For-profit online education is a quickly emerging industry. In recent years, many education providers have established Web sites where they offer courses on a large selection of subjects. Businesses from every corner of the commercial world have expressed serious interest in these potentially lucrative opportunities. Due to the relatively short history of online education, many components along the process are not well developed or well connected. This paper describes and discusses the supply chain of online education, its components, and the technology applications each component uses. It also reviews the weaknesses of current technology applications on the supply chain and proposes development opportunities to better integrate the online education industry.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
YellenR., The On-Line Trainee: A Forgotten End User, Journal of End User Computing, 11:3, pp. 29–30, Summer 1999.
2.
WinstonG., For-Profit Higher Education: Godzilla or Chicken Little?Change, 31:1, pp. 12–19, January-February 1999.
3.
StoneA., Online Original: Education Stocks 101, BusinessWeek, May 10, 1999.
4.
BeckerG. S., How the Web is Revolutionizing Learning, BusinessWeek, p. 40, December 27, 1999.
5.
YoungJ. R., Coming Soon to a Computer Near You: Astronomy Courses with Attitude and Actors, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 45:46, p. 40, July 23, 1999.
6.
MelcherR. A., Education Prognosis 1999, BusinessWeek, p. 132, January 11, 1999.
7.
HuangA. H., Challenges and Opportunities of Online Education, Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 25:3, pp. 229–247, 1996–1997.
8.
ThayerP. W., A Rapidly Changing World: Some Implications for Training Systems in the Year 2001 and Beyond, in Training for a Rapidly Changing Workplace, QuinonesM. A.EhrensteinA. (eds.), American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C., 1997.
9.
TurnageJ. J., The Challenge of New Workplace Technology for Psychology, American Psychologist, 45, pp. 171–178, 1990.
10.
NelsonR. R.WhitenerE. M.PhilcoxH. H., The Assessment of End-User Training Needs, Communications of the ACM, 38:7, pp. 27–39, July 1995.
11.
AlaviM.WheelerB.ValacichJ. S., Using IT to Reengineer Business Education: An Exploratory Investigation of Collaborative Telelearning, MIS Quarterly, 19:3, pp. 293–311, September 1995.
12.
DysonE., Education and Job in the Digital World, Communications of the ACM, 40:2, pp. 35–36, February 1997.
13.
SchulmanA. H.SimsR. L., Learning in an Online Format versus an In-Class Format: An Experimental Study, Technological Horizons in Education, 26:11, p. 54, June 1999.
14.
BurdS., U.S. Panel Warns Colleges to Cut Costs or Risk an Erosion of Public Trust, Chronicle of Higher Education, 44:21, pp. 26–27, January 30, 1998.
15.
MahoneyJ., Higher Education in a Dangerous Time: Will Technology Really Improve the University?Journal of College Admission, 24:30, p. 161, Fall 1998.
16.
RadhakrishnanS.BaileyJ., Web-Based Educational Media: Issues and Empirical Test of Learning, in Proceedings of the WebNet 97 World Conference of the WWW, Internet & Intranet, Toronto, Canada, November 1997.
17.
SpoonerF.SpoonerM.AlgozzineB.JordanL., Distance Education and Special Education: Promises, Practices, and Potential Pitfalls, Teacher Education and Special Education, 21:2, pp. 121–131, Spring 1998.
18.
OlsenF., Virtual Institutions Challenge Accreditors to Design New Ways of Measuring Quality, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 45:48, pp. 29–30, August 6, 1999.
19.
NealE., Using Technology in Teaching: We Need to Exercise Healthy Skepticism, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 44:4, pp. 4–5, June 19, 1998.
20.
BlumenstykG., Critics See Conflict of Interest in Ties between ETS and Sylvan, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 45:27, pp. 38–39, March 12, 1999.
21.
WoodW. H.AgoginoA. M., Engineering Courseware Content and Delivery: The NEEDS Infrastructure for Distance Independent Education, Journal of the American Society for Information Science, 47:11, pp. 863–869, November 1996.
22.
Van HornR., Tomorrow's High-Performance Courseware: A Rough Sketch, Phi Delta Kappan, 79:7, pp. 556–558, March 1998.
23.
ColeK.FischerO.SaltzmanP., Just-in-Time Knowledge Delivery, Communications of the ACM, 40:7, pp. 49–53, July 1997.
