Work in progress - creating an online management degree in concert with a technical degree

Abstract

As a small and relatively young private college, the creation of a graduate program is a major step forward. Our undergraduate degree is technical in nature, but marketing analysis indicated a large demand for a graduate IT management degree. We attempted to get double-duty out of a single degree by offering both technical and managerial courses. That worked great for those with a technical background, but students with other backgrounds found the additional undergraduate preparatory course requirements to be rather daunting. As such, we used the management portion of the technical degree to create a management degree. Also, it has been our experience that management courses often work well in an online environment, whereas technical courses generally work better in a more conventional environment. Therefore, the new management degree is also available in full online.