B. Library, Information Technology, and Data Resources
B.2. Technology and Data Resources
CSUMB/Colloquy Learn System (Learning Management System-LMS)
This section describes the CSUMB Learn system implementation by referencing the CSUMB Network Diagram below (Exhibit 26). In addition to program marketing services, Colloquy also provides student services which include classroom monitoring related to no-show students and procuring textbooks for students.
Normal access to the Learn system is through the primary URL http://extendedonline.csumb.edu to the left in the exhibit. Secondary access is available through the URL http://emba1.csumb.edu to the right in the exhibit.
This normally redirects to the primary server. Secondary server access is made available in the event of a failure on the primary server by removing the redirection on the secondary server. This is a manual process that typically takes a short amount of time.
The primary server site is hosted on Elastic Compute Cloud, EC2, at the Amazon Northern California data center (US West). The secondary server site is hosted at Qwest in Chicago. These are both Tier 4 (top quality) data centers with monitored redundant cooling, power, and backbone access and secured physical access.
Tier 4 is the highest level and typically provides 99.995% availability. Tier 4 is commonly reserved for highly regulated and risk-averse industries such as healthcare, banking and securities. Both the primary and secondary server sites have load-balanced web servers so that if a single server were to fail or be taken down for maintenance, there would be no degradation of service.
The database storing all information for the Learn system is in the primary data center. This includes courses, student information and outcomes, records of all activity, etc. It is continuously replicated to the secondary server center through the virtual private network seen at the bottom of the diagram.
Data including course materials and backups and complete daily database snapshots are stored in Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) storage. This is replicated to several different sites and managed to a very high degree of availability.
Exhibit 26-CSUMB Network Diagram
For more information about data center Tiers, please see the following:
http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles%2Fp2818%2F31p18%2F31p18.asp The Qwest CyberCenter in Chicago is located at: Qwest Chicago Cyber Center
350 E Cermak Rd, Chicago, IL 60616-5507 (312) 567-0694
http://www.qwest.com/about/qwest/QwestCyberCenters/benefits.html C. Campus Services
C.1. MBA Program’s Student Services
MBA online students often need to make use of some of the CSUMB on-campus services such as financial aid and disability services. However, services such as the bookstore and ASAP are not used since most students are never on campus during school terms and ASAP does not provide many services to graduate students.
Therefore, there is not a current process to determine the frequency of use of services such as the bookstore or whether these services are used at all. Moreover, textbooks are provided directly to MBA students each term via the U.S. mail system and through our partnership with Colloquy. Textbooks used in the MBA Program are included in each student’s tuition.
Program Advising
Student advising for the program is typically not significant in terms of what courses to take since the program
extraordinary situations, students are advised typically by telephone or email by a College of Business coordinator or the Program Director if this order of courses is not to be followed. MBA faculty are not required to perform advising services for graduate students in this program.
Financial Aid Services
An MBA Financial Aid Advisor is available to assist College of Business students in all aspects of determining need and available financial aid resources.
http://csumb.edu/general/financial/
MBA students are eligible to apply for Federal Aid in the form of Unsubsidized or Grad Plus loans. Extended Ed has a dedicated FA counselor. Aid has disbursed bi-annually to student accounts, beginning Fa ’13 aid will be disbursed quarterly. The FA process begins when the student completes their FAFSA. Students communicate with the EE FA counselor via phone, email or in person. The MBA Program is working on the process to offer Veterans’ Benefits to Veteran Applicants/Students.
Registration:
MBA students register for their courses on CSUMB’s CMS system. To facilitate this process a "How To"
registration page is created showing the course registration numbers (CRN’s) for each course/section. The CMS registration drives the student enrollment in the LEARN classrooms.
Academic Skills Achievement Program Services (ASAP)
ASAP services are not now offered to MBA graduate students.
Career Advising Access
Career Advising is most often not offered since most of the MBA Graduate students are working professionals especially the EMBA students and live a considerable distance from the CSUMB campus.
C.2. MBA Faculty Supporting Services
One CSUMB organization that is used infrequently by BUS facultyis the Center for Academic Technology (CAT).
