Business Improvement Strategies - Term Paper Example

Business Improvement Strategies Problem Revolution of Information Technology inscribes to a generational change in technology and scientific invention. Technology in the information age has influenced human life much more than envisaged through ease of communication and affordability. The Community Information Centers (CICs) constitute new schemes that have been undertaken the remotest states of Australia. Owing to the government call for freedom from distance, a number of technologies used have not managed to give students the opportunities to identify and select the type of learning objects inclusive in the depth of study of each object, and their final assessment portfolio with regard to job relevance, personal interests, inclination, and time (Kraan 2003). The centers have not designed and appealed to the corporate sectors, higher education and an international audience. They need to provide and support several possible levels of engagement and a variety of substitutable topics. The Community Information Centre is yet to be recognized as a citizen and student kiosk having a combination of PC models in which the citizen can obtain citizen centric services, e-learning, e-governance, and e-commerce. There is still a gap in students’ access to databases having variety of information related to disaster management, agricultural marketing, public health, and employment opportunities. The CICs at present are characterized by effective connectivity. Need for the business plan   The CIC Project business plan is to envisage usage of Information Technology, advertising and delivery of services to citizens for instance e-governance, Telemedicine, and e-learning. The CICs potential customers are public and government institutions who provide the citizens with socio-economic databases due to its flexible access (Bisson & 2000). The organization has state of the art equipment such as printers, computers, and Webcam. The advantage over its competitors is in the effectiveness of its connectivity. The marketing strategy is to have a suitable content so as to effectively utilize the infrastructure available. The products are the different types of forms that can be digitized to aid on-line applications and certificate issuance. This content has been considered relevant to local needs of students and other users in Australia. The centre has sufficient financial resources and back end capacity. The organization will be state government machinery needed in the implementation of effective Citizen-centric services. The business model is in the facilitation of effective G2C services developed for databases having a variety of essential information. Analysis Company background The creation of CICs became a means to apply the benefits of Information Technology (IT) to schools and universities specifically in the remote areas of the Australia. Government of Australia (GOA) has had its scheme sanctioned by setting up of CICs in all blocks in Queensland and New South Wales states (Weller 2002). The scheme was dubbed to promote Information Technology in remote and rural areas of the State. The organization has about 50 virtual employees and a funding of up AUD$3,215,000 hence having the financial opportunity to help students and people living in remote areas to access information. The internet is the basic medium that promotes interaction, using Information Technology, with the Government apparatus. The two states have about 18 CICs established in major towns and villages. The organization has been using and dynamic to technologies in the market. Under Phases, several CICs have been created and thus fully functional. Current problem The application of new technologies on academic courses often raises issues of technological determinism, pedagogical appropriateness, access, student workload, and faddism. On the contrary, it is also the case that implementation of technology remains a positive learning experience since it is one of the strongest factors influencing its subsequent uptake. A variety of Internet technologies previously considered as new and innovative are now considered mainstream (Hoare 2004). There is a move towards development of efficient and faster web sites, streaming audio/video, and asynchronous text conferences. There is a synchronous collaboration tools like shared whiteboards. In commercial Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), all the tools are available. Many organizations including CIC have not kept abreast with several new technologies that have come up in their place. Though this advanced set of technologies is presently receiving substantial attention in the popular culture, its application is in particular non-educational contexts only adopted the margins of education. Possible technologies available for e-learning at CIC i) Blogging Blogs or Web logs are currently the fastest growing internet use over the past years. According to Blood (2000), the difference between the two types of blog in this case the journal and the online diary. The internet community has seized the opportunity to use the simple and technologically developed blogs with education having three primary uses. Group blogs incorporates community blogs in certain subject areas especially where an online community can be created. The group members are able to post articles of interest giving rise to related discussions (Tosh & Werdmuller 2004). These blogs are set up particularly for a set of users or students so as to have a general resource. This is where the educator can direct students or users (Hampel & Hauck 2004). Academics keeping blogs is specifically for academia where subject experts began to keep own or group blogs. A number of attractive characteristics for an academic are in the medium. Students applying blogs perhaps becomes the most significant and interesting application of blogs in education. On the contrary, it can be applied by students as an overt part of the learning and teaching process. ii) Audio conferencing The corporate world is in favor of integrated suites of products thus overlooking audio conferencing. There is a general focus on video conferencing for instance Placeware and Webex. Included in the course is a more established of the innovative technologies (Jones & Hicks 2004). Many users are familiar with similar facilities within CIC brainstorming meeting. It is a work-based tool where few users know of its capabilities in language teaching. In many instances, application of audio conferencing in correspondence education is considered as development of the previous use of telephone conferencing and telephone tutoring. They are currently within an integrated package with whiteboard, chat, resource sharing, and concept mapping. There are some systems that permit longer term keeping of the audio files to enable asynchronous involvement (Queen 2002). Other technologies provide short-term determination of non-audio resources with options of saving and subsequently new saving sessions or uploading. Audio conferencing is applied in some subject areas requiring real-time interaction such as language learning. iii) Instant messaging Instant messaging enables real time communication through the internet. It is attained by aid of a software client, for instance AOL’s Instant Messenger. In many cases, users sharing a client can generate a list of people they would desire to communicate with. The role of IM client is to notify users when the people appear online. Users sets up their