Adult Learning & Organizational Performance
Course Descriptions
ALOP 242: Living, Learning & Leading in the 21st Century (1 hour)
This course will provide an overview of the social, demographic, and technological changes impacting our society, organizations, and the communities in which we live. Special consideration will be placed on the impact of these changes on our ability to effectively influence individuals and groups toward goal accomplishment in given situations. This course also serves as an introduction to graduate study in the ALOP program.
ALOP 243: Human Performance Improvement (3 hours)
As business needs change, as organizational resources become more scarce (people, time and money), and as organizations become more interdependent, it is more important than ever that we are spending our resources on the right performance improvement problems and effectively working with others to get these problems solved. The purpose of this 3-credit course is to assist students in building or enhancing their practical skills and knowledge in HPI and performance improvement consulting. In this class students will explore the origins and the future of performance improvement practices, learn a structured approach to identifying, analyzing, and addressing performance gaps, and learn the consulting skills required to effectively interact with internal (or external) customers on HPI projects.
ALOP 244: Strategic Thinking and Decision-Making (3 hours)
Learners will examine how leaders and others can use systematic, creative processes to think robustly and strategically about a variety of issues (including strategic planning). The theory and practice of ethical decision-making and problem-solving, decision making in a group setting, and the link between decision-making and results will be examined.
ALOP 245:Leadership Essentials; (3 hours)
This course will provide an overview of the social, demographic, and technological changes impacting our society, organizations, and the communities in which we live. Special consideration will be placed on the impact of these changes on our ability to effectively influence individuals and groups toward goal accomplishment in given situations. This course also serves as an introduction to graduate study in the ALPD program.
ALOP 247: Adult and Organizational Learning (3 hours)
The course will center on three general subject areas: Understanding adults as learners, how adults learn, and organizational learning cultures. The goal of the course is to advance each student's understanding of the theoretical background and practice of adult education with special emphasis on adult learning principles and learning climates. The secondary goal of the course is to assist each student become more aware of him or herself as an adult learner and member of various learning cultures, i.e., work, community, and family.
ALOP 249: Ethics – (3 hours)
This course will provide a framework for evaluating and ameliorating ethical dilemma in an organizational and societal context. It will examine the roles and processes leaders and others can use to model and advance ethical behavior and make sound judgments. A special emphasis of this class will be to examine ethics as a perennial issue through a literary analysis of classic and contemporary works of fiction and non-fiction.
ALOP 252: Leadership in Organizations (3 hours)
The demand for effective leadership in organizations is great. The purpose of this course is to explore several major theories of organizations and the implication organizational theory has for diagnosis and action. It will focus on those in leadership positions and the problems, dilemmas, and opportunities they face in educational, public, private, and human service organizations. (Prerequisite: ALOP 245)
ALOP 253: Organizational Development and Leading Change (3 hours)
Change is a constant factor in today’s organizations and effective leaders will be required to be effective leaders of change. This class will focus on improving organizations through successfully leading change as well as leading change for self, others, and teams. In addition to exploring contemporary OD and change theories, we will look at how to create and manage a plan for change including creating a strategy for change that creates bottom line results, creating and communicating a vision for change, enrolling others in the change effort, and managing resistance to change and conflict. Learning will occur through readings, reflection, a variety of experiential learning activities, as well as in-class and on-line discussions and experiences.
ALOP: 254 Organizational Savvy and Communication (3 hours)
Today’s organizations are challenging, complex systems where success depends on the ability to navigate the political and communication environment to effectively work with others to accomplish individual and organizational goals. This class will examine tools and techniques for identifying and effectively interacting with organizational and political challenges and realities, and will base this in the historical evolution of organizations. In addition, a variety of communication challenges, strategies, and techniques will be examined.
ALOP 262: Needs Assessment & Evaluation (3 hours)
The purpose of this course is to assist you in building or enhancing your practical skills and knowledge in analyzing learning and performance needs and evaluating the results of a learning intervention. We will explore needs assessment and evaluation through a systematic and comprehensive approach to the theory and practice of evaluation. In addition to providing a rigorous review and critique of evaluation methods and techniques, each learner will conduct an actual needs assessment or evaluation.
