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: alaasadik@hotmail.com

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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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

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