e-learning - perspectives and conclusions: a project on teaching e-business

E-Learning - Perspectives and Conclusions:A Project on Teaching e-Business

Roland Traunmüller

Johannes Kepler University of Linz, AustriaInstitute of Informatics in Business and Government

Workshop LEFIS Albarracin 2

My Personal Background 1

Annual EGOV- Conference Series: Founded 2001 they have become the big European conference with scientific focus; about 200 researchers attending: Aix, Prague, Zaragoza, Copenhagen, Krakow

eEurope Awards 2003 : The Como event 2003 involved 357 cases. The report drawing conclusions co-authored by the presenter - see http://www.eipa.nl .

eEurope Awards 2005: The Manchester event 2005 involved involved the presenter as juror for the competition- see http://www.eipa.nl .

Roadmap 2020: Cooperation in the ongoing EU Roadmap project on “e-Government in the Next Decade”.


My Personal Background 2

Eastern Europe eGOV Days: Annually organised by the presenter - the last years in Budapest and Prague, next event 11 - 13 April 2007 in Prague.

MEA – Workshops on e-Government: The presenter organised one-day Workshops in Schiras and Damascus; last a WS at ICTTA, 24 –26 April 2006, Damascus.

MEA - World Information Technology Forum: Organization by UNESCO and IFIP in 2005 in Gaborone (Botswana). The presenter was in charge of Section 8: Empowerment and Participation.


Agenda

E-Learning Auspicious Factors Hindrances The eEmployment Project WP of the Institute Example from the Teaching material Resume


Literacy as Basis

The basis for e-Learning is a significant rise in IT-skills.

Often organized by training courses within the schools.

Also in a commercial way. Here is to mention the ECDL, the European Computer-Drivers License.


Auspicious Climate

Government, the private sector, educational institutions and the public, they all see demand for e-Learning.

Progress has been good in recent years – and this on all levels of education: the primary, the secondary and the tertiary level.

Many higher education institutions have developed and acquired learning modules.

Also communication among teachers and students runs over the internet.


Life long Learning

Besides formal education, necessity is for e-Learning in informal learning and lifelong learning.

This is due to the fact that as well employers as employees feel the necessity for empowerment.


Hindrances – The Supply Side

We start with the supply side. Content is a major bottleneck. The largest part of content developed up to now

focuses on topics such as IT and languages. For other disciplines/topics deficiencies are high:o a common lack of material is one problem, o the necessary IT-readiness of teachers

themselves is another problem.


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Language: Concerning course material there is a barrier for using English language.

So, depending on the subject matter, translating course material in the local language may become obligatory.

Teachers often are hesitant to use the computer and the internet for teaching

Thus motivating teachers has to be high on the agenda.


Hindrances – The Demand Side

On the demand side obstacles add up as well. So there is a problem for schools. Primary

investment necessary for hardware and training are costly.

For the private population purchasing is different in EU countries.

Often cost of PC and communication lines power are a real hindrance.


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The digital divide is a real problem. Internet usage is rather low by those who would

need it (unemployed 6 %) Also in those groups low competence in English

is a hindrance.


Challenges for E-Learning

Policy Educational framework Technical infrastructure Teaching Content and quality


The eEmployment Project

The Institute of Informatics in Business and Administration took part in a project on creating Content for Teaching E-Business

So the Institute was one of the project-partners in the Leonardo da Vinci Project eEmployment (Project RO/03/B/P/PP175006). http://www.iwv.jku.at/research/projects/eEmployment/index.htm

The main goal of the Leonardo project was to produce material for Vocational Education and Training on an e-Learning base.

http://www.iwv.jku.at/research/projects/eEmployment/index.htm




Collaborators involved from the Linz Institute

The following members of the Linz Institute were (partly) involved in the project

Leni Gieber Michael Leitner Gerti Orthofer Maria Wimmer (now Professor in Koblenz) Roland Traunmüller


About the Project

The project involved eight partners from RO, A, D, NL, IT.

