Educational Quality Correlates of Online Graduate Management Education

Abstract

The purpose of our paper is to describe and compare educational models based on four major concepts that can be used to assess educational quality. We focus on graduate management programs since they are increasingly supporting their education offerings with state-of-the-art technology. We examine why some distance educational models are more appropriate than others. We first discuss the literature surrounding distance education with a focus on two major concepts—dialogue and structure--that are frequently used to describe and assess the quality of distance education. We then examine the student-related factors driving the need for increased access and flexibility. Next, we explore the association between these four factors (dialogue, structure, access, and flexibility) and existing models of distance education. Finally, we compare these models and suggest which models are most applicable to graduate management course delivery.