The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering AF3901 Economics for Engineers Assignment 1
Topic : Engineering Economic Decisions of a secondary school on an e-Learning

Kwok Chi Hang 12060601D

Introduction: E-learning is a new trend in this century and it is greatly affecting the teaching style and the education nowadays. In many countries, people apply the latest technology on the education system and it generates many brand new products to the world like eBook, online video lecture and even some learning apps. A number of these products get very good feedback from the educators and students, and this report is going to study the E-learning in secondary school in an engineering economic perception. The report will cover from the roles, tasks and responsibilities of the engineers in running the E learning. Discussion: 1.Role of engineers in making business decision 1.1. Cost management Implementing IT into education, it involves a lot of technology from programmes of the online systems, software and hardware to the electronic applicants used in class and home. And there are three main elements in e-Learning: e-tools, e-Learning resources, e-Learning programmes. Engineers are familiar with the technical, equipment and process of making IT learning system which makes them become one of the most important decision makers in process coating, batching and cost allocation. Engineers can have a comprehensive analysis of the engineering part of the project and help with making a rational decision. More than that, engineers can make some sensible predictions for the possible error of the e-Learning system and set up several alternatives to deal with the problems. In order to have quick response with any error, engineers play an important role in the troubleshooting, with their professional knowledge so that we can quickly relaunch the eLearning platform as quick as possible. This can minimize the loss of the students and the investor. 1.2. Improvement in Service and Quality Technology changes every day, especially for the e-Learning courses, we need to keep updating and improving the software for better user'sexperience for both students and instructors. In terms of

improvement of the e-Learning platform, first, we need to know how the users think about the system. For example, the users may not like the system because it is very difficult to use, the speed of running the e-Learning programme is too slow or even there is insufficient memory space for the instructor to upload the materials. In order to figure out the problem, the engineers can first communicate with the users and understand what the actual problem of the system is. And then engineers can work with the programme again to improve the eLearning experience. Also, the engineers can test the system first in the summer holiday session and finalize the system for the coming semester. 1.3. Product Expansion in Future Development E-learning system is definitely a long term project involving schools, government and the general public. It is believed that this will become more and more important in the Hong Kong Education. So, in the future, the e-Learning system will apply to the whole primary school and secondary school. With such a large scale of investment, it is necessary to make a correct decision on the product expansion for development of the e-Learning. Engineers with professional knowledge will have a better insight of choosing the suitable software, hardware and certain technology for sustainable usage and easily transform of different school. 2. Tasks and Responsibilities of engineers to achieve good project result 2.1 Cooperating with educators to make the e-Learning system A good e-Learning platform must be educating and user friendly. For the education, unlike the traditional textbook, the e-Learning resources must be remade by the educators. It may include the video of the lectures which allow the students re-attend the lectures after school which definitely help the students with better understanding. The eLearning platform may also include some notes, tests and extra materials given by the teachers for further teaching and assessment

ofstudents. Educators need to prepare a lot of materials for the eLearning system, and this is important for them to cooperate with the engineers in order to give a good layout of the e-Learning platform which is user friendly. They can also provide some guide practice and help assistance for the users so that they can easily pick up the system and effectively use the e-Learning for study. 2.2 Maintain and Monitor the e-Learning System First of all, technology grows quickly, everyday has new technology comes out. Engineers need to keep updating the software and deleting the old ones. Moreover, when the system is being used for a long time, it may require another server for extra updating materials and resources. The system should be evaluated by the teachers and student. Having the feedback from the users, engineers can improve the eLearning system for better performance in learning and teaching. Secondly, no one can guarantee the e-Learning platform has no any problems; this could be from man- made mistake and other reasons. Thus, engineers are needed to monitor the e-Learning system for normally function. Also, regular monitor can evaluate how often students use the e-Learning system for self-study and so that understand the effectiveness of the current e-Learning course. If the system found is not being used so often by the students, the engineers should report this to the teachers and work together to improve the online course or the accessibility of the system. 2.3 Usability and Accessibility of the e-Learning System One of another technical issue that has to address is that of usability. The e-learning system must be easy to use for both instructors and students. It is important because if the system is difficult to use or access, the students would not use it again. In order to avoid that, the engineers should start with the software and the platform design. They can make a clear catalogue or menu to guide the users, also it should be easy for the teachers to upload and manage the materials. Secondly,

nowadays, we have a lot of different portable devices and actually many students have their own tablet or laptop, so when then engineers develop the e-Learning platform, it should support different devices in order they can access to the materials easily. 3. Evaluation of the e-Learning for Improvement The main reason to perform evaluation is to test the effectiveness of the current e-Learning programme to certain group of users which is directly related to the cost effectiveness of the system. Although threeLearning is overwhelming in recent years, there are some fail examples that show e-Learning is not something must be good. Actually, there are number of reasons behind. The most important factors arepoor Project Management, Planning and implementation Skill. With such a large change in the teaching and learning environment, the project must have a clear target and well support from the engineers and educators.The instructors are lack of experience of running the e-Learning lecture. When they come to the real situation, there are a number of problems they have to face, for example: technical problems, class monitor and class atmosphere. In order to solve these problems, a before- hand evaluation is important. There are a number of models that makes for the evaluation of the e-Learning programme. The CIPP model is used for three dimensional evaluations in education in organization, pedagogy and technology. For the evaluation strategy for the e-Learning course, it is very important to think about this from the design stage. First, engineers and instructors should make the purpose of evaluation; it can be checking the quality and effectiveness of the e-Learning course given out in that year. Receiving the feedback from the users including instructors and students, engineers can modify the e-Learning platform in terms of style, adding more resources and updating the latest information.