The products include courses, curricula, guidance, and procedures to create skill by education and training with relevance for to the internet.

Thus the project eEmployment provides products supporting helping to get an occupations in the field.


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Categories comprises eBusiness , eCommerce, eGovernment, On-Line Services, eContent, eLearning, ePublishing.

The product was provided on a disk and made available translated in five languages: English, German, Italian, Dutch and Romanian.


WP 3 – Central for Linz

Learning material contains different aspects on eBusiness. Three main parts elaborated in Linz:

Several lessons teaching basic knowledge about eBusiness and eCommerce and other terms.

Several lessons concerning the subject matter: Remote / Virtual Office and Teleworking for eCommerce and eBusiness.

Diverse lessons covering the use of the internet for business.


Examples of Topics Covered

o Thus, how to learn the importance of a market analysis, how to create a web site, etc.

o As an example: what are eShops, eMalls and eAuctions and how they do work.

o Some teaching material focussed on how the learner will get to know different internet offers, principles and methods.

o Other material created focussed on lessons about eShops.


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o This means considering the different actors, general criteria and basic components in eBusiness.

o Further learning material focused on topics such as platforms, security and payment.

o Considerable work of the Linz team went into the project part concerning the building of a compendium.

o The Compendium of the Internet Generated Productive Occupations and a Guidance Part.


Example from the CD: Lesson on e-Business LESSON 1: Introduction to eBusiness

Parent Entity: University of Informatics in Business and Government - Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenbergerstr. 69, A-4040 Linz, Austria, [email protected], Fax: +43 732 2468 9308

Authors: DI Gerti Orthofer, DI Michael Leitner, Helene Gieber, Institute of Informatics in Business and Government - Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenbergerstr. 69, A-4040 Linz, Austria, [email protected], Call number: +43 732 2468, Office hour: Monday 10 a.m. – 11 a.m.

CONTENT OF THE LESSON.

1 Introduction of the handbook and this lesson 2 eBusiness LEARNING OBJECTIVES: After learning this lesson you will accomplish the ability to: You know what the term “eBusiness” means. You know different aspects of eBusiness. You know the target of eBusiness. You know important words in the field of eBusiness

mailto:[email protected]


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This handbook contains necessary skills for practicing eBusiness / eCommerce and to use Internet for reducing office expenses. Theoretical aspects are as important as practical guidelines. More practical lessons show the use of eBusiness to you.

Further you will encounter with different terms in these lessons. The handbook can be split up in seven big parts:

The entry in eBusiness (lessons 1 – 4) Merchandiser integration in eBusiness (lessons 5 – 12) Infrastructure for eBusiness (lessons 13 – 26) Security for eBusiness (lessons 27 – 28) Electronic payment (lessons 29 - 30) Code of Conduct and legislation (lessons 31 – 34) Standards in eBusiness (lessons 35 – 36)


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Cntd. 1.) The entry in eBusiness Lesson 01: Introduction to eBusiness

In the first lesson you learn about aspects, which show the differences between eBusiness and traditional business. Further the goals and advantages of eBusiness are discussed. Finally, eBusiness related terms are introduced.

Lesson 02: eBusiness – applications, perspectives, actors and business models This lesson is about different fields of applications in eBusiness, the importance of regarding

the involved actors and several perspectives to do eBusiness successfully. Then some business models are explained.

Lesson 03: eCommerce In this lesson you learn the basics about the field eCommerce, which persons and

organisations are involved and how they are linked together. Then you learn how services and goods can be classified. The phases of a transaction are introduced, advantages of eCommerce are discussed and other important themes are treated.2.) Merchandiser integration in eBusiness

Lesson 04: Basic Electronic Commerce ActivitiesOften different eWords are heard. In this lesson terms like eMarketplace, eShop, eAuction, and eFarm are explained. The differences are mentioned and where to find such systems in use in the Internet. Further you learn about possibilities for supporting electronic cooperation.


