Course Goals/Objectives

  The goals of the course is to enable the student to be a competent partner in the process of setting up and managing economic aspects of distance education, both on institutional level as well as on course level (i.e. with regard to media choice).

At the end of the course students should have achieved the following objectives. The student

  1. reviews the expansion of education and the soaring costs of educational provision.
  2. understands the conceptual framework of 'Human Capital Theory', a core theory of economics of education.
  3. identifies the cost drivers in distance education systems and is able to measure them.
  4. understands the role of overheads and the problem of cost attribution.
  5. is able to treat capital costs including the annualization of costs.
  6. handles the basic cost model and is able to analyze scale economies.
  7. analyzes and compares the costs of media and handles a cost model for rapid cost appraisal of a selected media configuration.
  8. applies the costing methodology to netbased learning and identifies the cost-drivers specific to netbased learning
  9. analyzes the costs of online student support
  10. discusses the impact of netbased learning on the cost-structure of distance education

REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS

Bates, A. W. (2000). Managing Technological Change: Strategies for College and University Leaders. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Rumble, G. (Ed.). (2004). Papers and debates on the costs and economics of distance education and online learning (Vol. 7). Oldenburg: Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg.
Rumble, G. (1997). The Costs and Economics of Open and Distance Learning. London: Kogan Page.
NOTE:
Rumble (1997) is out of print. The new edition is not yet available. The most important chapters will be made available online.
Rumble, G. (Ed.). (2004) will be available at Missouri Bookshop

In general, journal articles and papers referenced in this Syllabus will be supplied online.

It is strongly recommended that students purchase the Publications Manual of the American Psychological Association (4th Ed.) and that they pay particular attention to these pages before, during and after the writing of any Assignments.

Quotations: Sections 3.34, 3.35 etc., starting p. 95
Reference Citations in Text: Sections 3.94, 3.95, etc., starting p. 168
Reference List: Section 1.04, etc., starting p. 174
WWW citations: Consult the UMUC library at http://www.umuc.edu/library/g uides/apa.html

As noted below, the ability to write to APA standards is a Graduate School requirement.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

This course is only offered in the online mode. Students must be prepared to:

The 150 hours workload during the course consists of:

GRADING

To the final grade of this course both, assignments, and participation to the conferences will contribute:

 

COURSE OUTLINE
 

Module 1 Introduction
The Expansion of Education and the Emergence of the Economics of Education

During the first week a number of issues will have to be addressed: Students will be introduce each other and will be given an outline of the course setup.

However, we  proceed soon to the course content. What is the rationale behind the unprecedented expansion of education? Education can be seen as an investment with very real returns to the individual as well as to society as a whole. Individual demand rises and there seems little reason to discourage it. But trying to satisfy a mass demand for education, giving the scarcity of resources, leads to the question of the most cost-effective provision of education. Distance education seems to fit this bill. Using rational production techniques, including division of labor and the application of media and technologies, distance education may be seen as being capable of emulating the success of industrialized manufacture of high quality consumer goods.

This relation between the core theory of economics of education which suggests to view education as an investment ('Human Capital Theory'), the historically unprecedented worldwide postwar expansion of education, and the emergence of distance education sets the scene for the questions of this course.

In the second week students will be asked to do some group work. Students will collaborate to explore the expansion of education using the GED database. While this group work is not graded, participation is strongly recommended since it will allow students to become acquainted with the use of Excel spreadsheets required in the first assignment.

Management issues and  objectives:


Required reading:

Perraton, H. (2000). Introduction: golden goose and ugly duckling, Open and distance learning in the developing world (pp. 4-9). London: Routledge.
Schultz, T. W. (1961). Investment in human capital. American Economic Review, 51, 1-17.

Additional reading:
Psacharopoulos, G. (1995). The Profitability of Investment in Education: Concepts and Methods: World Bank.
Peters, O. (1994). Distance education and industrial production: a comparative interpretation in outline. In D. Keegan (Ed.), Otto Peters on distance education: the industrialisation of teaching and learning (pp. 107-127). London: Routledge.

Group task
At the end of module 1 students are to complete a group task. The task will not be graded and affects the final grade only through its contribution to the 25% of participation rating (cf. Grading above).

