OMDE 606 Economics of Distance Education

Fall 2001 Schedule

Week Session Dates Readings, Assignments, and Due Dates
1
 08/31-09/06 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.
2
 09/07-09/13

Module 1: The Expansion of Education and the Emergence of the Economics of Education;
Exploring the rising demand for education and soaring costs;
Using the GED 2000 Database
3
 09/14-09/20 Module 1: The Expansion of Education and the Emergence of the Economics of Education;
'Human Capital Theory' and the emergence of economics of education;
What distance education may offer.
4
 09/21-09/27

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.
5
 09/28-10/04 Module 2: The Techniques of Cost Analysis
Making use of spreadsheets for cost-analysis.
6
 10/05-10/11 Module 2: The Techniques of Cost Analysis
Assignment writing; due date: 10/11
7
 10/12-10/18 Module 3: The Cost-effectiveness of Distance Education
Effectiveness and efficiency;
Case study: the British Open University.
8
 10/19-10/25 Module 3: The Cost-effectiveness of Distance Education
Conference with Prof. Greville Rumble on the 'Vulnerability of distance teaching
universities'.
9
 10/26-11/01 Module 3:Module 2: The Cost-effectiveness of Distance Education
Assignment writing; due date: due date: 11/01
10
 11/02-11/08 Module 4: Costing Educational Technologies
Bates ACTIONS Model;
Cost per learning time as an indicator to compare the costs of media;
11
 11/09-11/15 Module 4: Costing Educational Technologies
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.
12
 11/16-11/22 Module 4: Costing Educational Technologies
Assignment writing; due date: due date: 11/22
13
 11/23-11/29 Module 5: The costs and costing of Netbased Learning
The main cost drivers in netbased learning;
The costs of online student support.
14
 11/30-12/06 Module 5: The costs and costing of Netbased Learning
The impact of netbased learning on the cost-structure of distance education;'
Case study: Bell Online
15
 12/07-12/14

Module 5: The costs and costing of Netbased Learning.
Assignment writing; due date: due date: 10/11