Online Delivery of Electronic Commerce Courses-TAFE NSW

Ian Newton , Project Leader E-commerce Project,
North Coast Institute of TAFE Wollongbar Campus ian.newton@tafensw.edu.au

Bruce Rowlands, Project Manager E-commerce Project
North Coast Institute of TAFE Kingscliff Campus bruce.rowlands@tafensw.edu.au

Introduction

This project is sponsored by the TAFE NSW Professional Development Network, TAFE NSW Educational Services Division and the North Coast Institute of TAFE to establish a presence in the rapidly growing globalised online education market [HREF1]. The project started in March 2000 and the first E-commerce course will be available Semester 2, 2000.The Project Manager is Bruce Rowlands and Agnes Vukavic [HREF2], is managing the development of syllabus materials. The the Janison Solutions Toolbox has been chosen as the courseware shell.

Poster Presentations

The presentation will examine the basic architecture of the course site. After this we will dispaly the main features using the prototype.

Expected Pedagogical Outcomes

The project will develop a suite of centrally developed instructional content to be delivered from a web site and allow for intensive computer mediated communication between teacher and learner.

The focus on the development will emphasise the interaction between teacher and learner through chat sessions, bulletin boards, role-plays etc. Technical content will play a secondary role to promoting interaction and continuous feedback via the medium.

Main features include:

• Site of learning: workplace, home or campus based.
• Formative assessment exercises built in.
• Summative assessment provided "off-line". This may involve students attending practical "block" classes or submitting logbooks showing they have completed practical assignment in their workplace.
• The Learningware is targeted to students possessing some IT skills. Assumed proficiency in use of WWW, ISP, modem, and hypermedia.
• Learners and Teachers guides will be available in print friendly versions.
• Student access to specialist teachers online.
• Interactive approach that emphasis teamwork and group support networks.
  

Expected Organisational Outcomes

Online delivery is a paradigm shift from the traditional bricks and mortar, chalk and talk classroom. TAFE is a Learning Organisation &emdash; not just because its core business is vocational education, but also because it must continue to learn and adapt in the globalised education market. The ability to combine new technologies, with established pedagogical practices provides a challenge to change for the Organisation. This project will encourage collaborative teamwork between a variety of sections and campuses and other organisations that has not occurred before.

Team members currently include:

• Information Technology Arts and Media (ITAM) Educational Services Division (ESD) will provide syllabus materials and liase with the Business and Public Administration ESD. It is planned that students will be able to intermix a variety of business and IT streams within their courses. E-commerce involves interdisciplinary knowledge and skills. The ESD is based in Sydney.
• Information Technology Teachers from the North Coast Institute of TAFE. Currently team members involved are spread from Taree to the Gold Coast, a distance of around 600 kilometres. IT teachers will develop business-related content and provide online teachers/tutors.
• The team is interested in developing matrix management structures using the web as a medium of communication. Currently members are using both forums and e-mail to communicate with occasional face to face meetings. The traditional TAFE Management structure is very hierarchical and centred on Institutes and campus clusters within institutes.
• Business and Public Administration Teachers will develop business-related content and provide online teachers/tutors.
• Information Technology Services based at Port Macquarie will be providing the technical infrastructure &emdash; web servers, courseware shell (Jansol Toolbox), network services and client workstations.
• The TAFE Professional Development Network provides consultancy services for online project teams and seed funding for projects. They have played a crucial role in facilitating the projects conception and help with developing a team-training plan.
• Bond University is providing consultancy services in E-commerce content.
• St George Bank is providing consultancy services and infrastructure for practical assessments.
• Administrative Services will examine how to manage staff and students who are involved with a course driven from a centralised web server but who belong to many different administration units.

Conclusion

The World Wide Web provides an interface where practical VET courses can be delivered using specialist teachers and shared resources. Teachers can build collaborative support networks to share the task of building and delivering content using a best practice model. Students will learn to work in teams and build support their own support networks. High quality content can be developed and delivered to a broad audience, while containing the development and delivery costs due to economies of scale. However the student will still have access to specialist qualified professional teachers to provide a nurturing educational environment.

Hypertext References

HREF1

http://www.otfe.vic.gov.au/antafd/cfp.pdf

HREF2

agnes.vukavic@tafensw.edu.au

Copyright

Ian Newton and Bruce Rowlands© 2000. The Author assigns to Southern Cross University and other educational and non-profit institutions a non-exclusive licence to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The authors also grant a non-exclusive licence to Southern Cross University to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web and on CD-ROM and in printed form with the conference papers and for the document to be published on mirrors in the World Wide Web.