BACKGROUND
Developing a new unit is always a challenge, the content of the lecture series and tutorial sessions, textbook, reference books, assessment items and weighting, relevance to industry needs, the ability to attract and maintain student interest and application while still maintaining academic standards for a final year unit.
The teaching of electronic commerce not only requires students to learn the concepts and application of topics including internet technologies, business models, commercial products, communications, electronic payment systems, security issues, marketing, taxation, legal and ethical issues, as well as the effects of disintermediation and reintermediation in the market place, but to apply them in realistic business situations.
Students from the Undergraduate Business program have successfully completed units such as Accounting, Economics, Business Law and Ethics, Marketing, Applied Research Methods, Systems Analysis and Design, Data Modeling, Business Programming Languages of Visual Basic and Java, Human Issues in Computing, Computer Based Art and Design, Small Business Management and Consumer Behavior.
Using collaboration between the university, industry and students as a teaching/learning tool, students gain first hand experience in developing a working relationship between the university and the real world, which unfortunately could pull in different directions. Students and SME’s soon realised the importance research by universities play in developing strategies and adoption models as a way of increasing productivity, management structures, development of systems, reducing costs and a way of opening new markets through using advanced information technologies and developing e-business strategic plans.
COURSE STRUCTURE
INF320 Electronic Commerce introduces students to the theoretical and practical issues associated with Internet commerce. The focus is on how the electronic commerce can be used to improve the way a business deals with its stakeholders (customers, suppliers, owners, employees, etc.) and how it can be used to develop and market new products and services, the internet being one efficient and effective tool.
Students formed themselves into project groups (seventeen in total) of two or three members each to seek out an SME as the host for the project. The university provided a letter of introduction that forms the tripartite contractual agreement between the SME, the student group and the university with defined commitments, attributed to each party. Follow up on a regular basis by the unit coordinator with the SME and the student group is critical to ensure quality of information, service and commitment is being maintained since the group project accounts for 55 percent of the final grading.
Table 1. Assessment
The challenge for the students in the project teams is to draw on previous knowledge and skills while interacting with the SME as they work through the key stages in the project:
- Organising the kickoff meeting between the project team and the SME
- Information technology workshops for SME’s to increase their knowledge on e-commerce issues and advanced technologies
- Carryout a site audit and compile a report on current assets
- Configuration recommendations for technology and human resources
- Recommendation for installation & configuration of hardware and software
- Development of a web site
- Procedures for registering a internet business name, trademark and hosting the web site with its ongoing costs
- Analysis of potential for other electronic commerce services the SME could take advantage in the future
- On completion of the project make recommendation of commercial services available for financial transaction processing
With each project having different requirements, analyse of data collected during interviews, on-site audits and questionnaires become the framework for the development of a systems flowchart, define roles, duties and responsibilities within the team, setting milestones, allocate resources, setting meeting schedules, assigning costs to each task and preparing PERT and GANTT charts. Regular project team reviews were carried out during tutorial sessions to ensure PERT and GANTT had been signed off by the SME and the project was on track.
Figure 1 Stages of the team project – an exampleWith no prescribed format to follow, the challenge project team members have it to develop their own flowchart and record progress as it unfolded.
ACCESS TO RESOURCES
Documentation
Challenging students to adopt industry standard documentation instead of the formal university format for assignment writing, specifications and presentation was not easy as students have five semesters previous exposure and have become accustomed to setting out assignments and reports to meet university requirements. In preparing business documentation, students had to discuss the desired format with the SME and carryout research as what industry expects for Request For Tender (RFT) or Request For Information (RFI) documentation since the final report is designed for, and to be understood by the SME.
Computer Resources
Another challenge for the students was to source suitable software at no cost to the SME as the front-end and backend interface for the web site unless prior approval had been given by the SME. Development of the project was carried out in the universities computer labs providing 24 hour access to 400MHz Pentium III PC’s with 64Mb RAM, color scanner, digital camera, regulated internet access, Windows 98, Netscape Communicator, Internet Explorer, Microsoft 97 Office Suite, Visual Basic, Java and PhotoShop or at home using their own resources.
Shareware Software
Shareware software was used extensively in developing interfaces with the website. The benefits to students and the university include:
- Reduced costs to the university in purchasing and supplying multiple copies of software which may not have been suitable for the task
- Students had a wide variety of front-end and backend software to research, test, install and interface with the WebPages
- Enabling the students to make recommendations on software programs while demonstrating the advantages and disadvantages of each interface with SME.
The SME’s reported how valuable this approach to the project had been, and how they were able to benefit from the interchange that took place while developing their e-commerce strategy. The final decision however was left to the SME.
