eLearning and Enterprise at Sydney

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eLearning and Enterpriseat Sydney

• Anne Forster
• Manager, Special Projects
• VICE-CHANCELLORS FORUM
• 14-15 OCTOBER 2002

2
Outline

• How much is online? The continuum model
• The business angle
• Quality and competitiveness in a global market
• References

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E-learning? Interaction and
independence, getting the mixture
right
BENEFITS
A CONTINUUM

• Physical
• Allows program development and expansion without
  major capital investment in accommodation
• Overcomes physical distance
• Solves time or scheduling problems
• Commercial
• Expands the number of places available
• Accommodates low or dispersed enrolments
• Leverages the limited number of teachers
  available
• Cultural/political
• Distributes to a global audience
• Supports access and equity

• F2F classrooms enhanced by ICT
• Blending of classroom strategies with distance
  learning
• Learning enabled, enhanced and distributed by
  electronic technology
• Synchronous and asynchronous communication\
• Self-paced independent learning and
• Cohort-paced, collaborative learning
• Uses a variety of learning resources and media
• Virtual classrooms enhanced by F2F support.

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Business Integration Value Chain(source
Standing Stones Consulting Ltd 2000)
1. Course/program creation
3. Delivery
Needs analysis and Business planning
Teaching and Learning
Content
Design
Learner Support
Development
2. E-Commerce
Agreement, Admissions Registration
Marketing, information
Settlement payment
Delivery
Accreditation
Evaluation
Learner
Graduates
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Focus, Prioritise, Invest

• Large enrolment, introductory courses in Maths,
  Science, English, Psychology . . .
• Focus on the first year experience, retention and
  solid foundations
• Design for interaction, independence, optimise
  class time, generate efficiencies in assessment
• Reduce the number of lectures, increase
  student-to-student interaction, employ lower cost
  labour for non academic work
• Invest in professional development and team based
  approaches
• Demand-driven, professional development
  flagshipprograms with global markets
• Focus on scalable distribution and business
  models
• Identify international partners with long term
  and two-way relationship potential
• Invest in quality, management, and marketing

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Applying market concepts to education Are there
willing participants?

• Teachers and researchers become vendors
• Teaching and research become commodities
• Students and recipients of research become
  purchasers and
• Conversation becomes market transactions (Renke,
  2000)
• The decline of academic life represents in part,
  the degree to which the faculty has surrendered
  autonomy . . . the growing power of
  administration . . . responding to political and
  corporate forces that claim sovereignty over
  higher education (Aronowitz, 2000)

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The role of central servicesA University-wide
perspective

• Maintaining the University brand for relevant and
  responsive education
• Strategic planning and oversight
• Stimulator of best practice
• Facilitator and broker of partnerships (internal
  and external)
• Maintainer, designer and developer of technology
  and facilities
• Advocate for University communities
• Funder of operations and co-investor of
  initiatives
• Manager of the strategic investment of the
  Commonwealth and State Governments

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The Market

• Education is the 3rd largest service export
  sector in Australia, worth 4.154billion in
  2001/2
• 150,000 international students (1/3 off shore)
• 85 Asian, 33 Post-graduate
• 83 of 5-18 year olds are in the developing world
• International students Sydney earns? Melbourne?
  Queensland?
• Offshore and online delivery alternatives
• Risks Aussie dollar rises, competition develops

China has 20 of the worlds student
population and only 1 of the global education
budget.
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The Industry

• IDP estimates 38b by 2025, DEST estimates 50b
  (now 4.15b)
• 50 of growth will be off shore
• Australia, a global pace setter, early phase of
  low hanging fruit
• Not at the premium end globally
• Students in limited fields of study
• Business,
• Information Technology,
• English
• Is the objective to employ people or to get free
  cash flow to fund other objectives?

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Drivers of e-learning at Sydney

• Increasing value of education and lifelong
  learning in the Knowledge Economy
• Pedagogical effectiveness
• Graduate attributes inclusive of information
  literacy
• Changing learner demographics
• Technology adoption and Internet access
• Decreased government funding, efficiencies,
  alternative sources of revenue
• Deregulation, competition from international,
  corporate and private providers

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Costs

• Opportunity analysis business development,
  planning
• Course development writers, designers,
  producers, project managers
• Course production programmers, web specialists
• Instruction online and physical academic,
  interaction and assessment
• Technology infrastructure platform,
  applications, system support, 24 x 7 help desk,
  communications

• Marketing and promotion distribution agents,
  collateral, recruitment and processing
• Maintenance liaison, relationship management,
  monitoring.
• Evaluation and continuous improvement
• Staff training and professional development

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Revenues

• Tuition fees
• Disaggregated services eg coaching, preparatory
  courses, previous exams, texts
• Professional services, consulting based on
  experience
• Franchising/licensing courseware
• On selling software or application services
• Advertising on provider or broker sites
• Managing onsite or physical facilities
  complementing online
• Commissions on student recruitment
• Feeder program Foundation and bridging courses

