In the era of e-publishing and
e-Learning, numerous educational institutions and cultural organizations around
the world have launched initiatives to develop tools for multilingual learning
and Web publishing, with a preference for local content.
This in turn requires
development of a knowledge base that allows access through high-speed network connections
without any time, distance or community constraints for learners, scholars, researchers
and practitioners. Newly developed e-Learning systems are rapidly covering public
higher education content, but no similar project addresses the need for foreign
language acquisition. Globalization in business and cultural issues, as well as
the traditional predisposition in
In this article, I will discuss how a private Greek institution developed an e-Learning foreign languages program. I will include an overview of the needs analysis that led to definition of the target market and the operational objectives for the program. The institution took a unique operations management approach to program development. I will describe how this approach progressed from theory to practice and I will offer a proposed model that places importance on design and implementation issues regarding multilingual service and course content creation. I will conclude with some food for thought about the operational limitations we encountered when we designed the service operations, and I will offer my recommendations for cost reduction through value analysis. Because some of the operations management concepts will be new to many readers, I have also included an extensive list of references at the end of the article
Introduction: Needs analysis and results
E-Learning enables, evaluates and
empowers. Online learning programs that exploit high-speed cable connections
allow everyone to acquire essential knowledge at a pace and time that fits
their working or personal schedules. At the same time, online education has
shifted the emphasis from teacher-centered to learner-centered approaches to
language acquisition. Language instruction now reaches globally via digital
virtual e-campuses or e-versities. Leone Universe Plc. is a private
The target market, therefore, is young, white-collar, upcoming professionals with limited free time to attend regular class schedules, but with active motivation to enrich their knowledge of foreign languages and to enhance their professional profile and career prospects. A Learner Needs Analysis (LNA) coupled with a focus group discussion involving both teachers/trainers and clients/learners produced this market segmentation. An extensive brainstorming session followed to define questions and answers at the proposal stage. This process assisted in understanding the operational objectives from the user’s perspective. Figure 1 summarizes the elements of the product and service design process.
Figure 1 Product and service design process
Here are the specific findings from the Learner Needs Analysis and the focus group discussions:
Customers’ demographic and job profile:
- Business professionals and students
- Average age: 20 - 45 years
- Qualifications: University or Higher Education equivalent
- Knowledge level of foreign languages: Beginners
- Knowledge of computers: Advanced
- Access to internet: Advanced (home or Workplace
Operational Objectives:
- Accessibility
- Flexibility
- Extensibility
- Reusability
- Interoperability
- Scalability
- Security
- Standards Compliance
- Leveraging of Existing Corporate Infrastructure
Apart from the above, it was clear that an e-Learning program will involve simultaneous development by a number of individual departments, including internal suppliers and customers. This creates the need for tight co-ordination and process standardization within the project at large. Furthermore, the researchers found that learners are far less forgiving of user interface inconsistency and inadequate ease of use than they are with conventional classroom teaching and materials.
Now I will further analyze these issues by using operations management tools, and I’ll also outline possible implementation solutions.
From theory to practice
The Institute’s vision entails a model that describes the nature of operations involving a combination input of transformed learning resources (content, information and customers) and transforming resources (internal and external facilities and staff). This leads to the desired output of curriculum and service delivery.
Learning content — both internally developed and off-the-shelf courseware — needs to flow among different business units, training departments and custom content vendors through the transformation process. The process is tied together via the operation’s in-house network or the Internet so the various units may share content as they build their online learning resources. Business units must also integrate and share off-the-shelf courseware content. Both the e-Learning and instructor-led training classes require unified management, including online registration, scheduling, personalized access, notification and tracking. To this purpose, the INTRO model of transformation shown in Figure 2 adapted from Nigel Slack (please see the References section at the end of this article), depicts the specific processes of the operation.
Figure 2 The INTRO Model adapted for Leone Universe Plc.
More specifically, Figure 3 proposes a multimedia content database scheme for both students’ and teachers’ access during development of the input resources prior to final design of the e-Learning program.
Figure 3 Multimedia content database scheme
To realize this vision, and to deliver the content under the Institute’s model, there are issues to be resolved in three areas:
- Product design and interoperability
- Learning Technology Systems Architecture (LTSA)
- Service design
Product design and interoperability
The e-Learning system will have three components:
- Online content
- Off-line instructional activities
- Data analysis
Online content
Online content consists of instructional, structural and behavioral elements. The instructional elements include all the lessons, tests and other assignable units in the course to meet its specific objectives. The structure determines the order in which each student experiences these instructional elements. The progression logic philosophy for all the courses instructional material expresses the behavioral elements.
Offline instructional activities
Off-line instructional activities include four functionalities, in addition to defining student demographic data, classes and assignments:
- Administrative functions to oversee the day-to-day training operations and intervene where necessary.
- Assignment manager functions to control student assignments based on sets of rules, and a standard approach to lesson initiation to start-up lessons.
- Student logon functions to control and manage student access.
- Maintain student-accessible data records and display the student’s current assignment.
Data analysis
Two micro-functions support the data analysis element:
- Collect and maintain performance data on students at all levels of courseware presentation.
- Provide standard analysis on performance of the courseware to meet the objectives.
Interoperability
For an effective e-Learning system, the above three components should interchange data among them, and each should also upgrade independently of the effect on the others to achieve efficiency, as the AICC CMI Subcommittee specified in 1998. Figure 4 presents this type of communication.