Categories of Shareware Software and on-line resources include:
- Windows based screen grab software to capture screen images in various formats to include in the documentation and training manuals
- Internet Tech Support Diagnostics to test the business owners computer for electronic commerce suitability
- Checking WebPages for broken links and perform a comparative check with a similar designed site or a competitors site
- Rank ordering of ISP’s offering a web hosting service providing the host business with a comprehensive matrix of service and price
- Searching for availability of a range of suitable domain names and the cost of registration
- Use of a hit counter on the WebPages (visible or invisible) describing its features and how the business owner can use this data in the future
- Animation of graphic images and banners
- Security software and hardware options for financial transactions over the internet
- Backend databases and form generators for interactive websites
PROJECT WEB HOSTING ON WOMBAT
While every attempt was made to simulate as close as possible ‘a virtual community’ by establishing a ‘service directory’ on the student fileserver called ‘Wombat’, however the limitations of this server become frustrating as CGI scripts and backend functions would not work. To overcome this problem, websites were first loaded onto ‘free web hosting services’ available on the Internet to carryout performance testing and to demonstrate the site to the SME in a live environment.
The live environment provided SME’s with the opportunity to navigate the site at their convenience and provide feedback to the project team with modifications if applicable. Once completed, the site was removed form the free service and uploaded to ‘Wombat’ for demonstration and assessment purposes.
STUDENT EVALUATIONS
As a measure to the success of this teaching strategy regular debriefing sessions were carried out during tutorial sessions, followed up with a comprehensive end of semester survey. Results from the survey supported the aim and objectives of the course to integrate experiential learning techniques through direct interaction with student project groups with SME’s. Although they were apprehensive at the beginning, students were appreciative of the flexibility shown to develop the project using their own resources without rigid restrictions and formal university requirements. The only criticism to come out of the survey was in teamwork itself and this area needs to be attended to in earlier units.
SME FEEDBACK
Highly supportive of the approach by the university to include them in our course structure. This has improved community relations, increased their awareness of the role and function of a university, measured the quality of our students and gained a valuable electronic commerce business strategy. Through word of mouth, SME’s have spread the message to other SME’s within their business organisations to the point that we are being approached on a regular basis for inclusion in future projects.
CONCLUSIONS
While it is imperative we as educators maintain “intellectual values and sound scholarship associated with higher education and the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake” there is also a “feeling of unease about universities in terms of their capacity to meet the needs of business and industry”. Also, many of the employers and employer organisations feel that “universities were not producing the kind of graduates they need in the 21st century” as outlined in the report by the West Committee (1998), “Review of Higher Education Financing and Policy - A Policy Discussion Paper, AGP.
The literature is rich with examples of experiential teaching techniques concerned with personal growth and development, experiential learning approaches that increase self-awareness and group effectiveness techniques designed to link the classroom with the dynamic world of business by creating a bridge between the theoretical and ‘real life’ practical examples by living what has been learned in the classroom.
We as policy makers and educators have the capacity to challenge the traditional methods used to deliver courses and respond to student, community and business needs by enhancing the learning experiences, and by challenging students to live course content through experiential learning methods. This provides an effective way of building effective relationships between all sectors in our community and exposing students to realistic situations through our understanding of both the educational and industry objectives.
REFERENCES
Collings, Kleeman, Martin, Richards-Smith and Walker (1977), “Experiential Learning of Information Systems Design”, 8th Australian Conference of Information Systems, pp482-494
Conger & Mason, 1998, “Planning and Designing Effective Web Sites”, Thomas Publishing, USA
Lowe & Hall, 1999, “Hypermedia & the Web”, Wiley & Sons, USA
Keane D (1977), “Teaching Information Systems Using Cases”, 5th European Conference on Information Systems, Volume 111, pp1545-1546
Lowry G (1977), “Postgraduate research Training For Information Systems: Improving Standards & Reducing Uncertainty”, 8th Australian Conference of Information Systems, pp191-202
Weil & McGill (1989), "A Framework for making sense of Experiential Learning, Making Sense of Experiential Learning”, SRHE/OU Press, Milton Keynes
West Committee (1998) , “Review of Higher Education Financing and Policy - A Policy Discussion Paper, AGP
Willson-Murray R, 1997, “Managing Projects A New Approach”, Wiley & Sons, Singapore
Wood W (1977), “A Model For Teaching Systems Analysis and Design”, 8th Australian Conference of Information Systems, pp417-422
Websites of Resources for Student Group Projects:
Author: Anthony Stiller Page
