Last month marked twenty years that I have been working as an instructional designer with the Online Programs unit under the College of Creative Arts and Media. Over that span, I have witnessed a great deal of change. Colleagues have come and gone, the University has made multiple upgrades to our online course platform, and the P.I. Reed School of Journalism transitioned into the Reed College of Media before a merger that formed the current College of Creative Arts and Media. My youngest daughter was only six months old when I began this path in my career, and now she’s a sophomore here at WVU. While change has been constant over the last twenty years, there are several essential aspects of our online graduate programs that remain constant and continue to grow stronger each year.
Our commitment to providing students with a high-caliber learning experience has always been the top priority. A thorough orientation process, one-on-one advising sessions, standardized deadline schedules that are the center of a manageable time management regiment and being available to take a call or respond to an email any day or night of the week are just a few of the elements that demonstrate our unwavering support for our students. We don’t bombard them with email, but when we engage with them and ask for their input, it is to gauge their thoughts about an idea we’ve developed that could make their experience even better. Outside of my office is a hallway displaying mounted pictures of each of our May graduating classes. Walking by those images every day is a simple reminder of the responsibility I have in my role to ensure our courses provide the students with the highest level of satisfaction and return on their investment.
Another thing that hasn’t changed in twenty years is the focus of hiring outstanding industry professionals to lead our courses. These folks are living and breathing the various disciplines that encompass marketing communications and bringing all of their work experiences, both the good and the challenges, into the classroom to share with their students. They assist our program in directing our curriculum to reflect current industry standards and trends to ensure our students are prepared to step into a fast-paced workforce. Our instructors don’t simply lead the course and assess students’ work, they engage, encourage and mentor. They are the type of people to take a phone call while watching their grandson’s Little League game to reduce a student’s angst or schedule a Zoom call with a student three time zones away to answer questions on the requirements for an assignment. We hire these individuals not for a one-off assignment, but rather to hopefully create a long-time relationship.
In my role, technological change has been incredible to witness. However, we have always been flexible to change and adapt in a manner that benefitted our community. We were one of the first programs in the nation to conduct online information sessions to present our program and engage with prospective students. They are now conducted over Zoom like most other online meetings, but they still serve the purpose of meeting with our audience in a face-to-face manner at a time that is convenient for them. I think I have been through four course management platform upgrades. Each time, our program was at the front of line requesting to pilot our courses in these new systems, with the goal to identify and resolve anything that would be an issue for our students and instructors. I remember shipping webcams to our faculty so they could record and submit video welcome messages that were posted in the course. Now they record them on their smartphones and upload them directly to YouTube. The COVID-19 pandemic required us to increase the connection and engagement with our students. Our program demoed and brought the Harmonize discussion platform to the entire University. In doing so, it allows our students to create dynamic discussion posts containing video, audio and imagery with just a few clicks.
As I start my twenty-first year with the program, I don’t believe that I will be around to see twenty more. I’ll be retired, with my hardest decision each day will be where to spend the day fishing. That said, we have established academic programs based on high standards and a genuine belief that our students are our customers. As long as these ideals are maintained, our program will be serving students for decades to come.
Meet the Author
Technology Manager
Rick Bebout is a Senior Instructional Designer; his primary responsibilities are to build and maintain all of the program’s graduate courses and support our online students and instructors. Bebout has worked in some capacity with the Reed College of Media (now the College of Creative Arts and Media) since 1997. If students need assistance, he is always available through email or phone, please do not hesitate to reach out.
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