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

education with their careers. As the availability of online courses increases, higher
education institutions will need to identify what cannot be done at a distance to justify
attendance on campus.
It is somewhat surprising that the technology itself, while not without problems,
was a relatively minor issue. This can be attributed partially to the innovation of one of
the instructors who created a 'guide to the WebCSILE technology' which was added to
the course database. This guide answered many student questions regarding the use of
the technology for the course and provided solutions to possible technical problems.
Students did however, still request additional resources for technological support, such as
links to websites, a CD ROM and/or newsletters.
Interestingly, one of the support services offered, the electronic library system,
was not highly used by students in the Research Methods course. Although the service
was efficient and in good working order, students preferred to do their own leg work
when it came to researching for their own projects and thus would use their own local
libraries. This may be a finding specific to this particular course but may be worth
researching as library services are currently in the process of gearing up for online
programs.
When developing online courses/programs, it is important to keep in mind that
not all students are suited to this mode of learning. Working online requires
independence, as well as technical and time management skills. The graduate nature of
this course may have contributed to its success. Undergraduate students, especially in
their first year may need more direct contact with the instructor and fellow students to
keep motivated and succeed.
Overall, the cost-benefit methodology has allowed us to take a detailed evaluative
look at a substantive telelearning project. It has provided a costing methodology that
should be easy to adapt and apply to other telelearning contexts.
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