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

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Table 14 Student Response to the Costs of the Research Methods Course Statement Response Distribution SD SA Number of Students Responding Mean Standard Deviation Delivery method costs less than other methods 1 3 4 2 3 13 3.23 1.30 Course is not worth its cost 11 0 2 0 0 13 1.31 0.75 SD = strongly disagree; SA =strongly agree Students indicated an almost neutral response to the question of whether online delivery costs less than other delivery methods. They did however, indicate the cost of the course was worth the money it cost them to take it. class: In addition, one student indicated they saved money by not having to drive to I decreased the wear and tear on my car and so on as well. You know that's something you have to think about [as well as] the price of gas today. (student B) Table 15 provides a summary of the main cost findings. 23
Table 15 Main Cost Findings Findings • The use of WebCSILE software rather than Parti software decreased tutorial and student support time by half. • As this course was revised from an existing online course, course development costs were minimal. • There were no software costs as WebCSILE was developed at OISE/UT. • Overhead costs are unknown as no system of keeping track of these costs is currently in place. Future policy and plans around funding for online courses are currently being developed. • Based on the researched costs, revenue, and student enrollment, annual profit obtained for this course is $1,962. • Annual break-even enrollment for this course, based on the projected costs, revenues, and student enrollment over 5 years is 5.31 students. (This would increase with the inclusion on the unknown overhead costs). • Students thought the course was worth the money it cost them. • The costing methodology developed provided an accurate means of measuring the full direct costs of online courses in a real context. Section C: Benefits and Limitations Benefits and limitations found for this course will be presented according to Bates (1995) ACTIONS model, (C=Costs, which have already been discussed). Results are based on both quantitative and qualitative data. Access Students were asked two questions regarding access to and flexibility of this course: 1. "If this course was not offered in this delivery method, I would be unable to complete it", and 2. "I like this delivery method because it gives me flexibility in my studies (e.g. time, place, location)". Responses are based on a five point Likert type scale (1 = strongly disagree, 5 = strongly agree) and are shown in Table 16. Table 16 Student Response to Access and Flexibility of the Research Methods Course Statement Unable to complete the course without online delivery Response Distributions Number of Students Mean Standard Deviation SD SA Responding 0 2 1 2 9 14 4.29 1.14 Flexibility 1 0 0 3 10 14 4.50 1.09 24
Page 1 and 2: Assessing the Costs and Benefits of
Page 3 and 4: Summary and Major Findings This pro
Page 5 and 6: Benefits and Limitations Specific t
Page 7 and 8: Novelty • The course contributed
Page 9 and 10: Organization.......................
Page 11 and 12: Table 22 Student Response to the De
Page 13 and 14: Methodology The methodology develop
Page 15 and 16: esults, and writing research report
Page 17 and 18: Section A: Student Characteristics
Page 19 and 20: Table 4 Student Computer and Techno
Page 21 and 22: Table 6 Student Response to Deliver
Page 23 and 24: Equivalent enrollments (FTE's) with
Page 25 and 26: Delivery of the course was through
Page 27 and 28: As can be seen in Table 10 over the
Page 29: student society fees. Similarly, th
Page 33 and 34: I can do my course work outside my
Page 35 and 36: Table 17 Benefits and Limitations o
Page 37 and 38: particular student raised a questio
Page 39 and 40: The text was practical and realisti
Page 41 and 42: on a course that I go to class. But
Page 43 and 44: something in writing, we would get
Page 45 and 46: Interaction and User Friendliness T
Page 47 and 48: There are times that I would like t
Page 49 and 50: Despite the online and communal for
Page 51 and 52: who can manage on their own and who
Page 53 and 54: Table 30 Benefits and Limitations o
Page 55 and 56: Some of the non-credit courses desi
Page 57 and 58: trying to deal with her problems an
Page 59 and 60: Drawbacks [to this delivery method]
Page 61 and 62: again. (However, if I were asking q
Page 63 and 64: Conclusion Several findings of inte
Page 65 and 66: References Bates, A.W. (1995). Tech
Page 67 and 68: Finally, an instrument for assessme
Page 69 and 70: (Paraphrased from, Design Principle
Page 71 and 72: environment include providing a str
Page 73: Table 39 Response Distribution of T

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