March 7, 2018

Purdue professor teams up with Purdue Global for new online course


As a lifelong baseball fan, Randy Roberts knows the importance of teamwork, strategy and good coaching.

As it turns out, those three things are coming in handy as he teaches a class based on that very same sport.

Randy Roberts Randy Roberts
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Roberts, a Purdue distinguished professor of history who specializes in sports history, helped develop a new six-week online course that ties baseball and business together through a look back at 150 years of baseball culture. “Take Me Out to the Ball Game: 150 Years,” was created in collaboration with Rebecca Herman, a baseball author and faculty member at Purdue University Global’s School of Business and Information Technology.

The course is currently in a pilot phase, and both Roberts and Herman say they feel a bit like both the students and the teachers at times.

“I think I’ve been just as curious as everyone else has about what it looks like to both teach and be a student in a Purdue Global course,” Roberts says. “Getting to work on developing an online class from start to finish and now teaching and working with the students has been helpful, especially for someone who has no experience with online courses.”

The class will start later this spring as an exclusive offering to Purdue alumni through the Purdue Alumni Association. Herman says about 700 students are already enrolled.

Roberts and Herman are teaching the course through weekly online lectures, readings and discussions. The class is not for credit. The curriculum also includes a video series from different leaders in the baseball industry, as well as references to Purdue baseball.

Roberts says the course wouldn’t have been possible without a supportive team environment, and that the collaboration between Purdue Global and Purdue’s West Lafayette campus to develop the class has been a one-of-a-kind experience.

Rebecca Herman Rebecca Herman
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Herman agrees, adding that the collaboration has allowed different units to help achieve common goals.

“We are all working together to help students achieve their degree goals, which is what everyone wants for their students at the end of the day,” Herman says. “While this class might not be for credit, it’s a good example of people working together for students who are working toward a goal.”

As both Purdue and Major League Baseball celebrate their 150th   anniversaries in 2019, the class is designed to honor those anniversaries, but also to give people the opportunity to take an online course if they’ve never taken one.

While Herman says she focuses on the business side of the sport throughout the course, Roberts focuses more on the historical aspects.

“We have both been figuring out each other’s strengths and letting those shine where they need to,” Herman says. “We both have different things to bring to the table and I think we’ve struck a good balance.”

Most of all, Herman hopes the class isn’t a stressor – but rather the opposite – for everyone involved.

 “Online learning is new for many of the people who will be taking the class,” Herman says. “We wanted this to be a fun, stress-free class. It’s rich in content, but [Roberts] and I both worked together to make sure this was just as much fun as it was educational. It’s very laid-back. I think taking away some of the pressure allows people to truly enjoy it more.”

Although the class might be laid-back, both Roberts and Herman agree that the content is what makes it unique, and they hope the class provides a closer look into how sports can – and will continue to – change American culture.

“Baseball is an excellent way of looking at race, gender and culture in America,” Roberts says. “I think this is a way to challenge people to look at sports – specifically baseball -- with a different lens, and see how the sport has shaped our culture in so many different ways over the last 150 years.

Natalie Carroll, professor of youth development and ag education at Purdue's West Lafayette campus, is taking the course in its pilot session. For her, some of the lectures have hit close to home.

“When we talk about how baseball has shaped history, especially when it comes to women and how they were treated in sports in the 1960s, it brings back a lot of memories for me,” Carroll says. “I lived through all of that. It was a different world back then, and to see how far the sports industry has come since then really puts things into perspective.”

Roberts says that as he helped develop the course, it was important to him that students understand that sports are also an American institution. The course is designed around both the business and the history of baseball, and covers subjects such as human resources, gender equality and integration.

“Jackie Robinson and the Dodgers are a great example of how the world of baseball was an agent for change,” Robert says. “It contributed to the civil rights movement. But it also demonstrated the resistance. There were some teams that took a long time to integrate. Some of the people who take this course will remember these issues, but I think it’s always good to see how far we’ve come as a country.”

Carroll also grew up as a lifelong baseball fan, but the class is helping her learn firsthand what it’s like to take an online course from a student perspective.

“As I start to teach online courses myself, and because I wanted to learn more about Purdue Global, this seemed like the perfect opportunity,” Carroll says. “Adapting to an online environment, especially for lectures, has challenged me because I’m used to raising my hand and making direct eye contact with the professor. It’s a much different pace, and it has provided me with a new perspective for what my students go through during online courses.”

As Roberts and Herman prepare to open the class to alumni association members, they think the class will appeal to just about everyone – no matter what team they root for.

“I’m a Boston fan, and I imagine there will be a lot of Cubs fans in the class,” Roberts says. “But we don’t hold those things against each other. It’s about the game of baseball and about navigating an online learning environment at the end of the day.”

Writer: Abbey Nickel, 765-496-1325, nickela@purdue.edu 


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