status to show their level of commitments such as being away or busy so that other users makes choices of whether to contact (Greenspan 2003). The advantage as opposed to email is the high probability of the recipient reading the message. Communication in this synchronized nature has merits and demerits too. IM has influenced the type of communication people engage in just as asynchronous email has radicalized online behavior and the nature of communication. IM is a means by which social interaction especially informal ones takes place. Benefits of e-learning i) The benefit of undertaking each of these technologies provides users and students the real experience of applying the technology and consideration of these prospective educational technologies. ii) It becomes an informal means of communication across the exercise with peers and colleagues. In this case, these technologies became an option to the asynchronous conferencing system. This is representative of peer-to-peer dialogue type in which these technologies are particularly created to support. iii) These technologies reinforce certain types of communication. This reiterates that there is an abundant variety in face-to-face communication. This influence comes from numerous factors like topic under discussion, formality of the situation, the intention of the orator, the social setting and the number of people in attendance. iv) These technologies promotes explicit forms of communication that are increasingly common as users or students are more adapted to a variety of internet technologies and therefore the overhead of applying a variety of technologies is reduced. How can e-learning assist students with academic success A number of ways are available for blogs to be used for pedagogical benefit. Students can apply them as a portfolio or journal, depicting their reflections, thoughts, and discussions on the subject discourse (Laurillard 2002). Weblogs complement a face-to-face business course. Students will need to post some words per week, keep a blog and respond to other students or a number of class mates. They are applied more formally as a portfolio tool for showing proficiency of particular skills and collecting evidence (Baim 2004). This application is a community of practice where many participants become renowned experts in the field. The students get to participate in a genuine peripheral form of community involvement. The publication immediacy is a desired change from the inconveniences experienced in academic publishing (Wegerif 1998). This is specifically pertinent when handling a quickly changing field. Academics are experts in their specialized fields thus possessing a fair deal to deal with relevant present issues as opposed to bloggers who are basically experts on themselves. A blog realizes readers by the value of its content. In a specific subject area, it becomes an ideas marketplace with a strong appeal for academics. The development and exchange of ideas is the fundamental reasons for their involvement in academia. The blog gives a new passage engendering debate and dialogue with other academics located elsewhere. Solutions Present options The preferred options are; 1. Instant Messaging (IM) 2. Rotisserie Cost/benefit analysis of each option Rotisserie Online discussion introduces a component of compulsion and organization which is a bit costly. However, this option provides a structured conferencing system that overcomes these problems (Liarokapis 2002). Besides, Rotisserie executes creative approach to online discussion that motivates thoughtful, measured discourse not met by traditional threaded messaging systems. Some resources will be used in having an entirely asynchronous, broadcast-to-broadcast mode of present threaded messaging systems. On the contrary, this system will add structure to both flow of the discussion and the timing. More time and perseverance is required to sent an email to all users signed up for the Rotisserie session (McConnell 1994). This is also based on a pre-determined series of rounds informing them to give feedback to an original posting by a specific deadline. Student replies are provided before the deadline but not published until the lapse of deadline. There are many subsequent rounds assigned to each member within a set timeframe. The educator has sole discretion to determine the number of rounds. The advantage is that it permits for far more controlled and structured dialogue. The rotisserie system is unsuitable for all types of dialogue. However, the social dimension offers a significant role in blocking off-topic postings or frivolous ones. The benefit is having various uses for specific tasks like developing time-bound discussions based on specific questions or resources. It can also apply to a peer assessment system, where every student is assigned to mark another’s submission randomly. Instant messaging Users are pooled to one client so as to create a list of people to be communicated to. The software client is costly because it uses real-time parameters. The advantage is having the entrance into the online being instantly recognized (Dean 2000). Some users find it difficult to sustain discussions on instant messaging in time of low connectivity. However, users benefit from setting their status to show their positions. Besides, the recipients will have the opportunity to tell whether to contact them. The benefit over email is in the level of certainty that the recipient has read the message (Seely-Brown & Duguid 2002). The communication mode is synchronous in nature and thus creates a unique behavior if relaying messages that inconveniences conservatives. This type of communication engages and creates an immodest online behavior among teens. On the contrary, the instant messaging generation is becoming popular with young people and has assisted their relationships and socialization. The workplace is becoming popular and adopted formally by some organizations like IBM. IM use in informal discussion, specifically of social nature has implications in education. However, the students acquainted with IM use found it easier to communicate and have a stronger sense of community (Bradner 2001). Besides, IM stand up as one of the technologies coupled with mobile phones, and PDAs is experienced by students bringing aboard a greater education experience. This technology does not formally incorporate the learning experience. The benefit is having a pleasure of the communication type it supports. This is significant in comprehending the greater context operated by the student. Option implementation (time, cost, training needed) Option Time Cost Training Rotisserie 7months AUD$13,000 Online methodologies Structured conferencing Instant messaging 11 months AUD$18,000 Synchronous communication Implications on education Recommendation Instant messaging advised since IM applies to informal discussion. Owing to its social nature, it has strong implications in education. The method is involves students having to claim a stronger sense of community and the ease of communication. IM idealizes one of the technologies that come along mobile phones and PDAs. The students have the opportunity of bringing to their higher education experience with them. This happens despite being formally integrated into the learning experience. There is the definite appreciation of the communication type that it works for thus, significant in comprehending the wider context within which the students operate. 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