Forum SessionsIE Brown Executive MBAFacilitating Learning Online for IE Brown (FLO IE Brown)

1

1. What´s a forum session?

Discussion forums are areas for debate where messages or contributions are shared by all students and the professor.

Written messages

In this kind of sessions all the communication is done through written messages which encourages analytical reflection.

Discussing - practical case

The professor cannot give a lecture or master class explaining theoretical contents. Online Forum sessions are always developed around a practical activity, therefore the professor have to choose a practical case, a newspaper article, a web page, or any practical exercise that allows the students to participate actively in a discussion.

4 Days

At IE each forum sessions usually last 4 days, and this is equivalent to one face to face session.

* At IE Brown Executive MBA, Forums sessions goes from Tuesday to Friday.

Asynchronous - available 24 h

Forums are part of IE campus, which is available 24 hours & 7 days a week. Therefore, both students and professors will be able to participate from any computer with an Internet connection when it best suits their needs.

Daily schedule

Although participants have the flexibility to choose the most convenient time for them to participate, they should participate on a daily basis in order not to lose the track of the discussion.

Professor should log in the forum each day and two or three times per day is highly recommended. 200 messages On average 200 messages are posted on each forum session, including the contributions from students and professor.

2

2. Forums workflow

Step 1: Guidelines for preparation Professors should provide students some guidelines for preparing each session. WHAT:

The case or exercise they have to prepare for the session. If a report is required. Questions or guidelines for preparing the case and the report.

HOW: In groups or individually. (Group work is recommended) Length and format of the report-Template (e.g. two pages maximum)

WHEN: Deadline (eg. By 19:00h Mondays Madrid time)

WHERE: Where the report has to be posted (usually in the assignments area or in the forum)

CLASS DISCUSSION: Indicate when the debate will begin in the forum (e.g Madrid time and date) and when the debate

will be closed.

Example: Managerial Economics IEBEXMBA 2014 M1 Professor: Gayle Allard. Group assignments, which are available online under Assignments, are due each Tuesday of the session week, at 3 p.m. Madrid time, and should be deposited in assignments area and posted on the discussion board in Power Point format, with a maximum length of 3 pages/slides. Please be sure that the assignment includes the group name and the names of the members, as well as the number of the session.

3

Step 2: Students preparation Students prepare the session and the case in advance.

Normally students are required to work in small groups in order to prepare a report on the case that they should summit to IE campus before the discussion starts.

Individual

Preparation

Small group

Prepare the case report

Submit reports

before the online

discussion

4

Step 3: Class discussion – All students and the professor.

The discussion is held over 4 days.

Professor starts the discussion posting different topics on the case for debate.

Example: Fundamentals of Marketing Management GXMBA 2014 – Professor: Ignacio Gafo https://campus.ie.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_113789277_1%26url%3D

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Conclusions

5

All Students participate writing their contributions, supporting or refuting different opinions.

Student’s answers

Professor´s questions

Student’s answers

6

Each day the professor provides feedback, posts new topics for discussion, solves queries, shares experiences and encourages critical thought.

Every day all Students take part in the debate interacting among themselves and with the

professor.

At the end of the session the professor provide some conclusions on the case

3. The role of the professor: The professor's basic role is to direct the debate, acting as the chairperson and driving force. The professor should include subjects that give rise to debate, provide feedback on students contributions, solve queries, encourage reflection, share experiences, redirect the debate if it moves away from the subject, pose important subjects that have not been brought up by students and give summaries and conclusions.

Professor should log in the forum each day and two or three times per day is highly recommended.

Feedback – summarizing

Encourage further thinking

Raise more questions to examine the case in

more detail

7

4. Online forum sessions benefits:

Flexibility. As forums are available 24 hours a day, every student can decide the most convenient time to participate.

All students have the opportunity to participate during the session.

As professors can post different topics at the same time, every case is analyzed in detail, debates go deeper than in traditional classes.

Written discussion: encourages analytical reflection. Answers are carefully thought out because they are going to be posted and read.