Overview

GeorgeWashingtonUniversity’s School of Business graduate programs attract diverse and talented students from around the world. The school launched a specialized master’s degree in project management (MSPM) in fall of 1996 and opened it to distance learning students to meet growing demand in spring 1998. Currently, 350 students go through the program each year, with about half on campus and half in “distance mode” from places outside Washington, D.C. and all over the world. Initially, an entire semester’s worth of classroom lectures were recorded onto CDs and mailed to the distance students. For interactivity, professors provided limited chat room texting and audio conference calls.

Challenges & Goals

The CD system worked for eight years, despite several challenges. Professors found talking into a microphone for hours exhausting. Then, because the CD’s were pre-recorded, they were instantly outdated if the syllabus or instructor changed. Mailing the CDs was an administrative nightmare because of address changes, last-minute student additions and lost or damaged CDs. And although the CDs were portable and easily brought on business trips, they were just not an engaging format for hours worth of classes. Technology was continuing to advance, and the program’s director knew the system needed an overhaul. The goals were to utilize the latest technology and make a smart investment that could be built upon in the future. The next step was to research and brainstorm what distance mode students needed, what they were not receiving, and what might be possible. After evaluating several technologies, GW selected Echo360‘s EchoSystem in spring of 2007.

Lecture Capture at GW's School of Business

The EchoSystem was initially rolled out to three MSPM courses, and now, all classes in the discipline are recorded live and uploaded to Blackboard, the university’s course management system. The benefits were immediate:

For administrators:

• No more recording and mailing CDs – an expensive, direct mail headache.
• Total automation once a recording is scheduled – capture, compression, publishing, and notification of the link being available.

For faculty:

• Easy, automated and hands-off – all they have to do is what they always do… teach.
• Flexible and efficient – allows for changes throughout the semester, and they only have to lecture once to teach campus and distance sections.
• Collaborative – the technology has inspired faculty mentoring for improved teaching.

For distance students:

• More interesting and engaging material – they get the same lectures as their campus counterparts, and now video and visual aids are included.
• Portable delivery – the course lectures are available on their computers and iPods, whenever and wherever they want to work.
• Flexible – the ability to pause, rewind and fast-forward makes for better note-taking and improved comprehension. Students select audio-only, audio plus slides, or enhanced video podcasts, depending on how they want to access the material.

EchoSystem Platform Brings Distance Students Closer

The Echo³⁶⁰ solution has created a whole new world for GW’s MSPM distance students. Before, they had only their CDs and some limited access to faculty, offices and teaching assistants. Now, they receive the exact same lecture that’s delivered on campus, including teacher-student interaction taking place in class. In addition to the EchoSystem, the MSPM program has added webcam and software technology to provide virtual mini-lectures for distance students, which take place a few days after class for review and Q&A. The program has been such a resounding success, that campus students have access to the recorded lectures as well. Universal feedback is that all the students love it, especially for more complex, quantitative courses. The program leaders agree that the EchoSystem has accomplished the biggest challenge of all, which was for the technology not to interfere with the mission of educating students on project management. Because of these results, the school is committed to offering more distance courses to other specialized degree programs and MBA students.