Title: Implications for Planning E-Learning Strategy in Higher Education Institutions
Abstract: Abstract The strategic direction of Higher Education (HE) institutions is increasingly being influenced by environmental conditions. The advent of e-Learning, together with increasing demand for flexible, off campus instruction, has forced universities to become more proactive in the way they market themselves. Competition for students is now not just locally based but global. The structure of institutions and the higher education sector has come under pressure in response to the changing marketplace and its increasingly competitive nature. Because technology is not the only ingredient of success, other factors such as organisational structures, changes to teaching and learning strategies and approaches to Information Technology (IT) planning for business strategy need to be considered. There is concern that e-Learning will increase polarisation between those who can afford access to new technology based education and those who cannot. This polarisation can occur on local as well as global basis. The aim of this paper is to examine some of the key issues relating to e-Learning and its impact upon students and the strategic behaviour of higher education institutions. Introduction Universities are under increasing fiscal pressure and, due to `league tables'[1], their performance is open to public scrutiny and comparison with other institutions. On the one hand they have to assess the cost benefit of providing particular courses whilst on the other having to ensure that the output satisfies market expectations. Increased global competition has been pressure for change in many markets and is now influencing the higher education arena. The combination of improved performance and lowering cost has meant that more and more teaching materials are becoming available globally on the Internet. Technological developments themselves are pressure for change. Ehrmann (1997) uses the phrase worldware to refer to technology developments which were originally designed for applications other than education but have nevertheless changed the face of teaching because universities and students had degree of familiarity with them. E-mail, the Internet and computer aided design are examples of worldware. The trend from traditional to e-Learning is driven by economic, demographic, technological and social factors. Teaching staff costs are high proportion of total costs within university and as the shortage of funding becomes more acute, staff costs will come increasingly under scrutiny. A further pressure for change is the greater focus on performance indicators of teaching quality. This has increased the consideration given to alternative teaching methods. Expansion in the number of university places available is failing to keep pace with increasing demand. According to Daniel (1996) a sizeable new university would now be needed every week to sustain current participation rates in higher education. Even if the financial resources were available there would still be the problem of finding sufficient staff. The nature of the education demanded by students has also changed. Increasingly students want an education that will prepare them for life in an electronic world. Without investment in e-Learning Bourner and Flowers (1997) promote pessimistic scenario with increasing class sizes for lectures and tutorials and individual tuition becoming thing of the past. Their scenario adds that universities will direct their efforts towards courses that offer high financial contribution per student, i.e. where class numbers are high. They predict that dedicated universities will run the more specialist programmes. Review of e-learning strategies A key issue for practitioners is recognising that not all students perform well in the distance learning environment. Individuals who need social interaction in order to perform academically will find distance learning difficult. Studying subject in isolation requires high level of motivation, time management and focused approach. …
Publication Year: 2002
Publication Date: 2002-12-22
Language: en
Type: article
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