Example Figures

1. eBusiness

2. eGovernment

3. CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

4. eCommerce

5. Customer

6. SCM (Supply Chain Management)

7. eProcurement

8. Business Partners

9. ePolicy

10. Company

11. eOrganisation

Fig. Fehler! Kein Text mit angegebener Formatvorlage im Dokument..1 Related terms of the field eBusiness


Resume

Project-leadership was handled in a very bureaucratic manner

Lot of problems in communication within the project partners

Therefore a slow progress in the beginning Rather pressed at the final steps Actual project resources needed were more than

planned Thus, additional staff costs had to be covered

from the Institute budget


Example E-Business

EBUSINESS eBusiness is each business process which is supported by information and

communication technology (ICT). These mostly web-based technologies can be used in all business steps and areas (like marketing, sale, purchasing, and so on). So you can extend and improve the relationship to your customers and suppliers.

The inventor of the concept eBusiness was the company IBM and they used this term the first time in 1998.

In the following sub-chapter there is a listing with four important aspects for eBusiness.– IMPORTANT ASPECTS FOR EBUSINESS

In the following paragraphs important aspects for eBusiness are listed. They point up the differences between usual business and eBusiness ([1], p. 10f).

New Information and Communication Technologies: An intensive use of the new information and communication technologies is significant for eBusiness. Especially the Internet is a very popular media for the public and private sector, because it is cheap and widespread.

Relationship: The exchange of documents, communication and transaction between the business partners and staff members need a relationship between the actors in this field.

Integration: When building up an eBusiness take always into consideration that interfaces are very important. New enhanced web based applications that are accessible to your customers and suppliers should match with your existing systems. That represents integration.


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Collaboration: In eBusiness the cooperation with partners, which produces a leverage-effect, is called collaboration. Complementary goods complete the own range of products to maximize the client’s benefit. Sometimes it is necessary to cooperate with your own competitors – this is called “Co-opetition”.– ADVANTAGES AND GOALS OF EBUSINESS– The implementation of business processes in the form of eBusiness processes allows

significant advantages. Further Koop et al. declared that all of a company’s typically goals can be reached better by using eBusiness. ([3], [6])

Higher level of throughput: Processing the order electronically can improve productivity and efficiency. The amount of dwell time is smaller and the time between two processing steps is reduced. Then the manual work is also reduced and this reduced the processing time, as well. If automation is possible – partly or even completely, large increases in throughput are feasible. This is one way for increasing the business volume per customer.

Lower costs: Replacing real documents with electronic records allow a cheaper processing and administration. If processes run automated then you need for example less personal and so you can use these persons for the service. This reduces the costs for processing of orders. Besides you can save money in the production through process-optimising and better shopping conditions for the customers, because for online shopping you do not need a vendor. With reduced costs you can get new customers, because lower prices and a more intensive promotion are possible.


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Higher level of robustness: Automatic processing and verification often causes fewer errors than manual processing. In this way it is possible to promote the company’s leadership in innovation.

Higher level of transparency: The internal procedures and the decisions are easier to follow and to control – if desirable. An example for such a situation could be, if a customer likes to know how long it will last, until her/his product is ready. This is one important way to improve the company’s image.

Improved Interactivity & Improving level of service: Through the use of electronic Media is it possible to act faster. For example if you write an email with question, then you are expected that you will get an answer or a message within the next two days. So the customers’ loyalty and satisfaction will improve, as well as customer care and the communication with the customers.

Explicit benefit: By connecting different data and procedures, new innovative functions can be realised, which were not possible until now. An example for this is the statistical analysis of combined business data. With this feature the market position in a specific segment can be improved or a market leadership can be defended.

Easier customer acquisition: With this sale channel it is easier to attract new customers. Increasing image of the company: Via the online presence the image of the company

can be raised.

e-learning - perspectives and conclusions: a project on teaching e-business

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