 

Module 2
The Techniques of Cost Analysis

Module 2 introduces the basic concepts and techniques of costing. We start with a  view of distance education as a system and by identifying its major components. We then define the main classes of resources required in each component. Each  resource  must be costed. A number of cost categories are defined and applied. This finally leads to a model which allows us to study the behavior of costs when changing the volume of activities.

Special emphasis is given to the issues like capital costs, overheads and cost attribution of joint products.

Objectives:

  1. Students analyze distance education as a system and identify the main subsystems.
  2. Students classify resources (including human resources, premises, equipment and stocks)
  3. Students classify costs into the main cost categories (fixed and variable costs, capital and recurrent costs, opportunity costs).
  4. Students handle the basic cost model to explore the effects of the different cost categories on average cost per student.
  5. Students describe and apply different options for treating capital costs


Required readings:
Rumble, G. (1997). The Costs and Economics of Open and Distance Learning. London: Kogan Page.

Assignment
At the end of module 2 students are to submit an assignment that contributes 25% to the final grade.

 

Module 3
with Professor Dr. Greville Rumble
as visiting expert
The Cost-effectiveness of Distance Education

This module applies cost analysis to distance education institutions. Using 'cost per student' and 'cost per graduate' as an proxy indicator for cost-effectiveness we will examine the method of analyzing institutional cost-effectiveness. We review case study evidence for the claim of distance education being a cost-effective means of educational provision.

Management guidelines to monitor the cost-effectiveness of distance education are suggested.

Objectives

  1. Students summarize the methodology of cost-effectiveness analysis of distance education systems.
    Students identify the most important indicators of measuring institutional effectiveness (cost per student and cost per graduate).
    Students identify the different steps in cost analysis of distance education institutions
  2. Students summarize the evidence for the cost-effectiveness of distance education
    Students examine the evidence of the cost-effectiveness of open universities
    Students summarize the evidence for the cost-effectiveness of distance teaching for 'school equivalency' (the World Bank/UNESCO case studies).
  3. Students identify different institutional forms of distance education. In particular:
    Students distinguish between dedicated mode, dual- and mixed-mode, networks and consortia.
    Students examine the implications of these modes on the cost structures of the respective institutions.
  4. Students identify planning guidelines for ascertaining the cost-effectiveness of distance teaching institutions.


Required readings:
Rumble, G. (1997). The Costs and economics of open and distance Learning. London: Kogan Page.Rumble, G. (Ed.). (2004). Papers and debates on the costs and economics of distance education and online learning (Vol. 7). Oldenburg: Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg.
Rumble, G. (2003). The competitive vulnerability of distance teaching Universities (1992). In G. Rumble (Ed.), Papers and debates on the costs and economics of distance education and online learning (Vol. 7, pp. 67-88). Oldenburg: Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg.
White, V. (2003). Responses to Greville Rumble's article 'The competitive vulnerability of distance teaching universities'. In G. Rumble (Ed.), Papers and debates on the costs and economics of distance education and online learning (Vol. 7, pp. 89-92). Oldenburg: Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg.
Mugridge, I. (2003). Responses to Greville Rumble's article 'The competitive vulnerability of distance teaching universities' (1992). In G. Rumble (Ed.), Papers and debates on the costs and economics of distance education and online learning (Vol. 7, pp. 93-96). Oldenburg: Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg.
Keegan, D. (2003). The competitive advantages of distance teaching universities. In G. Rumble (Ed.), Papers and debates on the costs and economics of distance education and online learning (Vol. 7, pp. 107-117). Oldenburg: Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg.
Rumble, G. (2003). The competitive vulnerability of distance teaching universities: a reply. In G. Rumble (Ed.), Papers and debates on the costs and economics of distance education and online learning (Vol. 7, pp. 103-106). Oldenburg: Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg.
Rumble, G. (2003). Competitive vulnerability: an addentum to the debate (1998). In G. Rumble (Ed.), Papers and debates on the costs and economics of distance education and online learning (Vol. 7, pp. 107-117). Oldenburg: Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg.

Additional reading:
Laidlaw, B., & Layard, R. (1974). Traditional versus Open University teaching method: A cost comparison. Higher Education, 3, 439-468.
Levin, H. M. (1995). Cost-effectiveness Analysis. In M. Carnoy (Ed.), Internation al encyclopedia of economics of education, (pp. 381-386).Oxford: Pergamon.

Assignment
At the end of module 3 students are to submit an assignment that contributes 25% to the final grade.
 
