Thread by @mah_kaa

A thread about designing blended MBA classes + sample video from my class:
Thanks to @AOM_STR teaching committee: @giada_distefano @jkmawdsley @henningpiezunka for organizing today’s workshop!

You have 3 decisions: 1️⃣ what to include in pre-class digital content and what to keep for in-class?
Strategy classes rarely have lectures, so, where do you find material for 1-hr of digital content? Are there readings that you wished your students would read? Summarize them. 1/

Do you typically invite guest speakers? Interview them, interview three, break videos by topic.
A class with team presentations? Ask students to record their presentations, have others watch them.
Digital doesn’t mean video... use online simulations... discussion boards... 2/

I repeat, summarize that HBR article for them, summarize that latest strategy book, or SMJ article for them, and record it as lecture.
2️⃣ how to create pre-recorded lectures?
It’ll take a lot of time, but students love it. It allows them to move with their preferred speed 3/

I wrote scripts for recording. Without script, there was too much uh, eh, um. Efficiency tip: say your lecture once, record your voice, use a speech to text software, then you have it.
1hr in class lecture = 20mins recorded lecture. So need to prepare more material 4/

Students watch your videos on a coach, surrounded by all sort of noise in their house, so, you have to make it interesting. I got professional help to prepare videos, and am so grateful for @kenanflagler curriculum innovation team support. Sample video above 5/

Do students really watch videos? Are they just going to click to end? Well, a few may do that, and you can’t do much about it. If you break lectures into 7-10 min pieces, you can add quizzes in between. I have ‘ask me’ boxes where they enter questions about each video 6/

3️⃣ how to adjust the in-class experience?
No repetition of the same material as in video lectures. This is a new class, an opportunity to reinforce video concepts using cases or recent news. If students think that it is mere repetition of videos, they’ll stop watching videos 7/

There are very good resources about running regular zoom classes, so nothing to add. This is a semester to be kinder... but also more specific about class rules and expectations. Students may not know what is ok and what is not, so establish chat rules, camera rules, etc. 8/

Finally, best wishes to all of you getting ready to teach in spring semester! You are going to like it more than you think! 9/