If you’re still tempted to dismiss online education as being a poor substitute for traditional delivery,
I ask that you keep in mind the that paper, the pencil, ballpoint pens, and computers are all things well known educators argued would ruin education.
I actually think the online open environment is great because it allows me to open many of you to a very different view of OU and the state of Oklahoma.
I’m sometimes surprised to find that the first thing that seems to come to mind to many when they think of Oklahoma is the dust bowl that ravaged the state back in the 1930s.
To this day one of the most recognized Oklahoma natives is Florence Owens Thompson,
the migrant mother who moved to California during the dust bowl and was photographed by Dorothea Lange in her work for the Farm Security Administration during The Great Depression.
So just to put this point to rest I want you to know that now we have a lot of trees here.
Here’s a picture of a few of them with the Oklahoma City skyline in the background.
The Oklahoma land rush of 1889 that opened up the territory to a massive number of settlers also still comes to mind for many.
This included both Boomers (those that took possession way ahead of the time the land was opened up)
as well as the Sooners (those that took possession just a little before the legal time).
So, essentially, a lot of folks think of land thieves when they think of Oklahoma.
Boomer Sooner is still heard a lot in Oklahoma as it’s the fight song of OU.
Here’s where I work. The Price College of Business at OU.
We have a distinctive building style that the famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright called Cherokee Gothic.
It’s a great description that shows the beauty of the campus and the architecture that conjures up images of our historical campus that was founded before Oklahoma was even a state.
Here’s a picture of our library, which is a national historic landmark.
The great reading room is one of many truly stunning areas of campus.
The Fred Jones museum of art on campus hosts a permanent collection of paintings valued at over $50 million by famous impressionist artists such as
Degas, Monet, Cassatt, Van Gogh, Pisssaro, Renoir, and others.
Also on campus, the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History boasts a reconstruction of the world’s tallest dinosaur found in Oklahoma,
and on display you’ll see the largest dinosaur skull in the world from a pentaceratops.
Just across the street from campus you can enjoy campus corner with numerous coffee shops, restaurants, shopping, nightlife, and live music venues.
Of course we’re only about fifteen minutes away from Oklahoma City, with access to
vibrant art districts, major corporations, museums, restaurants, parks, a great zoo, and many other attractions.
Certainly the Bricktown entertainment district is a popular destination for those looking entertain themselves-
especially before of after our NBA team – The Oklahoma City Thunder – plays.
Oklahoma is a top five city for young professionals, and Forbes magazine recently ranked Oklahoma City #1 in regard to recession proof cities, so there’s a lot to like.
So this online approach allows me to highlight what is great about OU and Oklahoma to an audience that may not be able to make it to campus on a regular basis
and may not know how great this area has become.
And that’s partially why we created the management.ou.edu website.
This is in stark contrast to the growing number of third party websites that aim to benefit by consolidating various online courses.
Mark Twain once said that, “during the gold rush is the best time to be in the pick-and-shovel business.”
So it’s not surprising that a number of websites have been developed to take advantage of the popularity of the MOOC format
and pull together multiple universities interested in this movement.
But what we wanted to do is something that points people directly to the special feeling we have here at OU when we say, “There’s only one Oklahoma.”
So you might be wondering what this class will be like?
There are basically two types of assignments.
For one element, I’m asking you to go into an organization that focuses on helping the needs of others.
Specifically, a nonprofit organization where you would not receive payment to work.
And I’m asking you to give just on hour of your time.
Of course you are free to give more and that’s what I’d encourage but I want to make the requirement simple for this first class.
Then, you will upload a letter from an official member of that organization outlining how you helped.
So, you will have the opportunity to observe a unique organization and consider their management style while helping them achieve their mission.
The second element of class will focus on helping you learn key theories, definitions, and content relevant to the study of management.
You will watch video presentations, read two books, and take quizzes designed to test your learning.
One final thing I want to make very clear is that this is an actual course.
This course is based on material from a traditional textbook as well as an innovative graphic novel textbook.
I co-authored both of these books, and I’ve published in a number of scholarly management journals.
So while this course is definitely restricted in some ways due to the online nature of a massive open course, you won’t be shortchanged on the knowledge covered in this class.
That’s my guarantee to you.
So thank you for taking the time to learn more about this course -
I hope you’ll share in my vision and share it with others.
And I hope to see you in class.