CAT is small but delivers excellent service to faculty when asked. CAT teams are extremely helpful, friendly, and dedicated to helping faculty teach better. Faculty services are also provided by the Program Director, Colloquy, and occasionally by the College of Business Chair, the MBA Program Coordinator, and the EE&IP office.
D. Community Partnerships D.1. Partnering Opportunities
The CSUMB MBA Program does not currently have local community partners. However, there may be opportunities to be had in the future, as the MBA Program grows, in terms of providing higher educational opportunities for managers of local and regional business firms and not-for-profit organizations.
E. Faculty Resources E.1. Pedagogical Space
Pedagogical space is entirely operated in a virtual environment since the CSUMB MBA Program is operated totally in an online mode.
LEARN operation, maintenance, and ongoing support (every term)
Access for all MBA courses is provided via LEARN, a Moodle based learning management system. LEARN is running on load balanced servers, so that in normal circumstances they share the load but provide for redundancy if there is a problem with a server. Amazon Web Services provides alert and monitoring features that help detect and notify us if problems arise. During any 10 week classroom term, the LEARN system availability typically performs at approximately 99.9 %.
Course Quality Assurance
At the beginning of each term, the following steps are performed relative to all MBA classrooms with the goal of delivering quality courses that operate as intended and allow faculty and students to focus on the academic content.
Prepare a Master course after all course enhancements are incorporated but as early as feasible each term.
Determine faculty assignments (Program Director) and update faculty office pages (Colloquy).
Check assignment due dates for all weeks, each course page with attachments, lectures, powerpoints, and links to course material.
Update any resources and materials as applicable—Frequently Asked Questions, LEARN User Guide, the Writing Center available. Update Meetings tab with dedicated classroom Adobe meeting room link for synchronous sessions.
Post new syllabus.
Enroll faculty, Program Director, students and observers according to agreed-upon dates and communicate the results of all of this activity.
Technical Support
An online LEARN User Guide and online Frequently Asked Questions are available on every page of the LMS via the ‘Get Help’ button. The 24/7 help desk is available to students and faculty for technical help, especially with password resets and first level technical support. The Academic Operations team is available via ‘Get Help’ in the LMS for all degrees of technical inquiries and responds within 24 business hours.
E.2. Office and Meeting Space
The MBA Program uses office and meeting spaces provided by the College of Business in Building 82A (Valley Hall) on the CSUMB campus. Colloquy maintains office space in Delray Beach, Florida. The lecturer/Adjunct faculty are located in their own office spaces away from the campus. Virtual meeting spaces often come in the form of Audio Bridge telephone conversations and Adobe Connect types of facilities.
F. Outside Funding
To date (Fall 2013), the CSUMB MBA Program has been entirely funded by program revenue generated by student tuition.
F.1. Grants
To date (Fall 2013) the CSUMB MBA Program has not received any grant support.
F.2. Contracts
CSUMB has contracted with COLLOQUY, a subsidiary of the Washing ton Post Company, to provide operational, virtual classroom services, and MBA Program marketing services which includes (a) advertising the program primarily in online environments including monitoring and maintaining a CSUMB MBA website, (b) maintaining contact with students and monitoring students’ progress to assure their success, and (c) contacting and monitoring potential applicants and bona fide applicants through the MBA application process to the point of moving applicants into the CSU MENTOR application system.
The program’s marketing plan is integrated, targeted, and specific. The primary focus is on an optimized digital marketing campaign strategy with analytics and tracking to help assure campaign effectiveness. The variable elements of the marketing plan currently include:
Search Engine Optimization and Marketing (SEO and SEM) – keywords, ad groups, pay-per-click with Google/Bing.
Dynamic, email campaigns, e-newsletters and direct electronic outreach.
Online ad placement and marketing, which may include banners/side bars/buttons/other ad types on content appropriate sites throughout the Google Content Network
Targeted corporate partnerships and alliances appropriate to the needs of a program.
Online education directories.
Social media outreach on sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn.
Direct mail solicitations.
F.3. Named Scholarships
To date (Fall 2013) the CSUMB MBA Program has not received or employed named scholarships.
F.4. Endowed Chairs
To date (Fall 2013) the CSUMB MBA Program has not created any endowed faculty chairs.
