meoli kashordaworld education market may 20031 e-learning@usiu by meoli kashorda, ph.d., mieee...

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


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?


Where is Kenya?


Where is USIU located?


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


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


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


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


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


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)


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


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


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


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)


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.


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


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


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.


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

meoli kashordaworld education market may 20031 e-learning@usiu by meoli kashorda, ph.d., mieee...

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