John R. Drake

Five Principles for MOOC Design: With a Case Study.

New web technologies have enabled online education to take on a massive scale, prompting many universities to create massively open online courses (MOOCs) that take advantage of these technologies in a seemingly effortless manner. Designing a MOOC, however, is anything but trivial. It involves developing content, learning activities, and assessments to accommodate both the massiveness and openness of the course. To design an effective MOOC, instructors need to integrate both pedagogical and information systems theory. In this paper, we present a case study of a MOOC grant and a series of decisions made in its development. These decisions, when paired with the theoretical framework, suggest five principles – meaningful, engaging, measurable, accessible, and scalable – may be applicable to future MOOC development projects.

Global Virtual Team Performance: The Effect of Coordination Effectiveness, Trust, and Team Cohesion

Research problem: Subgroup formation in global virtual teams could negatively impact team performance due to difficulties in coordination, trust, and team cohesion. Research questions: What role do trust and team cohesion play in the relationship between coordination effectiveness and team performance of global virtual teams with two distinct subgroups? Literature review: Prior research suggests that coordination effectiveness on team performance is most strongly impacted by coordination of knowledge. This effectiveness is mediated by trust and team cohesion. However, we have a poor understanding of trust and team cohesion dynamics on intergroup relationships in global virtual teams. Methodology: A survey was conducted with 14 teams with a total of 112 participants in the US and India. The teams were tasked with evaluating customer-relationship-management best practices for a global environment. Results and discussion: We evaluated how the process of effective coordination for teams composed of two colocated subgroups is mediated by individual perceptions of out-group trust and overall team cohesion. Our findings show that individual trust and team cohesion share a reciprocal impact on each other, suggesting that effective coordination in virtual teams can create a positive feedback loop with trust and cohesion, improving overall project performance. Implications for theory and practice include the virtuous cycle that trust and cohesion create in global virtual team coordination and the necessity of establishing appropriate project coordination systems and processes to promote both aspects and, thus, achieve excellent project performance for colocated subgroups.

An exploratory look at early online auction decisions: extending signal theory

Extant literature in decision theory suggests that online auction buyers depend on signals for mitigating uncertainty that influence bidder behavior at multiple points. However, the depth and breadth of the use of signals has only been partially explored. Using data from 242 online auction users, we show that eight emergent factors influence decisions of auction selection and initial bid in different ways. We further find that two ethical perspectives impact the evaluation of seller uncertainty in unique ways, although neither perspective predominates within our sample. These results enable sellers and online auction marketplaces to better design and implement auction systems that provide signals that buyers most desire.

The importance of individual characteristics on consideration sets for online auction buyers

In this research, we extend online auction theory by considering set theory in terms of a staged buying process. Success of online auction marketplaces depends on the efficacy of individual buyers searching for and finding desired items for bidding. Searches that lead to consideration sets with too many or too few options may result in a suboptimal choice. Results from this study suggest that certain personal characteristics may impact the number of auctions considered when filtering the awareness set to the consideration set. The findings suggest that design and management of online auction marketplaces should be refined to facilitate these individual traits such that individual search strategies are maximized.

Searching for Alternatives: Does Your Disposition Matter?

In the decision-making process, vast quantities of information is often parsed into a manageable set of top choices in order to meaningful select the best option. But what individual traits and dispositions impact this process? In this exploratory research effort, the authors address three such dispositions and their impact on selecting alternatives for a decision. Conducting two surveys for two different contexts, they find that motivational dispositions do have some impact on product searches, but may have minimal impact on information searches. The authors conclude that context has a major impact on the decision-making process and that technology/disposition fit may be a useful concept to guide the design of search technologies.

Review and outlook of work breakdown structure for complex product manufacturing

One of the key problems in complex product manufacturing is the lack of support for multiple management-oriented perspectives in the design and implementation of work processes. If we do not comprehensively analyse and understand the characteristics of complex product manufacturing projects, we cannot make the decomposition results of a work breakdown structure (WBS) effectively guide the work processes. The purpose of this paper is to develop a research framework for understanding the development and usage of WBS in complex product manufacturing by synthesising theory from project and manufacturing operations management disciplines. This framework must identify how to effectively deliver the information from management requirements to the work process that supports the manufacturing process. To accomplish this purpose, we analyse research in project management and compare the results to characteristics of complex product manufacturing. From this analysis, we design a unique framework of WBS construction and usage in complex product manufacturing and suggest future research directions.