Growth in Online Graduate Programs a VIRTUAL REALITY
In a Communication and Leadership class on corporate communications, students partnered with White’s Boots to create a strategic communications plan to expand its market into Japan. Students were introduced to the company via a video featuring the company president, which laid out the parameters of the project. Students then received real-life prompts from the president and other White’s Boots employees every week, adding new dimensions to the process. All coordination of this effort was done online, and in the end, White’s Boots received dozens of iterations of possible models for their expansion.
Much of Gonzaga went to online and hybrid delivery during the past academic year. Director Justin Marquis and his Instructional Design & Delivery team were ready for the call, primarily because they had been doing this work for several years for graduate programs in education, leadership, nursing, engineering, sports administration and law.
“Most of our work has been in video production, but we recently hired a fulltime graphic artist and developer who specialized in digital animation, augmented reality and virtual reality which will allow us to do more engaging and immersive programming. As one example, we hope to create immersive environments like a virtual hospital for the nursing program, which will allow students a more realistic experience for their online classes,” Marquis says, adding that expansion of this technology will grow into a number of other academic programs.
After what faculty have learned about remote delivery during the pandemic, more of them are feeling confident about including some online work in their classes, Marquis says, which would provide greater flexibility for students, as well as faculty.