Cohort vs. Non-Cohort

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by friendorfoe, Apr 12, 2007.

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  1. friendorfoe

    friendorfoe Active Member

    Hello all,

    Right now my MBA program is independent study. When at Southwestern it was all online, but seldom was there any group work, just discussion boards.

    In looking at other MBA programs, I see NCU has a mentor program of study where the student is largely one on one with the mentor and is a form of independent study.

    At Bellvue University they work in an 18 month cohort.

    Can anyone tell me of their experiences of cohort groups? Are they chaos? How are you graded, individually or as a group? Is it harder or easier to work in a group? Do certain people drag everyone else down?
     
  2. fortiterinre

    fortiterinre New Member

    I dislike cohorts myself, simply because I am usually an outlier in my habits--I work long in advance of due dates, I am obsessed with appearance and even one typo means a reprint, the group process slows things down and I am already opposed to negotiating the first two points away. My biggest issue is that the person who is "above average" will inevitably be reduced by the lowest common denominator of the group, especially when it comes to group grades.
     
  3. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I dislike group work because I tend to do things at the last minute, and that doesn't work when one's group wants to see it and review it first.

    -=Steve=-
     
  4. Fortunato

    Fortunato Member

    I'm about to graduate from Duke's CCMBA program, which is cohort-based, as are all of Duke's MBA programs. Learning with the same group of 120 students for the past two years has been an immensely rewarding experience. I've gotten to know many new people, and made friendships that will last a lifetime. At Fuqua, we are graded individually, but all group members usually recieve the same grade on group assignments. No course has 100% group projects, so you are able to distinguish yourself on individual assignments. There were several instances in the program where I made an SP (4.0) in a course and a teammate made a P (3.0) (or vice-versa, unfortunately). I found courses with large amounts of teamwork to be easier, since teammates could help with material that I found challenging, and I never had an experience where I felt like group work was harming either my grades or my learning.

    --Fortunato
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 13, 2007
  5. Daniel Luechtefeld

    Daniel Luechtefeld New Member

    I have read somewhere (can't remember) that AACSB accreditation requirements are structured in a way that encourages B-schools to incorporate significant amounts of group work. Cohort structure is one way to encourage collaboration.

    The reasoning, of course, is that business management is an inherently collaborative discipline, and that for many of those under the age of 30, B-school group projects are a place in which they are called upon to develop and/or elevate collaborative skills: communication, negotiation, compromise, and conflict resolution. To the been-around-the-block graybeards that frequent this site this curriculum component may not be so important :)

    I would be curious to see a chart of AACSB programs that breaks out which are cohort-based, and in what percentage of courses is a group project required.
     
  6. geoffs

    geoffs Member

    It really comes down the maturity of who you're dealing with.

    Distance students are usually those due to their schedules. However if there are scheduled times then group work is more then possible, but if the students take the attitude of "I hate this" they'll only be negative.

    Bottom line: The networking factor is more then worth it!
     
  7. Bruce

    Bruce Moderator

    The number one complaint I've seen in my time teaching, hands-down, is the use of groups or teams. After seeing some of the shenanigans attempted by a minority of the students, I completely understand why.

    I did have team assignments as an undergrad, but those were classroom-based courses. Having to actually face your teammates is a much bigger incentive to pull your weight than just blowing-off repeated e-mails, as is possible with online courses.
     
  8. spmoran

    spmoran Member

    Bellevue cohort

    I did the cohort (12 months) at Bellevue. I enjoyed it. It was a slow way to earn 45 semester credits (I earned 92 s.h. in the 12 preceding months), but it got me done. In my program there was no group work. The same cannot be said for the Master program I was in at Bellevue. The group work made the program very unenjoyable, and I dropped it.
     
  9. distancedoc2007

    distancedoc2007 New Member

    I think cohorts have their place in a person's career development. It can be great to have a cohort experience when you are starting out, in order to share ideas and form a network. I am still in touch with a number of friends I made in my bricks-and-mortar MBA.

    That being said, I am glad my NCU program is non-cohort, because I don't want to carry anyone, or have to work around people's excuses! I have seen a lot of 'free riders' in my teaching experience. Cheers...
     
  10. jmetro

    jmetro New Member

    Personally I don't like cohort experiences...

    For me there's nothing worse than having to wait for really slow students or when I'm the slowest of a cohort. I believe that cohorts create competition (maybe not too bad of a thing) but I don't want overt competition. I'm getting educated to know "subject matter related stuff" not to know how fast, or smart, or educated I am compared to my peers. Personally, I think that every student should create an academic action plan (like some states do for students with a "challenged" status). Then we would no longer be competing with each other but against ourselves. Our culture would be much more useful if we weren't beating each other up every five minutes and then paying to give them jobs for the next five minutes. Nation-building may be the American way but I just want to thrive.
     
  11. me again

    me again Well-Known Member

    I've never been through an online cohort, so I'm not qualified to comment on that. However, I did go through an in-resident Masters cohort program and found it to be richly rewarding. Assignments were done individually e.g. there were no group projects. The cohort program began with about 25 students, but only 13 of us finished. People dropped out for various reasons, mostly financial and time constraints. The program was rewarding because we got to know each other and were able to reflect off each other for the duration of the program. When each new class began, the same students were present in the same seats, so we knew who to expect throughout the duration of the program.

    The doctoral program that I'm in at Northcentral University isn't cohort. Students are basically solo on their own, which I also also like because one can work at any pace that they please, be it fast or slow. I'm not sure of the pros or cons of running an online cohort program.
     

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