ALOP 263: Designing Learning Interventions (3 hours)
This course uses a structured methodology for developing effective learning interventions for a variety of settings (formal and informal), a variety of media (face-to-face, online, other technology-supported, and paper-based), and with a variety of content. This structured process is the framework for critical and practical looks at instructional design from needs assessment, through objectives, identification of key topics, designing the training flow and actual activities, developing the necessary materials, and creating a strategy for evaluating the outcome of the learning intervention. Because students design actual learning interventions through an in-class case study as well as an individual real-world project, students are able to develop their instructional design skills from their current level of skill and knowledge, regardless of previous experience in designing learning interventions.
ALOP 264: Methods and Technologies of Facilitation (3 hours)
Through this course, students will look at specific issues, methods and skill for planned learning events in both face-to-face and online learning environments. We will concentrate on the theoretical underpinnings and rationale for various approaches to facilitation, the basic platform skills required for effective delivery and management of training situations, and the facilitation competencies required for facilitating non-training learning events and situations.
ALOP 272: Resource Management (3 hours)
This course focuses on the strategic nature of human resource practices such as selection, performance management, compensation, benefits, and employee relations. Several methods of measuring the effectiveness of the human resource function are discussed along with major issues, resources, and best practices.
ALOP 273: Compensation, Benefits & Total Rewards (3 hours)
This course explores the concept of total rewards, its fundamental elements and strategic prevalence in attracting, motivating and retaining valued employees. Additional focus will be allocated to compensation and benefits, the largest components of total rewards, revolved around philosophies, designs, and best practices, incorporating latest issues/trends along with their potential implications. Students will participate in strategic goal and program development, examining how total rewards, compensation and benefit designs, impact individual/organization performance and contribute to defining organization culture.
ALOP 274: Contemporary Workplace Issues (3 hours)
This course analyzes major workplace/force issues in a contemporary organization, which include mental illness, drug abuse, violence, alcoholism and diversity. Other topics will be discussed based on the changing nature of technology, work, demographics, and design of organizations.
ALOP 282: The College Student (3 hours)
The purpose of this course is to examine the American college student from a socio-cultural and psychological developmental perspectives. Philosophy, theory, and research related to the development of students during their college years will be emphasized. Programmatic application of theory and research findings will also be addressed.
ALOP 283: A Seminar in Student Personnel Services (3 hours)
A study of student life program administration and services in community, private and public colleges and universities. Contemporary problems and issues in student personnel work are addressed.
ALOP 284: History & Philosophy of American Higher Education (3 hours)
Major themes and developments in American higher education including the ideologies, people, and movements that have particularly influenced those developments.
ALOP 291: Applied Research (3 hours)
Completed near the end of the ALOP program, this course acts as a capstone project to the student’s graduate school experience as the student identifies a research question and conducts a research project from inception through literature review, methods design, data collection, analysis of data, presentation of findings, interpretation of the data in the context of the literature, and the creation of recommendations based on the study. The class ends with a “dissemination night” where students present an overview of their research to each other and guests.
Elective/Special Topic Courses
Electives provide additional information on topics not covered in the regular ALOP offerings. Electives are offered on an ad hoc basis and will not be offered each year. Check with your advisor to learn the elective offerings for upcoming semesters.
ALOP 298: Accountability for Results (1 hour)
At every level of every organization, projects begin, tasks are assigned, efforts are made, and deadlines are met – or missed. Deliverables are promised but not delivered. Agreements are misunderstood or never made. This course builds on basic leadership practices and provides a systematic way to assist managers and leaders to plan and complete tasks. The course is designed to elevate your leadership effectiveness by applying a results-oriented process for building mutual accountability among leaders, employees and teams. Case studies, group discussions, readings and an individual assessment provide ample opportunity to learn and apply the concepts.
