Assessing the Costs and Benefits of Telelearning: A Case Study ...

You should see the diversity in this course. We had eight medical doctors,
practicing medical doctors who are in a special program in Ottawa, three
nurses and the rest were a full range of a graduate students ... I think it
was 60% female and 40% male. (instructor 1)
Table 7 below provides a summary of the main student characteristics (based on the 14 of
20 students who responded to the questionnaire):
Table 7
Summary of Student Characteristics
Characteristic General Results
Gender 86% female; 14% male
Age Average age is around 37 years
Grade point average last year Mean GPA is approximately 82%
Highest level of education 2/3 at the Bachelor's level; 1/3 at the graduate
level
Number of courses enrolled in Average one course this term; 3 courses this year
Student Status All part time students
Employment All but 1 employed
Work hours/week Range from 12-60 hours/week; mean
approximately 43 hours/week
Caregiver status Half were the primary caregiver
Computer use for this course Mostly at home; some at the office
Reasons for taking the course Most significant - to obtain qualification/credit;
least significant - to socialize with others
Most preferred delivery method A mix of technologies
Least preferred delivery method No response
SECTION B: Costs
The following categories will be described in this section: revenue, researched
costs, projected costs, and student costs.
Revenue. The Research Methods course is one of five courses required for the
completion of a Master's degree. The Master's degree costs $3,700 in tuition fees.
Therefore, tuition fees for this course was $740 per student. Twenty students enrolled in
the September 1997 offering of this course. Therefore, the total revenue obtained from
tuition fees was $14,800.
In addition, the provincial government assigns funding to graduate programs on the basis
of "Basic Income Units" (BIU's). These are calculated based on the number of Full Time
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