ILR Extension courses target wide national audience through eCornell

By Edward Hershey

The man at your desk is recovering from a heart attack and he feels the company medical insurer's interpretation of his coverage has shortchanged him. You're a human resource specialist. Your tone is patient and soothing, but the clearer it becomes that you can't side with him, the more agitated he becomes. What should you do?

Cathy Mooney, ILR Extension communications specialist, is taking the online HR certificate courses offered through eCornell. Robert Barker/University Photography

The video case study, produced at Cornell, is "a classic example of how difficult the job can be," said Deb Ferry, an attorney and HR specialist herself who is the instructor of "Fundamentals of Employee Benefits." The course has been a staple of the university's School of Industrial and Labor Relations Extension division for almost two decades but not the way Ferry teaches it.

She is at a computer in Wisconsin, discussing "Irate Joe" and other aspects of the subject with men and women from New England to Mississippi to California who are taking up to six courses leading to a human resources certificate from ILR Extension through eCornell.

"Two are up, a third is ready to go and we're working on the fourth and fifth," said Susan Brecher, a New York City-based ILR senior extension associate who is working with Rob Gearhart, eCornell's director of academic programs, and Ulises Mejias, director of learning systems design, adapting the curriculum to fit the limitations and opportunities of the new medium. In eCornell lingo, she is the "subject-matter expert."

Brecher sees herself as an unlikely champion of eCornell, having brought a liberal degree of skepticism to the task when she was recruited by Ann Martin, the associate dean for extension and public service at ILR. "I was one of the resistance people," Brecher said. "I was dubious that you could take an interactive classroom or workshop experience and design it in such a way that people could continue to be active online. But the beauty of an online course of study is that students can participate when and where it's most convenient for them."

The fact that the four-week courses are asynchronous (not every student is online at the same time) is an element that Brecher and Ferry say can actually increase the breadth and depth of involvement. Timid individuals who normally lurk in the back row of a classroom, for example, are compelled by the format to share their thoughts. Instructors schedule online "office hours" and also respond to individual questions and comments from each student in a format that allows the others to view the exchanges, creating what Ferry calls a "threaded discussion" that approximates the give and take of classroom dialogue.

"Students can work at their own pace, and we have accomplished teachers who are readily available to them," Brecher noted. "Without that element, it would not be a part of what Cornell stands for."

The first courses by eCornell were developed by the Hospital for Special Surgery and offered online to medical professionals last year. Online Hotel School executive education courses are in development now, and other Cornell units are likely to be included shortly. But the certificate in human resources is the first program to target a broad national audience. Francis Pandolfi, eCornell's president and CEO, says it was a natural fit given ILR Extension's half century of educational outreach in the workplace.

"If our work is largely about reaching students who would not otherwise be able to take these courses," Brecher asked, "then isn't eCornell really an extension of that idea?"

The issue is not so much either/or, Martin said, as which is best under the circumstances. "It is a mistake to say that one medium or the other is better for all students," the ILR associate dean said. "I'm convinced that there are some learners for whom this can be a better medium, and our participation is giving us a chance to look anew at how people learn -- and how they might learn with this medium. I think, so far, that this has been a learning experience for us and for eCornell."

Both are getting an especially close look at that through the eyes of ILR Extension communications specialist Cathy Mooney, who is taking the online HR certificate courses. Part of the idea was to provide immediate feedback, but Mooney said she is a genuine student given that her role as a liaison with regional extension offices across the state has been expanded to include responsibility for communicating human resource issues.

Comments from students have been predominantly positive, but Mooney said she has been impressed with the eCornell staff's willingness to accept suggestions -- including a couple of hers. She stressed the importance of a student's comfort level with the computer technology and also urged instructors to complement the extensive electronic information with more traditional written materials.

"They listened to the experiences of the students who took the first course and adopted some of their ideas for the second course," Mooney observed. "It was a pretty fast turnaround."