CSUH EDU-6701

Online Teaching & Learning

Mini-Project #1 by the “e-Team”

Marilyn Kerr, Joe Novosel, Mark Eades

Our common issues were surrounding initial implementations of online learning options within a corporation or institution.  Some of the initial considerations are listed below.

   Selling the idea of online learning

   Selecting the right vendor solution for your organization

   Gaining "C-level" support (CEO, CIO, COO, etc.)

   IT Challenges (Bandwidth, server-based or hosted solution)

   Making a Case for Return on Investment

   Instructional Strategies

See the section titled “Exploring the Common Issues Within Our Team” for the questions they raise and our research around them.

We decided that the issues we had researched and discussed were surrounding the initial implementation of an online learning system so we decided to focus on researching methodologies for strategizing a successful implementation.

Our Most Helpful Publications

brandon-hall.com, “Six Steps to Implementing E-Learning”, 2001.

http://www.brandonhall.com/public/forms/sixstepdb/

ASTD Roadmap for E-learning
 http://www.astd.org/virtual_community/Comm_elrng_rdmap/roadmap.html

Anderson, Terry. “Is E-learning Right for Your Organization?” , American Society for Training and Development, 2002.
http://www.learningcircuits.org/2002/jan2002/anderson.html

King, James W.; Nugent, Gwen C; Russell, Earl B.; Eich, Jenni; and Lacy, Dara D. “Policy Frameworks for Distance Education.” Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Summer 2000) http://www.westga.edu/~distance/king32.html

McAlister M. Khris; Rivera, Julio C.; and Hallam Stephen F. “Twelve Important Questions to Answer Before You Offer a Web Based Curriculum.” Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Summer 2001) http://www.westga.edu/~distance/odjla/summer42/mcalister42.html

Pope, Scott. “Form a Successful Strategy”, e-learning magazine, February 1, 2002

http://www.elearningmag.com/elearning/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=9538

Corporate Strategy Models

The most useful resources for corporate implementation take a business-like approach, and are usually set up as step-by-step models, often within a project management framework. All successful models offer guidance in dealing with these critical elements:

   Analysis of needs

   Determining stakeholders

   Developing an organizational strategy of costs and benefits

   Gaining buy-in from decision-makers

   Analyzing existing technology

   Determining software models appropriate to the level of needs, benefits, and funding

   Determining appropriate staffing

   Developing implementation roll-out schemes

   Measuring success.

These guidelines are very helpful to the would-be e-learning practitioner in the corporate world because the costs and benefits of online learning are very different from traditional classroom training as practiced in a corporation. Most corporations that offer training are not in the business of training - training is simply a necessary support function (much like accounting, marketing or administration staff).  There are often training-related costs such as travel, class fees or instructors on staff, but these costs are usually compartmentalized within various departments.

When a corporation decides to take on e-learning of any scale, it needs to become a corporate-wide strategy, because now issues of connectivity, technology implementation, staffing and product costs become centralized issues (due to the significant initial costs and widespread corporate impact). Because the e-learning effort gains tremendous visibility, the steps to gaining buy-in along the way are critical for the success of the project. Often the person "leading the charge" is not highly skilled in gaining corporate buy-in from all of the stakeholders involved in creating an e-learning environment.  Even when the leadership is coming from the top down, such as a visionary executive like John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, the organizational impacts are so widespread that everyone needs to "be on the same page" for the initiative to be a success.

Fortunately, there are several good studies that offer a practical approach to implementing corporate e-learning strategies.  Four of the best are listed in our “Most Helpful Publications” section.

Finding Practical Models for the Corporate World

When researching case studies of actual implementation successes, failures and regrets, one finds resources centered on learning institutions or vendor-published corporate examples whose solution inevitably is to work with the vendor. Some vendors highlight the specific steps they take for implementing a solution; some vendors do not. Another online resource is Brandon-Hall. While they sell most of their reports for a fee; they are objective, authoritative and worth the price.

Networking offline is an excellent additional way to learn from others. Attending e-learning conferences and symposiums offers a tremendous opportunity to network with colleagues at various stages of an implementation and to learn from their experiences. Classroom sessions are usually offered on a range of relevant topics and there is usually a bizarre of vendors to meet with and learn from in a concentrated, less formal fashion. In addition to sales representatives, you can talk to their software developers, implementation consultants, instructional designers and a range of support staff that offer a diversity of perspective.

Another offline resource is your professional affiliation group/s, such as the local chapter of ASTD (American Society of Training Development). There, you can probably find local colleagues that can contribute insights from experience.

