Meoli Kashorda World Education Market May 2003 1
E-learning@USIU
By
Meoli Kashorda, Ph.D., MIEEE
Associate Professor of Information Systems & Dean, School of Business
USIU
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Outline of presentation
• Institutional context and infrastructure– Kenyan economic and ICT indicators -challenges– University vision, mission and accreditation– USIU student and faculty profiles
• The goals of IT systems and e-learning at USIU – Effective use of the Internet for Teaching and Learning
• Content development and quality assurance• Cost of using IT at USIU
– Technology and financing challenges
• What have we learned?
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Economic and Human Development Indicators (2001)
Tanzania Kenya South Africa
Turkey
Population (millions)
34.5 30.7 43.2 66.2
GNI per capita (US$ - Atlas)
270 340 2900 2540
GNI per capita (PPP $)
540 970 9510 6640
HDI rank/HDI 151/0.440 134/0.513 107/0.695 85/0.742
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ICT Infrastructure indicators
Tanzania Kenya South Africa
Turkey
Population (millions)
34.5 30.7 43.2 66.2
Fixed telephones (per 1000)
5 10 114 280
In largest city (per 1000 people)
31 78 415 388
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ICT readiness of Kenya (2002)(Harvard methodology)
Information Infrastructure
Internet Availability
Internet Affordability
Network Speed & Quality
Hardware & Software
Services & Support
Schools Access to ICTs
Enhancing Education with ICTs
Developing the ICT Workforce
People & Organisations onlineLocally Relevant Content
ICTs in Everyday life
ICTs in the Workplace
ICT Employment Opportunities
B2C Electronic Commerce
B2B Electronic Commerce
E-Government
Telecommunications & Regulation
ICT Trade Policy
Stage
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University vision and mission
• Vision statement– To be the premier institution of higher learning in the
Eastern Africa region
• Mission outcomes– Higher order thinking (analytical & critical thinking
skills)– Literacy – oral, written and technological literacy– Multicultural perspective (how to accommodate
diversity)– Preparedness for career; Desire to be of service to the
community
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University accreditation
• Dual accreditation – In Kenya by Commission for Higher Education– In US by Western Association of Schools &
Colleges
• Professional accreditation– AACSB – starts the process in AY 2003-2004
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USIU student and faculty profiles
• Over 2700 undergraduate and graduate students – 10% are international students from over 40 different
countries
• Over 80 % of students in School of Business– Includes 400 majors in Information Systems program
• Over 300 MBA students – About 80% are executives of local and multinational
business organization in Kenya• Full-time faculty with diverse educational and
professional backgrounds (North America, Europe, Kenya)
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USIU MBA Tuition comparisons
UG business major
UG Non-business major
Tuition per year/GNI per capita
USIU, Nairobi
$3,000 $4,000 4.17
Alliant Int’l University, San Diego
$22,000 $32,000 0.32
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MBA tuition at USIU
• In absolute terms, it is about 8 times cheaper to study at USIU than at Alliant Int’l University for the same MBA degree
• Demand for quality MBA degree programs is very high in Kenya– USIU rejection rate is about 40%
• Tuition fees of $3,000 competitive with other MBA programs in Kenya– University of Nairobi has a large MBA program of
about 800 students – about the same fees as USIU
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Reasons for using IT and e-learning at USIU
• IT (includes e-learning) is a strategic inflection point in global higher education
• To increase increase effectiveness of teaching and learning
• To increase efficiency – in learning, teaching & administration– E.g., USIU has a flat organizational structure
• To serve the learning needs of our graduate students– Over 80% full-time employees
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E-learning as the Sixth Force with a 10X force
The Business
Existingrivals Complementors Customers
Suppliers Substitute productsor services (e-learning)
Potential competitors(New Entrants)
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Effective and efficient teaching
• There is an acute shortage of business and IT faculty in all Kenyan Universities– IT could utilize remaining faculty in a cost-
effective manner
• Improved testing, assessment, and evaluation methods– Efficiency of the process significant for faculty
with increasing workload.