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Pricing
TEACHING LEARNING
PRICE
CONTENT/ LEARNING RESOURCES
PRODUCT
VALUE
ACCREDITATION
QUALITY
E-COMMERCE
CUSTOMER SERVICE
THE TOTAL STUDENT EXPERIENCE
LEARNER SUPPORT
(source Standing Stones Consulting Ltd, 2000)
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Tuition fees factors affecting pricing models

• Cost plus, value-based and competition-based
• Fees per module, per credit hour, or per access
  time
• Licenses for multiple user access
• Legislated public or institutional policy forcing
  eLearning through peripheral departments or
  private companies
• Discipline sensitive eg business vs science
• Volume and scale sensitivity eg English,
  introductory maths, Accounting 101
• Brand Harvard vs Sydney
• Added value eg visa pathway to country of origin,
  professional accreditation, transferability of
  credits
• Staff student ratio establishing levels of
  interaction and costs associated with tutor
  marked assessment
• Complexity and costs of learning resource
  development
• Parity of pricing for online and face to face
  offerings of same course

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Brand and Quality cross border issues

• Brand recognition, networks, accreditation,
  exit salary, lifelong alumni
• Quality customer focus, effective learning
  models, reliable and responsive systems, a total
  learning experience, customer retention, lifelong
  alumni
• Increased cross border activity and
  jurisdictional rules and obligations in trade
  agreements is leading to urgent attention to QA.
• National Quality Assurance Agencies emerging for
  both domestic and foreign providers

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A quality framework for technology and learning
processes CEN/ISSS Workshop on Learning
Technologies

• Strategic Planning
• Program framework, blueprint
• Cooperation with experts, sponsors, instructors
• Course development infrastructure, design,
  pedagogy,
• Motivation, materials, assessments, student
  support, evaluation
• Marketing and student recruitment strategy and
  processes
• Induction and orientation
• Realisation/implementation
• Student support
• Teacher support
• Evaluation
• Central database

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Funding strategies (Bates, 2001)

• Reallocate existing resources
• Create new e-learning institution
• Increase student tuition fees
• Target short term grants for e-learning projects
• Increase government baseline funding for
  institutions
• Use e-learning to absorb extra enrolments
• Encourage cost-recoverable e-learning programmes
• Allow public sector institutions to establish
  for-profit companies

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Strategic directions,whole-of-university
approach

• Direct contribution to sustainable, longer term
  growth
• Mobilise a unified, cohesive approach (market
  intelligence, export facilitation)
• Create the image for the University of 2005 (PR
  and comms, online services)
• Capture mature and emerging markets (products,
  agent support, marketing strategy)
• Remove barriers to growth and change (outdated
  policies, territoriality, inflexible systems)
• Invest in the future, student services, QA,
  pathways, alumni
• High quality and professional

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References

• Standing Stones Consulting Limited, Business
  models for distributed learning, strengthening
  the Alberta advantage, www.standing-stones.com
• Aronowitz, S (2000), The Knowledge Factory
  dismantling the corporate university and creating
  true higher learning, Beacon Press, Boston
• Renke, WN , Commercialization and Resistance in
  Turk, J (ed) (2000), The Corporate Campus
  Commercialization and the Dangers to Canadas
  Colleges and Universities, CAUT series Lorimer,
  Toronto
• CEN / ISSS Workshop on Learning Technologies, CWA
  Quality Assurance Standards, www.cenorm.be/isss/Wo
  rkshop/it/Default.htm
• European elearning Summit Report, 2001,
  www.ibmweblectureservices.ihost.com/eu/elearningsu
  mmit/
• Bates, T, 2001, National strategies for
  e-learning in post-secondary education and
  training, UNESCO International Institute for
  Educational Planning, Paris

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More references

• icGlobal and LioNBRIDGE, 2001, Critical Success
  Factors for Global elearning, www.telelearn.ca/g_a
  ccess/news/icglobal_elearning pdf
• Bank of America Securities, the weekly Learner
  http//gcfi.bankofamerica.com/
• IBM E-Learning Solutions, 2002, Aspects of
  e-learning,www. ibm.com/gold/publicsector
• Sun Microsystems, 2002, elearning Reference
  Architecture, white papers on e-learning
  Application Infrastructure and Interoperability
  standards, www.sun.org
• Katz, RN and associates, 2002, Web Portals and
  Higher education, Educause, Jossey Bass, San
  Francisco
• The Observatory on borderless higher education
  reports 2002 on intellectual property, trade in
  higher education services, www. Obhe.ac.uk

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• Anne Forster
• Manager, Special Projects
• and Director Innovation and Technology in
• Education Ventures
• Vice-Chancellors Office
• The University of Sydney
• NSW 2006 Australia
• Education Annex (A36)
• Tel [phone]
• Fax [phone]
• Email a.forster_at_vcc.usyd.edu.au