Moving bits and bytes in an open net environment: meshing innovative crafting and push-pull delivering

Chong Chee-leong
SIM University
Singapore


The rapid commercialization of academic products and services, driven by demographic changes, technological innovations and the overall globalization of the economy, has inevitably led to a progressive deconstruction of the traditional university-based academic education landscape. The pace of deconstruction is fueled by the growing advocacy of life long learning where the demand for just-in-time rather than just-in-case knowledge requires flexible scheduling and self-paced courses that meet the needs of individual learners at reasonable costs. This has translated into a demand for increasingly high standards of quality, service, and a shift from one-size-fits-all to 'mass customized learning' that meets the specific needs of a diverse and often globally distributed customer base.

This paper uses a framework of the product-process matrix to understand the interaction between the two and argues that at the heart of web-based learning is innovative products delivered through advanced information technologies. The Product involves the nature or design of the academic product that can change with shifting learner's needs and new academic developments. The Process element involves the delivery of the product and is highly dependent on the interoperability of IT supporting systems. The product can be delivered in a push fashion like the Blackberry handheld model where e-mails are pushed to the end-user, or it can be on a Kanban or just-in-time model where the end-user pulls the product when he or she is ready. Four general models of developing and delivering web-based education can be derived: Traditional learning, Mass learning, Targeted Learning, and Mass Customized Learning.

The paper then discusses an Open Net Environment that is scalable, allows efficient production of highly customized education offerings, and enables access to knowledge by anyone, anytime, anywhere from any device. It is based on a business model that places a premium on ownership and control of the educational products; facilitates inter-operability open standards between academic institution providers; and provides unique opportunities by making it
easier to reach the learners at the place of need (access at work, access at home, and access on-the-go); and to sell the learning as needed, even on-demand. This Open Net Environment is quite similar in nature to the 'telco' models of data packet switching, where each institution is positioned as a switch with a secured data vault and operates in an 'ASP' modus operandi. This paper concludes by advocating a plug-and-learn platform of web-based learning that focuses on narrowcast rather than broadcast, and yet is flexible, adaptable and emphasizes cost-efficiency.