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IT and effective learning environments
• To improve learning resources– ability to create, maintain, and deliver learning
resources which are current, consistent and readily available
• There is evidence that IT helps learning – Seven Principles for Good UG Education
• Improved communications– students/student, student/faculty, student/administration
• Effective integration of on-line library resources and the e-learning environment
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Mixed-mode delivery options
• Classroom instruction - face to face• Synchronous delivery
– video conferencing– Teacher and student separated by distance, not
necessarily long
• Asynchronous delivery– e-mail, discussion groups, notes, assignments, and
experiments
• E-learning at USIU is asynchronous and includes classroom instruction
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E-learning quality assurance process
• Life-cycle approach to developing the e-learning content with following phases:– Initiation, development, implementation, and
operations and maintenance phases
• Initiation phase started in 1998 with small pilot projects, development phase started in 2000
• E-learning content and delivery subjected to the same quality assurance process as regular courses– Learning outcomes are the same; delivery different.
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E-learning quality assurance process (cont)
• Faculty member initially attends training – Training by experienced faculty member and/or on-line
seminars/workshops
• Faculty member develops the content while teaching the regular classroom-based course
• Faculty teaches course again using the draft of content developed (mixed mode delivery)
• Content peer reviewed by another faculty member who makes recommendations
• Final approval by curriculum committee
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IT Infrastructure@USIU
• Networked campus with institutional access to Internet– Administrative and faculty offices, library and IT labs
• Integrated student and financial information systems implemented since 1997– Students can register on-line or check grades
• Library is fully automated with access to over 7 Internet databases for our programs
• Well-equipped teaching labs and student workrooms with extended opening hours
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Cost of using IT@USIU
• Bandwidth is expensive in Kenya– $800/month for a 64 kb/s permanent connection
• Cost of a non-branded PC about $900• Software license costs are relatively high
– Administrative IT system license - $20,000/year
– Library system license – $24,000 per year
– E-learning platform license (WebCT) - $7,000/year
– Microsoft OS/applications - $45 /PC per year
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Cost of IT@USIU
• Capital investment per student lab about $40,000 – Includes cabling, furniture, PCs and other networking
accessories
• Quality IT personnel costs relatively low but still significant – About $5,000 per year in wages for e-learning system
administrator
• No local support for e-learning platform, library or mission-critical student information system– External on-line or internal support by USIU personnel
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How does USIU finance IT investments and support
• All IT investments funded using tuition– Relatively small lab fee pays for operational
expenses (US$ 31 lab fee per term)– Current teaching labs being used as e-learning
labs in the evening and weekends
• Total cost of IT systems about 8% of the total revenue– Academic IT alone is about 6% of total revenue
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Cost/student for Internet access
Type of access Total cost/ 10 week term (US$)
Analog dial-up access (28.8 kb/s modem)
$475
Digital dial-up access
(64 kb/s ISDN line)
$ 2450
USIU computer lab access (128/512 kb/s)
$31.25
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Current status of the MBA e-learning
• About 65% of foundation courses on-line• About 30% of the core MBA courses on-
line• Goal: 100% on-line component of all MBA
courses by end of AY 2002-2003• E-learning forum for faculty support
– Training and peer support for content development
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What have we learned?
• A well-developed Intranet is crucial for success in training and developing on-line materials– E-learning labs necessary in our environment
• Good and motivated faculty essential for success• Quality IT professionals need to be part of e-
learning project– University provides leadership
• Invest in faculty training, content development and quality assurance
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What have we learned?
• MBA students are excited about e-learning courses – response is better than we expected in current ICT environment
• Developing quality e-learning content is the slowest and most challenging part of the project
• It is possible and necessary to develop internal capacity for e-learning even with a constrained national telecommunications infrastructure