Academic Models

In “Twelve Important Questions to Answer Before You Offer a Web Based Curriculum,” McAlister et al identify a series of questions to ask that form a process of implementation of web-based curriculum. These include:

   That of the web curriculum being congruent with the institution’s overall mission and strategy

   Gaining administrative support for and dealing with institutional obstacles to online initiatives

   Handling intellectual property issues

   Compensating instructors for offering or administering web courses

   Having clear, well-defined criteria for selecting the classes to be offered via the web

   Identifying those facilities, capabilities and methods available to assist in the preparation and delivery of course content

   Assessment of student progress as well as students’ possession of the skills necessary to participate in web based courses

   Choosing an appropriate course delivery platform

   Determining where class materials will be maintained.

In “Policy Frameworks for Distance Education,” King et al advocate an organizational strategy referred to as the “policy analysis framework” (PAF). According to these authors, the seven elements for attention in the PAF were:

1.      Academic

2.      Governance/administration/fiscal

3.      Faculty

4.      Legal

5.      Student support services

6.      Technical

7.      Cultural

These seven elements, according to the authors, are fundamental to developing and managing a distance education program; and are consistent across the spectrum of public and private educational or training programs. A more simplified version of the PAF offered by these authors is the “three tiered PAF,” the elements of which are:

1.      Faculty

2.      Students/participants

3.      Management and organization

In either form, according to these authors, the PAF is a conceptual framework that takes into account all stakeholders in a proposed or existing distance education program; and which “offers the decision maker an expeditious way to think about the major issues of faculty, student support, management of the educational process and the wide array of technological issues.”

Our common issues were surrounding initial implementations of online learning options within a corporation or institution.  Some of the initial considerations are listed below.

Common Issue #1: Selling the idea of online learning

   What are the costs? What are the benefits? 

   Who are the stakeholders?

Resources:

Pope, Scott. “Form a Successful Strategy”, e-learning magazine, February 1, 2002.

http://www.elearningmag.com/elearning/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=9538

Common Issue #2: Selecting the right vendor solution for your organization

   What delivery methods are out there?  What delivery methods do we need?

   What additional software support do we need? 

   Who are the vendors, and what do they offer?  What solution matches my environment?

Resources:

Buyer’s Guide, e-learning products, e-learning magazine

http://www.mediabrains.com/client/ELearning/BG1/subcategory.asp?SessionID={33F25960-D23E-4CE6-B24C-CC2922B2E76C}&ct_categoryID={BD1F9AB5-6304-4EDD-9119-AFE87F0F6267}&ct_categoryname=e%2Dlearning+Products

Common Issue #3: Gaining "C-level" support (CEO, CIO, COO, etc.)

   How do I communicate benefits to the high-level executives who will provide the funding and support for e-learning? 

   What benefits will they most want to see? 

   What drawbacks will be most evident to them? 

   How can I address these issues effectively? 

   What other executive support do we need?

Resources:

Moxley, John. "Getting Past the Gatekeepers: Managing the Transition to Online Learning, Online Learning Conference 2001, http://www.onlinelearningconference.com/2001/handouts/204.pdf

Common Issue #4: IT Challenges (Bandwidth, server-based or hosted solution)

   How do I determine what we’ll need regarding network and hosting equipment/software?

   What infrastructure do we have now? Will our existing infrastructure be sufficient? 

   Will additional burdens impact mission-critical applications? 

   How do we determine our additional requirements?

   Is an application service provider (ASP) the correct solution? 

Common Issue #5: Making a Case for Return on Investment

   Does my environment expect a specific return on investment?  Is it a dollar amount? 

   Must it be quantified?  How do I measure it? 

Resources:

Kirkpatrick, Don. “Evaluating Training Programs: The Four Levels”, University of Wisconsin, March 5, 2001.

https://secure.presenter.com/p2/pls/detail-client.asp?iconnectid=CEF6C97R&id=sscrob000002&compid=ssc&uid=XX9E0P44DRT6BVDG

Reddy, Arjun. “E-Learning ROI Calculations”, e-learning magazine, January, 2001.

http://www.elearningmag.com/elearning/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=6711

Aldrich, Clark. “Measuring Success”, Online Learning Magazine, February 01, 2002

http://www.onlinelearningmag.com/onlinelearning/search/search_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1278801

Common Issue #6: Instructional Strategies

   What new instructional models should be used for online learning?

Resources:

Care, W. Dean and Scanlan. “Planning and Managing the Development of Courses for Distance Delivery: Results From a Qualitative Study.” Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Vol 4, No. 3 (Summer 2001)

http://www.westga.edu/~distance/odjla/summer42/care42.html

MnPFT Update (Minnesota Partnerships for Training), Vol 2, No. 2 (July 1998) http://www.d.umn.edu/~mnpft/what/071998.html

Stout, Connie. “Meeting the Changing Needs of Students.” Apple Imagine: Point of View.

http://www.apple.com/education/k12/imagine/0102/pov

[ Home ] [ Up ]

Send mail to joeracer@earthlink.net with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2002 Joe Mentor
Last modified: 07/14/02