Factors Influencing the Costs of On-line courses
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Transcript of Factors Influencing the Costs of On-line courses
SouthValleyUniversity
Factors Influencing the Factors Influencing the CostCostss of of On-line CoursesOn-line Courses
Alaa Sadik, Ph.D.Alaa Sadik, Ph.D.Lecturer in Educational Technology
South Valley University, Egypt
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.freewebs.com/alaasadik
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Wired ClassA Web-based learning environment for teaching studentsat a distance
www.freewebs.com/alaasadik
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ACTIONS Model (Bates, 1995)
Access
Costs
Teaching and learning functions
Interactivity and user-friendliness
Organisational issues
Novelty
Speed3/28
The cost analysis of e-learning
ACTIONS ModelThe cost is an important criterion to be used to evaluate e-learning technologies.
(Bates, 1995).
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Research questions
1. What is the cost structure of on-line courses?
2. How much does the cost of on-line courses?
3. What are the factors affecting this cost?5/28
Methodology Approaches to examine the costs of on-line learning
• Comparative approach • Values approach• Return-on-investment approach • Mathematical modelling approach
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Methodology Mathematical modelling approach
• Easily quantifiable.• Helps in decision making.• Helps to evaluate different alternatives.• Can be optimised according to the technology.• Can be expressed in a variety of ways.
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The cost structure of on-line coursesTypes of costs
1. Course-related costs (production and delivery costs)Costs of development and distribution of course materials
2. Student-related costs (access costs)Costs of purchasing computers, Internet connection and phone calls
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The cost structure of on-line coursesTypes of costs
1. Infrastructure costs 2. Course development costs
3. Delivery and support costs9/28
Development and delivery costs Types of costs
1. Fixed costs (capital costs + recurrent costs )Purchasing/renting the Web server, developing course materials, constructing the components of the learning environment, maintenance, etc.
2. Variable costs (student related)Tuition, administration, technical support, etc.
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Development and delivery costsExamples
• Server hardware, software and connection
• Development packages
• Transforming the course content into the on-line format
• Tuition and administration
• Technical support 11/28
The proportion of variable costs to fixed costs
The variable costs are higher than the fixed costs and the potential for obtaining economies of scale is minimal
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The semi-fixed costs of the Web server
Up to the delivery capacity of the Web server, the costs of the Web server and Internet connection behave as fixed costs
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Number of students
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The relationship between the variable, fixed and total costs
The fixed cost is constant throughout the course and the variable cost slopes directly with the number of students
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Development and delivery costs
Unit cost
The unit cost is the cost of the course for each student
per study hour
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Development and delivery costs
Marginal cost
The marginal cost is the cost of adding one or more
units of output to the system
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The unit cost with increasing the number of students
The economies of scale curve shows that as the number of students rises the unit cost per student falls
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The unit cost with increasing the number of courses
Increasing the number of courses reduces the unit cost per course
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The unit cost, number of students and number of courses
The unit cost can be minimised by increasing enrolment per year, adding more courses to the learning environment
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The unit cost, number of students and number of courses
By increasing the number of enrolments per course, the
course lifetime and the number of courses in the learning
environment, the fixed costs of course development can
be distributed over a larger number of students, allowing
the cost per student to be fallen significantly
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Development and delivery costs
The quality of on-line materials
Multimedia attributes (e.g., motion, sound, three
dimensional images, simulation, etc.)
Interactive components (e.g., Java applets,
interactive forms, etc.).
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Development and delivery costs
The quality of on-line materials
High quality materials need more planning and
programming time than simple textual materials,
and require sophisticated production tools and
skilful Web developers.
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Development and delivery costs
The quality of on-line materials
Unless the use of multimedia attributes to present
specific concepts or skills is essential textual
materials may be more cost-effective than
multimedial and quality on-line materials.
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Development and delivery costs
The instructional design of the programme
Managing the learning environment, monitor
students’ activities, processing students' inputs,
responding to students' questions and providing
feedback.
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Development and delivery costs
The instructional design of the programme
These activities might force the tutor to put much
time into on-line interaction and make the
development costs of even relatively simple on-line
materials higher than print.
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Development and delivery costs
The instructional design of the programme
To minimise student-tutor interaction use self-
study and self-assessment materials and
encourage students to support each other student-
student interaction.
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Factors influencing the development and support costs of on-line courses
In Conclusion Enrolment Course-life-time Number of courses offered Quality of on-line materials Instructional design
Student’s role Teacher’s role
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Thank you
For more information visitwww.freewebs.com/alaasadik
The End