ALOP 298: Brain-Based Learning (1 hour)
"If we learned to use our brain the way it was naturally designed to work, we would astonish ourselves everyday" (Eric Jensen, author of Brain-Based Learning and Teaching). So how does our brain learn? Although there are many unanswered questions, much has been learned about the brain's natural operating principles that we can use to increase our attention, understanding, meaning, and memory. This interactive, one-weekend course will focus on basic principles of helping ourselves and others learn "smarter" by using out brains most effectively.
ALOP 298: Coaching and Collaboration (3 hours)
This three-hour class provides models and learning opportunities for participants to improve their own practices as they relate to coaching others and collaborating with others in the workplace.
ALOP 298: Coaching for Performance (1 hour)
Coaching is one of the most powerful tools available for reaching business and professional development goals. Learn how to maximize every employee's abilities -- from the struggling new comer to the long-term super star. This one-hour course covers the concepts, models, and skills of coaching that can transform professional into more valuable resources for each other and their organization.
ALOP 298: Critical Issues in HRM: Linking Benefits to Performance (1 hour)
This one-hour course explores the interplay between employee and organizational performance and employee benefit structures. The class will introduce issues relevant to studying the impact of employee benefit decisions on the employer-employee relationship. Topics to be explored include linking positive performance to enhanced benefits as part of the total compensation package, structuring benefits to reflect the employer's culture and expectations, understanding the role of employee benefits in termination decisions, the ethics of benefit decisions and communicating benefit changes. Case studies pertaining to the various topics will be used to illustrate various principles, topics ad issues.
ALOP 298: Demonstrating Return on Investment (1 hour)
The bar is rising for training manager and practitioners. Organization leaders not only want effective training, they want trainers to "show them the money" that training contributes to the bottom-line. Trainers now need to demonstrate the return on the investment made in their training programs. This course prepares trainers to conduct an ROI analysis that isolates the effects of the training program and delivers credible results. This course is highly interactive and features demonstrations and case studies.
ALOP 298: Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace (1 hour)
It is now understood that the single most important faction in job performance and advancement is emotional intelligence. For leaders, emotional intelligence is almost 90% of what sets the most effective leaders apart form the mediocre. Emotional intelligence is a set of skills that can be acquired and the organizations that can learn to operate in emotionally intelligent ways are the companies that will remain vital and competitive. This course will focus on our understanding of emotional intelligence and how it can be fostered in the workplace. We will read Goleman's, Working With Emotional Intelligence, and complete a series of assessments to measure our emotional intelligence. Various strategies for advancing emotional intelligence in the workplace will be examined.
ALOP 298: Financial Considerations (1 hour)
In today's knowledge economy, it's vital for the performance improvement professional to help their organization see the true connection between human capital and wealth creation. The course goals include: how to complete and analyze a balance sheet and income statements regardless of industry; how to calculate key financial indicators for a business; and how to determine the value of training and development as part of the performance of the business. Required learning materials are provided at class time for a fee of $75.
ALOP 298: Gender Communication (1 hour)
This class is designed to maximize professional credibility and increase personal communication effectiveness, efficiency, and influenced. The course equips students with skills and strategies necessary to overcome communication missed connections, while avoiding stereotyping or gender-bashing.
ALOP 298: Leading in Tough Times (1 hour)
Re-organizing . . . budget cuts . . . doing more with less. How do you keep people productive and engaged during difficult times at work? This course will explore actions, skills, and principles for leading others so people (and organizations!) can thrive even during the toughest times. Drawing on the experience of leaders from Iowa and the rest of the nation, learners will apply course content to specific business situations such as organizational change, downsizing, financial downturns, and ethical dilemmas. Participants are encouraged to bring their own examples of difficult workplace issues to use for case study.
ALOP 298: Leading Teams - Intact and Dispersed (1 hour)
Leading Teams: Intact and Dispersed introduces practical strategies for building effective teams and developing leadership skills. We will examine the different types of teams, elements of team development and functioning, team problems and their symptoms, and team leadership. We'll also look at some of the uniqueness of dispersed teams.