 

Module 4
Costing Educational Technologies

Module 4 addresses the issue of costing technologies. After some methodological consideration on how to cost educational technologies and the introduction of 'cost per student  learning hour' as a measure to facilitate cost comparison, we classify media in two major categories. In the first category we place 'resource media', which are unidirectional and can be replicated  as objects, e.g. books, cassettes, CD-ROMs. They are more likely to generate economies of scale. Communication media, in the second category, link a student and a teacher/tutor and are less prone to generate scale economies.

Netbased education (e-education, distributed e-learning) integrates the different types of media often by unified Learning Management Systems (LMS). But it makes a big difference in terms of cost structure if digital media emphasize the information processing aspect of ICT (type-i, e.g. CBTs) or the communication aspect (type-c, e.g. asynchronous seminars).

Objectives

  1. Students examine Bates' ACTIONS model of evaluating educational media and technologies.
  2. Students understand the problems of comparing educational technologies/ media.
  3. Students apply the costing methodology to netbased learning

Required readings:
Bates, A. W. (1995). Technology, open learning and distance education. (pp. 33-60) London: Routledge.
Rumble, G. (2004). The costs and costing of networked learning. In G. Rumble (Ed.), Papers and debates on the costs and economics of distance education and online learning (pp. 139-162). Oldenburg: Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg.
Rumble, G. (2004). The costs of providing student support services (2001). In G. Rumble (Ed.), Papers and debates on the costs and economics of distance education and online learning (Vol. 7, pp. 163-174). Oldenburg: Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg.
Rumble, G. (2004). E-Education: Whose Benefits, whose costs? In G. Rumble (Ed.), Papers and debates on the costs and economics of distance education and online learning (Vol. 7, pp. 119-138). Oldenburg: Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg.
Whalen, T., & Wright, D. (1999). 'Methodology for cost-benefit analysis of Web-based tele-learning'. The American Journal of Distance Education, 13(1), 25-43.

Additional readings:
Bishop, T., & SchWeber, C. (2001). UMUC's Online MBA Program: A case study of cost-effectiveness and the implications for large-scale Programs': Sloan Foundation.
Bates, A. W. (1999). Calculating the costs of teaching with technology, Managing technological change: strategies for college and university leaders (pp. 122-152). London: Routledge.
Hülsmann, T. (2002). Costs without camouflage: A cost-analysis of Oldenburg University's two Graduate Certificate Programs offered as part of the Online Master of Distance Education (MDE) - A case study. In U. Bernath, Rubin, E. (Ed.), Reflections on teaching and learning in an online master program - a case study (Vol. 6). Oldenburg: Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Universität Oldenburg.
Hülsmann, T. (2000). The Costs of open learning: a handbook. Oldenburg: Bibliotheks- und Informationssystem der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg. (Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Case study 1, Case study 3, Case study 9)

Assignment:
At the end of module 5 students are to submit an assignment that contributes 25 % to the final grade.

Module 5
Managing technological change and developing models for cooperation

Digital technologies may be exploited fully for teaching and learning only if they are fully integrated in the operating of the institution. Institutional structure and technological innovation may be at loggerheads. This may pose substantial management challeges. For Tony Bates the challenge may be moving towards a post-Fordist organization. Not in all contexts a 'mega university' would be the best model. Cohorts of learners increasingly look for specialized offers. E-learning, which keeps courses in digitally documented formats, facilitate re-usability and customization. Scope may prevail over scale.

Efficiency however is not only about managing internal organizational processes but also external aspects of cooperation and competition. It may be useful to buy in and adapt courses, operate under a franchise model or develop models for sharing or jointly developing content. We look at various institutional models of creating network efficiencies.

Part of the issues (especially those of managing internal change) are discussed in Bates (2000). Case studies of efficient models of cooperation are provided.

Objectives

  1. Students reflect on the possible conflict between institutional structure and technological innovation.
  2. Students discuss issues of course and program planning in post-Fordist organizations
  3. Students relate technology infrastructure to student access and faculty support
  4. Students identify models of change on the course and program level (e.g. Lone ranger model)
  5. Students look at funding strategies, and the conflicts and challenges of cooperation and competition facilitated by new technoplogies
Required readings:
Selected chapters from
Bates, A. W. (2000). Managing Technological Change: Strategies for College and University Leaders. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.