Role

As a Learning Designer at Boston University, I design and develop courses for large cohorts of master’s students. One program is an online MBA, which has student cohorts as large as 500 students. I partner with subject matter experts, and work cross-functionally with media producers, operations, and platforms specialists to execute the curriculum goals and design vision. 

Evolution

In the U.S., there are over 500 online MBA programs. Boston University consistently ranks in the top 10% of these programs. Top-tier programs typically cost more than $120K per year. In 2020, Boston University launched its online MBA at a disruptive price point of $24K total. The school was able to do this by increasing cohort size to 500+ students. As a learning designer developing courses in this program, my challenge is to design for scale without compromising quality while upholding Boston University’s brand.

One course I designed was a 14 week integrated module. There were three key ways I maintained quality when designing at scale. First, designing for longevity. One strategy I used is to chunk course content into smaller, manageable units. This made it easier for learners to navigate the material, and it allowed the team to update or add to the course content during improvement cycles without impacting the entire course. Second, finding creative ways to provide feedback to learners. I leveraged automation for grading quick assessments and designed precise rubrics to enable consistent grading of select manually graded work. Finally, planning intentionally for student engagement. I incorporated group projects and virtual team discussions where students collaborate on business challenges, applying their theoretical knowledge to practical situations.

I was also tasked with revising courses. I took a data-driven approach whenever making improvements. For example, early learner feedback showed students thought the content was relevant and necessary, but too specific for the general manager. During a revision phase, we created additional foundational materials on the topic and removed extraneous information. This data-driven approach enabled me to continuously enhance the program, making adjustments to meet the evolving demands of the business world and students' career goals.

Metrics

• Project managed content development for one-third of required online MBA coursework that reaches thousands of students annually.

• Increased learner satisfaction of course content by 20% after synthesizing highly technical information from subject matter experts on the topic of organizational leadership and change management.

• Developed a course outline that was later adopted and scaled to 4 additional courses.

• Created a process to lead first full redesign of a course based on student feedback later implemented by all learning designers.

Key Takeaways

• Designing curriculum in a systematic way allows you to measure unplanned occurrences. 

• How to leverage small improvements in a course or across a program to create big returns in learner satisfaction. 

• What it means to leverage a scalable design to standardize, improve, and grow a program