ALOP 298: Leading the Learning Function (3 hours)
The learning function is one of the most critical within any organization. As a leader and manager, the learning professional must also be a project manager, internal consultant, team leader and corporate strategist - all at the same time! This course explores the challenges and critical components of leading and managing a learning function that servers as a strategic partner in an organization's total performance strategy. Key topics include business alignment, developing and implementing a training business plan, positioning the learning function for maximum benefit and accountability, managing multiple projects, and implementing a contribution analysis to your learning function.
ALOP 298: Legal Perspectives in HRM (1 hour)
Business leaders and human resource practitioners face an oftentimes bewildering maze of laws and regulations that impact virtually every personnel decision. In this course, students will explore the extensive and growing body of law regulating the employment relationship. Areas of emphasis include discrimination theories under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, age and disability discrimination, wage and hour issues under the Fair Labor Standards Act, job protection rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act and other leave statutes, common law and statutory exceptions to the employment at-will doctrine, and employee privacy rights. Through interactive discussions and case studies, students will develop a legal analysis methodology for many employment-related issues commonly encountered in the workplace.
ALOP 298: Managing Organizational Learning: Budgeting (1 hour)
Students explore the following questions and many more: What are some of the basic items that make up an annual department budget? What choices and options are available during times of increasing budgets, decreasing budgets, and constant budgets? This course primarily uses an experiential learning process in which the participants will be placed into teams, and will be accountable to manage an organizational learning department through several changing business cycles.
ALOP 298: Organization Development (1 hour)
Students will gain valuable knowledge and practical skills in executing strategic change in organizations. This interactive course features real-life case studies that illustrate the complexities of organization change and show how to develop successful change strategies that deliver bottom-line value to the organization. The session concludes with exploring how OD, HR and learning practitioners can gain recognition and credibility as agents of change.
ALOP 298: Performance Improvement for the Cross-Generational Workplace (1 hour)
Today's age-diverse workplace presents unique challenges of the individuals responsible for identifying and closing the "generational gap." This one-hour course examines and analyzes the similarities and differences of the four generations currently working side by side and the changing role of those responsible for improving performance in the cross-generational workplace. Participants will be exposed to a variety of potential generational performance issues and appropriate interventions
ALOP 298: Professional Presentations: Skills and Strategies (1 hour)
Students will discover how to present more effective training programs by making it easier for listeners to learn, understand and retain information; learn how people are persuaded, and explore how to incorporate the three things necessary to persuade into training programs; mater the physical skills that convey confidence, conviction, and trust to the audience; conquer fear and prevent nervousness from affecting delivery; and discover effective methods for incorporating visual aids and technology into presentations o listeners understand and retain more.
ALOP 298: Project Management (1 hour)
Do you have a great idea for a learning and development project for your organization? How you manage the design, development, and deployment of this project will determine how successful it is. Effective project management engages clients in learning design, efficiently utilizes resources in the development process, and creatively employs different media to deploy learning throughout the organization. This interactive course will bring to participants best practices in the art and science of project management based on real-world business experiences. Learning is reinforced through team case study work in the session. Participants will also gain valuable tools and job aids t transfer their learning to their professional settings.
ALOP 298: Special Topics in Higher Education (1 hour)
These will be a series of one credit hour classes that examine various aspects of higher education and student development goals. Learn how to maximize every employee's abilities -- from the struggling new comer to the long-term super star. This one-hour course covers the concepts, models, and skills of coaching that can transform professionals into more valuable resources for each other and their organization.
ALOP 298: Special Topics in Leadership Study (1- 3 hours)
Course will vary by term.
ALOP 298: Spirituality in the Workplace (1 hour)
Students explore the following questions and many more: What are the implications of soul and spirit in the workplace; How does soul and spirit affect leadership and organizational transformation? The only way to reach people is to start by reaching into yourself. We're all searching for deeper meaning. Can we find it at work?
