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

• Introduction: How to get through this course; getting to know each other; getting acquainted with the learning environment.
• Exploring the rising demand for education and soaring costs; using the GED 2000 Database
• 'Human Capital Theory' and the emergence of economics of education; what distance education may offer

Module 2: The Techniques of Cost Analysis

• Budgets and the classification of resources; classification of costs; economies of scale; overheads and the treatment of capital costs.
• Making use of spreadsheets for cost-analysis.

Module 3: The Cost-effectiveness of Distance Education
with guest faculty Prof. Dr. Greville Rumble (06/22-06/28)

• Effectiveness and efficiency; case study: the British Open University.
• Conference with Prof. Greville Rumble on the 'Vulnerability of distance teaching universities'

Module 3: The Cost-effectiveness of Distance Education
Posting assignment #1: 06/29
Due date for assignment #1: 07/03

Module 4: Costing Educational Technologies

• Bates ACTIONS Model; Cost per learning time as an indicator to compare the costs of media;
• The cost-effectiveness of educational media and the media equivalency theory; classification of media and their cost structure; using a spreadsheet to explore the cost behavior of different media combination.
• The main cost drivers in netbased learning; the costs of online student support.
• The impact of netbased learning on the cost-structure of distance education;' c ase study: Bell Online.

Module 4: Costing Educational Technologies
Posting assignment #1: 07/09
Due date for assignment #1: 07/15
Course Wrap-up