Figure 4 Components of e-Learning
Learning Technology Systems Architecture (LTSA)
This architecture comprises five broad layers which describe the flow of information, customers, and learners within the operation from highest to lowest levels. Frank Farance and Joshua Tonkel described such architecture. (See Figure 5.)
Figure 5 The LTSA abstraction — implementation layers (available at http://www.ieee.org)
- Learner and environment interactions: Concerns the learner’s acquisition, transfer, exchange, formulation, discovery, etc., of knowledge and information through interaction with the environment.
- Learner-related design features: Concerns the effect learners have on the design of the e-Learning package.
- System components: Describes the component-based architecture, as identified in human-centered and pervasive features.
- Implementation perspectives and priorities: Describes learning technology systems from a variety of perspectives by reference to subsets of the systems components layer.
- Operational components and
interoperability, codings, APIs, protocols: Describes the generic interoperable
components and interfaces of information technology based learning
architecture, as identified in the stakeholder perspectives. The LTSA
identifies four processes in Layer 3 (see Figure 6):
- Learner Entity
- Evaluation
- Coach (Foreign Language Instructor)
- Delivery Process The LTSA also specifies two stores:
- Learner Records
- Learning Resources
- Finally, the LTSA describes 13 information flows among these components:
- Behavioral Observations
- Assessment Information
- Performance and Preference Information (x3)
- Query
- Catalogue Information
- Locator (x2)
- Learning Content
- Multimedia
- Interaction Context
- Learning Preferences
Figure 6 The LTSA system components (available at http://www.ieee.org).
Service design
Most services have an element of product based operations integrated with service delivery. Pure service does not exist, and methods which may be used to design, implement and evaluate product operations are relevant to service. (See Nigel Slack’s book in the References at the end of this article for more information.) Situations faced by service operations managers — in our case the Director of Studies supervising the project — may be less significant or less frequently encountered by the production/manufacturing manager — here the Learning Technology Analyst/Programmer. Comparisons arise at a number of points, including the following five.
Customer presence and participation
In such an educational environment (mixed high contact and received variety on the part of the customers or learners) there exists a low but systemized volume of operations encompassing high variety and customization which render it a costly business. Moreover, as Mike Harrison points out, customer encounters with front-office staff (Customer Advisers, Vendors, Instructors, and Director of Studies) are abundant, and staff and managers constantly face complaint situations due to the customers’ low tolerance level. In service operations, the customer is active in the process except for the back-office operations (Accounting & Finance, Academic Advisors, and e-Learning Designers). This problem appeared earlier in this article, at the design phase of an e-Learning solution which would show empathy for the learners’ needs.
Using customers as labor
In order to reduce queuing time and the number of staff needed, and to enhance customer information, learners can effectively be an extension to front and back office staff through automated and standardized electronic procedures. These procedures will motivate them to willingly engage in the process of registration and attendance information gathering. Here there may be a distinction between a “premium” service which gives direct staff support to customers (augmenting staff satisfaction through a performance-related bonus scheme) and a “do-it-yourself” service which emphasizes customer independence — the intangibles are apparent (see the discussion in Peter Stonebreaker and G. Keong Leong’s book, listed in the References). The significance of customer satisfaction as an asset to our business, reflected in customer loyalty, is obvious. Personal confidence in the situation, familiarity to customers, rapport resulting from personalized, long-term contractual relationships with customers and suppliers, an environment that is learner friendly, and anxiety-free teaching premises are often more valuable than other, more objective, measures of operational performance.
Stocking a service: the point at which production and consumption coincide
There must be long, medium and short term service capacity planning to accommodate technology limitations, staffing policies, customer demand, the scope for contracting out, and the implications of the organization’s size and structure. (Refer to James Teboul’s discussion of these factors in his book, listed in the References.)
Unforeseen contingencies often require management adjustments to service capacity, sometimes hourly. Local staff needs the expertise, discretion and some “slack” for flexibility through creation of autonomous working teams that can make locally identified adjustments without upsetting the objectives of the aggregate operational plans. In particular, an e-Learning service provider needs maximum demand (and growth) capacity to accommodate office or college hours and weekend demand. Operational changeovers and line repairs need to respond to existing demand. Fast operator and help desk systems may be needed at peak times, yet such costs should be kept to a minimum.
Design — intangibles — quality
With the customer consuming the “deliverables,” service quality needs to be controlled by design before delivery. Also, the standards set by the LTSC and its associated organizations require adoption of a quality-specification approach to standardization of processes. Moreover, process planning and a zero-defects approach backed by quality assurance systems are essential in every step of the process to ensure the customer receives the desired level of intangibles. See John Oakland’s book in the References for more information on this.
Systems efficiencies — buffering
The design of back-office operations in e-Learning services and the service itself are intricately linked. Utilization levels and costs are vital, particularly with variations in demand and the fact that a service operation is not easily stocked. As the Fitzsimmons have pointed out there are various means of buffering the operation and of insuring fast response to changing demand, physically or organizationally. Critical factors are efficiency, flexibility and robustness of systems that support the planning, organization and control of e-Learning service delivery, as it runs simultaneously with consumption. Computer systems, staff training and empowerment controlled redundancy, and flexible and functional contingency plans contribute substantially.