ALOP 298: Student Development Theory and Service in Higher Education
A goal of the student affairs profession is to maximize the developmental and educational value of students' experiences. Knowledge of student development theories and how these theories can inform practice will assist student affairs professionals in accomplishing this goal. This course will consider the theoretical foundations of the profession, the current state of practice in the profession, and the future of the profession.
ALOP 298: The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership (1 hour)
How do you make it possible for ordinary people to accomplish the extraordinary? How do you get people to follow you to places they've never been before? How do you get other people, by free will and through free choice, to move forward together on a common purpose? Just how do you get others to want to do things that matter and make a difference?
James Kouzes and Barry Posner have researched the above question for over thirty years using an international sample of over 200,000 managers and leaders at every level. Their work culminated in the discover of five practices or behaviors that, if utilized, can assist leaders at every level achieve extraordinary results. The five practices are: Modeling the Way, Inspiring a Shared Vision, Challenging the Process, Enabling Others to Act, and Encouraging the Heart.
The main premise of their work is that leadership is everyone's business and leadership is an observable, learnable set of practices. And, their model is working. Kouzes and Posner's leadership program is among the most influential leadership development training offered by organizations worldwide.
ALOP 298: The Heart of Coaching (1 hour)
Re-organizing ... budget cuts ... doing more with less. How do you keep people productive and engaged during difficult times at work? This course will explore actions, skills, and principles for leading others so people (and organizations!) can thrive even during the toughest times. Drawing on the experience of leaders from Iowa and the rest of the nation, learners will apply course content to specific business situations such as organizational change, downsizing, financial downturns, and ethical dilemmas, Participants are encouraged to bring their own examples of difficult workplace issues to use for case study.
ALOP 298: The Language of Business and Performance (1 hour)
This course is an introduction to the universal "scorecards" of business and performance. Special emphasis is placed on understanding the Income Statement, The Balance Sheet, and The Statement of Cash Flows. Connections are made between Adult Learning and Performance and these universal financial statements. Students will analyze real-life financial statements from well-known companies, and draw connections between financial results and performance improvement at the individual, process, company, and higher levels.
ALOP 298: Using Emerging Technologies for Learning (2 hours)
(formerly ADED 244)
Like everything, the Internet continues to evolve and grow. Initially a place to interact one-on-one with information, vendors, and individuals, the new web (web 2.0) is focused on collaboration. In this class, you will learn to use wikis, blogs, podcasting, social networking, and other collaboration technologies, and determine how to best use them to help others learn. During this class you will combine an open mind, willingness to explore unfamiliar technologies, effective learning pedagogy, best practices in technology supported learning, and your real-life learning situations to identify how you can use emerging technologies for learning in your own environment.
ALOP 298: Values Driven Leadership (1 hour)
The course examines the ways in which personal and organizational values influence how much gets done, how well it gets done, and to what extent, if any, it makes any difference. It offers a blueprint for leaders to express tactical and strategic integrity by developing the technical and cultural competencies required to facilitate the conversion of scarce, finite resources into desired outcomes with increasing efficiency, equity, and effectiveness. Case studies will be used and constructed to familiarize learners with the applicable concepts and techniques.
ALOP 298: Women and Leadership (1 hour)
Students will review the status of women in leadership positions and the factors that have influenced under-representation of women in executive ranks; compare the effect of time on leadership theories and on gender stereotypes; explore the ways that both sexes view and utilize power; define gender differences that have been documented in leadership studies, including communication differences between men and women. This is not a women's study class but an exploration of how gender differences and tensions impact organizations and challenges that leaders face.
ALOP 298: Xtreme Project Management (1 hour)
Xtreme Project Management (XPM) is designed to bring you the most essential and modern components of both project management theory and Microsoft Project. We start by introducing you to the management thinking behind project planning and implementation, and follow that up by showing you how you can represent your thinking in the most widely used software in the field.
Apply the content of your individual project to the context of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) by developing a systems perspective regarding your project.
Develop a project charter relative to your project.