F.5. Other External Funds NONE to date (Fall 2013)
APPENDICES
A.1. CSUMB VISION STATEMENT Vision Statement
California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) is envisioned as a comprehensive state university which values service through high quality education. The campus will be distinctive in serving the diverse people of California, especially the working class and historically undereducated and low-income populations. It will feature an enriched living and learning environment and year-round operation. The identity of the university will be framed by substantive commitment to multilingual, multicultural, gender-equitable learning. The university will be a collaborative, intellectual community distinguished by partnerships with existing institutions both public and private, cooperative agreements which enable students, faculty, and staff to cross institutional boundaries for innovative instruction, broadly defined scholarly and creative activity, and coordinated community service.
The university will invest in preparation for the future through integrated and experimental use of technologies as resources to people, catalysts for learning, and providers of increased access and enriched quality learning. The curriculum of CSUMB will be student and society centered and of sufficient breadth and depth to meet statewide and regional needs, specifically those involving both inner-city and isolated rural populations, and needs relevant to communities in the immediate Tri-County region (Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito). The programs of instruction will strive for distinction, building on regional assets in developing specialty clusters in such areas as: the sciences (marine, atmospheric, and environmental); visual and performing arts and related humanities; languages, cultures, and international studies; education;
business; studies of human behavior, information, and communication, within broad curricular areas; and professional study.
The university will develop a culture of innovation in its overall conceptual design and organization, and will utilize new and varied pedagogical and instructional approaches including distance learning. Institutional programs will value and cultivate creative and productive talents of students, faculty, and staff, and seek ways to contribute to the economy of the state, the wellbeing of our communities, and the quality of life and development of its students, faculty, and service areas.
The education programs at CSUMB will:
Integrate the sciences, the arts and humanities, liberal studies, and professional training;
Integrate modern learning technology and pedagogy to create liberal education adequate for the contemporary world;
Integrate work and learning, service and reflection;
Recognize the importance of global interdependence;
Invest in languages and cross-cultural competence;
Emphasize those topics most central to the local area's economy and ecology, and California's long-term needs;
The university will provide a new model of organizing, managing, and financing higher education:
The university will be integrated with other institutions, essentially collaborative in its orientation, and active in seeking partnerships across institutional boundaries. It will develop and implement various arrangements for sharing courses, curriculum, faculty, students, and facilities with other institutions.
The organizational structure of the university will reflect a belief in the importance of each administrative staff and faculty member, working to integrate the university community across "staff" and "faculty" lines.
The financial aid system will emphasize a fundamental commitment to equity and access.
The budget and financial systems, including student fees, will provide for efficient and effective operation of the university.
University governance will be exercised with a substantial amount of autonomy and independence within a very broad CSU systemwide policy context.
Accountability will emphasize careful evaluation and assessment of results and outcomes.
Our vision of the goals of California State University, Monterey Bay includes: a model pluralistic academic community where all learn and teach one another in an atmosphere of mutual respect and pursuit of excellence; a faculty and staff motivated to excel in their respective fields as well as to contribute to the broadly defined university environment. Our graduates will have an understanding of interdependence and global competence, distinctive technical and educational skills, the experience and abilities to contribute to California's high quality work force, the critical thinking abilities to be productive citizens, and the social responsibility and skills to be community builders. CSUMB will dynamically link the past, present, and future by responding to historical and changing conditions, experimenting with strategies which increase access, improve quality, and lower costs through education in a distinctive CSU environment. University students and personnel will attempt analytically and creatively to meet critical state and regional needs, and to provide California with responsible and creative leadership as the 21st century progresses.