Findings: Economic efficiency of e-learning in highereducation: An industrial approach is a report made by Jordi Vilaseca and David Castillo from UniversitatOberta de Catalunya(Spain) studying the economics of the eLearning in the university in an industrial approach.

Ordinary Capital Stock (K),ICT Capital Stock (T),Intangible Capital Stock (C)

From the figure shown, it reveals that the growth of the e-Learning programme requires investment in ICT and complementary assets such as software applications, new methodologies and contents copyrights and they are much outweighs the investment in physical capital. The figures from the report again show the importance of engineers in developing the e-Learning Programme. First, the report shows the largest investment of e-Learning Programme, investment in ICT and complementary assets. And actually, it requires need very high technical knowledge for these two important decisions. Engineers who are familiar with the related technology can make the best decisions on choosing the most suitable and economic equipment and software for the programme. It can directly reduce the total cost of the development of e-Learning and provide the best service. Case Study: Microsoft Hong Kong E-Learning has been developed in foreign countries for years, so there are some company had developed a set of e-Learning programmes and software. Microsoft is one of the market leaders in the field of e-Learning. Actually, they have had some collaboration with the local school. With the help of the experienced company, the whole e-Learning course can be more organized and comprehensive. Here is an example of the local school. The Hong Kong Institute of Education Jockey Club Primary School has adopted the e-Learning course in their regular class. In the class, the students are using the tablet instead of the printed textbook; moreover, the school installed the WI-FI network for the students to access the class notes and extra materials through internet. The response from the school is very good; students are active in class and more willing to learn by using the eLearning equipment which can better explore the students potential. In the e-Learning course, they set up a number of targets first, like increasing interaction to cultivate students interest in learning, let students acquire more knowledge and enhance the effectiveness of each lesson.

Benefit of Partnership Programme: The partnership company will provide technical support to the school. For example, the company will give out some tailor-made solution to the school in order provide greater cost effectiveness. For that tailor-made software of the e-Learning course, the students and instructors can quickly fit in with the e-Learning class. The company will also do the evaluation to improve the current e-Learning system. After the semester, the company collects the data from the e-Learning course for modification of the programme. This can really save the time of the students and instructors to adapt to a new learning environment.In a more economic perception, the partnership members are usually willing to offer a good price of equipment needed for e-Learning for the school. Comparing to develop a whole new e-Learning system by the school, it saves both time and money. In this way, school can use the saved money to invest other e-Learning resources including learning software and extra materials for online access. Conclusion: E-learning has been known for its simplicity and Eco-friendly benefits for a long time. However, when it really execute to the local secondary study, we need to concern a lot of factors but not only focus to its advantages. The government can take the former pilot scheme into consideration to make a comprehensive e-learning course for the secondary students. In this report, it shows that the engineers play a crucial role in making the economic decision for the e-Learning development. With their professional knowledge in the engineering, the decision maker of the plan can have a better cost management and help the e-Learning course improving by the maintenance and monitor of engineers Moreover, engineers have a better insight to the future development of the technology, they can help the decision makers to choose a right way in e-Learning development in Hong Kong. As shown in the report, there are also a number of fail example of eLearning and the main cause is that they were failed to have a suitable evaluation system which is crucial for any education system. Even having the latest technology, the best equipment and software, it does not necessarily mean the success of the e-Learning course. It requires all round collaboration of educators, engineers and instructors.

Reference Chan S.P. (2011) : Contemporary Engineering Economics 5th Edition Colin, D. (2008) :Mangement and Cost Accounting 7th Edition Jordi, V. ,David, C (2008) : Economic efficiency of e-learning in

highereducation: An industrial approach A report of analysis of eLearnning from UniversitatOberta de Catalunya (Spain) Howard, H. , Laura, O.(2010) : Why do e-learning projects fail? 33 causes of failure (& what to do about them!) A Towards Maturity Briefing Paper Agostino, M. ,Vittorio, M. (2005) : Measuring the Economic Benefits of ELearning: A Proposal for a New Index for Academic Environments . Journal of Information Technology Education(Volume 4, 2005) ROSENBERG, M. J. (2001). E-learning.Strategies for Delivering

Knowledge in the Digital Age. New York: McGraw-Hill. BATES, A. W. (2003): Technology, E-Learning and Distance Education. London and New York: Routledge. SOSIN, K.; B. BLECHA, R.; AGARWAL, R.; BARTLETT, J.; DANIEL, J. (2004). Efficiency in the use of technology in economic education: Some preliminary results. Microsoft e-Learning Case Study. Available online

at:<http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/default.aspx>