Develop a systems-based project schedule.
Plan elements including staffing, budget, quality, communication and risk management.
Monitor your project including aspects of project implementation and project control.
Bringing a project to closure effectively.
Apply the above objectives to critical features within Microsoft Project software for optimal project planning and monitoring. This will take place in the form of a 30 – 45 minute demonstration on the most critical features of the software.
In this program, you bring a current project with you, and XPM introduces you to tools and techniques to guide your project from start to finish. Xtreme Project Management – a hands-on learning experience to help you discover a more agile, flexible, intelligent way to manage projects
BUS 212: Ethics and Leadership in the Modern Organization (3 hours)
A study of the ethics involved in the management of public, private and not-for-profit entities, with emphasis on the development and interaction of individual, organizational and societal values.
BUS 283: The Negotiation Process and Conflict Resolution (3 hours)
This course provides an introduction to negotiation concepts and practices, and a historical perspective on conflict resolution in families, workplaces, communities and nations. Includes theories and concepts of human behavior in conflict situations, how and why conflict occurs, and how to deal with conflict effectively. This course will engage students in negotiation and conflict resolution exercises, and provides interaction with practitioners. It will enable students to develop negotiation skills and an appreciation for conflict as an effective teaching/learning opportunity. It will develop an awareness in the student that times of conflict are often occasions for instigating change in relationships that may be effective and long lasting. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and consent of the Director of Graduate Programs in the College of Business and Public Administration.
EDUC 201: Research I (3 hours)
Student identify, read, interpret, synthesize, and evaluate qualitative and quantitative research reports and recognize legitimate uses for that information. The course assists students in becoming critical consumers of educational research and reflective decision-makers.
MGMT 281: Seminars in Industrial Management (3 hours)
This course covers the legal, political, economic, social and managerial aspects of industrial/employee relations in a changing workplace and workforce. Emphasis is placed on integrating scholarly writings and research findings as a basis for (a) effective managerial decisions and (b) prediction of workforce and workplace trends. Prerequisite: Consent of the Director of Graduate Programs in the College of Business and Public Administration.
MPA 216: Managing HR as Assets (3 hours)
Treating Human Resources as an asset rather than as a cost represents a philosophical transformation on human research management though. Focus is on theories, research and practices related to the functions and activities of managing human resources in public and nonprofit organizations. The course covers the responsibilities and inter-relationships involving job analysis, job structuring, EEO, human resource planning, recruitment and selection of employees, ethics, international HRM, performance appraisals, counseling, incentives, safety and health, human resources development, career planning and union/employee-management relations, multiculturalism, the virtual office outsourcing, issues central to HR in the public and nonprofit sectors are included and compared to the private sector. Prerequisite: Consent of the Director of Graduate Programs in the College of Business and Public Administration.
PADM 287: Contemporary Workplace/Workforce Issues (3 hours)
This course analyzes major workplace/force issues in a contemporary organization, which include mental illness, drug abuse, violence, alcoholism and diversity. Other topics will be discussed based on the changing nature of technology, work, demographics, and design of organizations. This is an acceptable MPA elective for the Resource Management Emphasis. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and consent of the Director of Graduate Programs in the College of Business and Public Administration.
PADM 288: Human Resource Management Applications (3 hours)
This course uses the case study methodology and other experientially based exercises to examine and analyze selected current issues in human resources management, such as organizational downsizing, cultural diversity, career development, training, reduction-in-force, cutback management, employee turnover and discharge, smoking in the workplace, telecommuting, employee leases, AIDS in the workplace, workplace homicide, daycare and elder care issues and other topics of enduring or contemporary concern to human resource management personnel. Course participants are given ample opportunity to make case presentations and become fully involved in the analysis ad decision-making processes associated with the management cases. Extensive emphasis is placed on using the resources of the group. This is an acceptable MPA elective for the Human Resources Emphasis. Prerequisite: Graduate standing and consent of the Director of Graduate Programs in the College of Business and Public Administration.