A.2. EMBA/MBA Enrollment Size and Growth 2008-2013
Area of
Interest Program 2008 2009 2009 2009 2010 2010 2010 2010 2011 2011 2011 2011 2012 2012 2012 2012 2013 2013 2013 2013
Summer Spring Summer Fall Winter Spring Summer Fall Winter/
Spring a Spring b Summer Fall Winter/
Spring a Spring b Summer Fall Winter/
Spring a Spring b Summer Fall
EMBA 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 200 190 180 170 160 150 140 130 130 130 130 130
MBA na na na na na na na na 50 85 120 155 190 225 260 295 295 295 295 295
Target Total
EnrollmentCombined 25 50 75 100 125 150 175 200 200 275 300 325 350 375 400 425 425 425 425 425
EMBA 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15
Combined 19 37 59 77 100 102 112 132 138 136 156 142 147 140 182 190 187 181 199
EMBA 95% 59% 31% 30% 2% 10% 10% -2% -13% 1% -23% -18% -33% 20% 0% -24% 2% 10%
MBA 82% 61% 20% 33% 19% 35% 6% 7% -5% 10%
EMBA 5 0 21 38 35 15 14 8
MBA 0 0 0 0 0 8 16 15
0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 21 0 38 0 35 0 23 0 30 0 23
108% - Due to students being admitted in the spring and summer and not enrolling until the Fall of 2010 109% - Due to students being admitted in the spring and summer and not enrolling until the Winter/Spring a of 2011.
120% - Due to students moving from the cancelled executive track to the traditional track.
Total Graduates
A.3. Program Curricular Alignment with Core Competencies BUS-601
Course Assignments ----BUS-601
Become acquainted with Learning Management Systems and Online Learning. Form a functional team in a virtual environment. Become reacquainted with useful statistical concepts and processes. Begin to focus on current ethical paradigms and thoughts. Begin to explore current leadership literature. Analyze the range of decisions and outcomes implicit in business policy Analyze and understand the ethical implications that influence the development of Analyze and understand the major cultural implications that influence the Analyze and understand the social implications that influence the development of Analyze and understand the major political/regulatory implications that influence Analyze and understand the major natural environmental and technological Analyze and understand the organizational structure implications that influence the Analyze and understand the business strategy implications that influence the Analyze and understand the global implications that influence the development of major policy decisions. Analyze and understand the major skills needed to develop and implement overall business policies. This course functions as the GWAR (Graduate Writing Assessment Requirement) for the EMBA program. The writing assignment associated with the week #5 activities will be evaluated with this writing requirement in mind. Therefore, this assignment must be performed by EACH student at the highest level of writing competency possible.
1. Week #1
Discussion X
2. Weeks #2-4
Discussions X X X X X
3. Weeks #6-9
Discussions X X X X X X X X
4. Statistical Paper X X X
5. Policy Book
Project X X X X X X X X X
Program Competencies
Course Objectives --- BUS-601 Ethical Reasoning Critical Thinking Understanding and Incorporating Diversity Effective Communication Problem Identification (Research Fluency) and Analysis (Qualitative/Quantit kll) Decision Making and Execution Systems Thinking 1. Become acquainted with Learning
Management Systems and Online Learning. X X
2. Form a functional team in a virtual
environment. X X
3. Become reacquainted with useful statistical
concepts and processes. X X X
4. Begin to focus on current ethical paradigms
and thoughts. X
5. Begin to explore current leadership
literature. X X
6. Analyze the range of decisions and outcomes implicit in business policy
development. X
Analyze and understand the ethical
implications that influence the development of
major policy decisions. X X
7. Analyze and understand the major cultural implications that influence the development of
major policy decisions. X X
8. Analyze and understand the social
implications that influence the development of
major policy decisions. X X
9. Analyze and understand the major
political/regulatory implications that influence
the development of major policy decisions. X X
10. Analyze and understand the major natural environmental and technological implications that influence the development of major policy decisions.
X 11. Analyze and understand the organizational
structure implications that influence the
development of major policy decisions. X
12. Analyze and understand the business strategy implications that influence the
development of major policy decisions. X X
13. Analyze and understand the global
implications that influence the development of
major policy decisions. X X
14. Analyze and understand the major skills
business policies.
15. This course functions as the GWAR (Graduate Writing Assessment Requirement) for the EMBA program. The writing
assignment associated with the week #5 activities will be evaluated with this writing requirement in mind. Therefore, this assignment must be performed by EACH student at the highest level of writing
assignment associated with the week #5 activities will be evaluated with this writing requirement in mind. Therefore, this assignment must be performed by EACH student at the highest level of writing