The Cornell School of Hotel Administration, in partnership with eCornell, has sold its 10,000th online course, marking a milestone in its drive to be the global leader in professional education for the hospitality industry.

“This achievement reflects our commitment to give hospitality professionals a convenient and affordable way to build new skills and accelerate their careers,” says Tom Kline, the School’s director of Executive Education. “We have put much energy into developing a curriculum that delivers practical value for our students. Moving forward, we will continue to broaden and refine our offerings.”

Participants choose from a total of 17 courses ranging across seven categories: Hospitality Marketing Fundamentals; Hospitality Managerial Accounting and Finance; Managing People and Teams; Creativity; Executive Decision Making; Foodservice Management; and Change Management.

Each course is developed by a tenured faculty member at the Cornell Hotel School. Faculty members work with designers at eCornell, a Cornell subsidiary focused on online professional and executive development, to adapt classroom content into a robust online learning experience. Designers draw from several media – interactive simulations, self-assessments, ask-the-expert audio clips, charts, text and more – to create content designed to engage and inform.

Since its inception in 2002, the program has attracted students from 110 countries. Most have come from the U.S., followed by the People's Republic of China; Canada; Singapore; Mexico and Hong Kong. The most popular courses have been Principles of Financial Accounting (968 registrants); Managing People More Effectively (856); and Leading through Creativity (766).

Maryanne Fong, an independent researcher in Ontario, Canada, has taken two courses in Hospitality Marketing.

“The quality of the courses is excellent,” Fong says. “I especially appreciate the way the faculty explain technical terms in plain English, which helps students understand the material. It is a fun, flexible and innovative way to learn.”

In addition to the individual courses, the School offers five sequences where participants can earn a Cornell certificate by completing a series of related courses. Over 300 master certificates have been earned since the program’s inception. Alex Kouba, owner of the award-winning Literati Cafe in Los Angeles, completed the master certificate in Foodservice Management.

“I applied what I learned to take our restaurant to new sales and profitability levels,” Kouba says. “The tools I picked up have been very helpful in honing my restaurant management skills and my ability to analyze my business in measurable, meaningful ways.”

Courses require from six to fifteen hours of online learning time. Shorter courses run two weeks (3-4 hours per week), while longer courses require four weeks (3-4 hours per week). Each course features an online instructor who serves as subject-matter expert and coach/mentor throughout the process.

The instructor’s role is to deepen the learning experience by helping students understand and contextualize the material, facilitate discussion and collaboration among participants, and motivate students to complete the course. As a result of this innovative approach, the course completion rate exceeds 90 percent.

Courses are divided into modules that have a variety of required elements including participation in discussion forums, short assignments, simulations, and self-assessments. Once all required elements are mastered to the instructor’s satisfaction, the course is considered successfully completed.

In summer 2006, the School will add two courses focusing on customer service. For more information about the program, please visit: http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/execed/online/

Individual Courses:
Managing People More Effectively
Managing Dynamic Teams
Marketing Analysis in the Hospitality Industry
Marketing Planning in the Hospitality Industry
Principles of Financial Accounting in the Hospitality Industry
Managerial Accounting in Action
Foodservice Management Systems: Issues and Concepts
Foodservice Management Systems: Operations
Developing a Baseline for Restaurant Revenue Management
Developing and Implementing a Strategy for Restaurant Revenue Management
Executive Decision Making
Leading through Creativity
Mastering the Time Value of Money
Making Capital Investment Decisions
Understanding Financial Statements
Using Ratio Analysis to Evaluate Financial Performance
Change Management Initiatives: A Simulation

http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/execed/online/courses.html

Certificate series:
1. Master Certificate in Essentials of Hospitality Management (6 courses)
2. Master Certificate in Foodservice Management (8 courses)
3. Certificate in Foodservice Management (4 courses)
4. Certificate in Financial Management for Making Business Decisions (4 courses)
5. Certificate in Executive Leadership: Preparing for an Uncertain Future (4 courses)

http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/execed/online/certificates/