Module Two

•What are the strengths of the online format, in general? How can instructors and students take advantage of these strengths?


•What are the weaknesses or limitations of the online format, in general? What can be done to overcome these weaknesses/limitations?

•What opportunities will be created for the university to expand its offerings and become more competitive in the market if it adopts an online format? How can these opportunities be maximized?

•What threats exist for the university that may cause the online format adoption to fail? How can these threats be mitigated?

Within the context of SWOT, strengths of Distant Education (DE) include, but not limited to:


1. Capability of the World Wide Web to bring anything, anytime, and any location creating global outreach and extension.

2. Online formats provide educational opportunities for students who cannot transfer to campus (e.g. medical reasons, family or employment commitments).

3. DE has the ability to reach new and existing audiences enhancing collaboration in particular content(s), as well as, between private and public institutions.

4. Opportunity for faculty to create unique and individualized interactive learning experiences and provide higher levels of skill building.

5. DE offer organizations to create a niche for unique and specialized courses/programs.

6. DE offers an infrastructure that facilitates a progressive delivery creating more effective techniques reaching the varying learning styles.


Weaknesses include, but not limited to:

1. Lack of incentives for faculty to participate in distance education course development, along with the lack of development support and resources.

2. Limited understanding regarding copyright and legal issues.

3. Staff with a lack of skill, expertise, and desire to improve interactive DE courses can cause poor communication channels which results with limited information pertaining to procedures on key issues. Improper or lack of training, the availability of support from the team and management are also known weaknesses and must be addressed in a timely matter.

4. Technology issues, such as bandwidth limitations and availability (or lack of), as well as, the rate of technological change itself creates a weakness.

5. Disconnect or loss of interaction between students and faculty. Student qualifications must include self-motivation.

Threats include:

1. Career and job security in the belief to that the web diminishes the role of educators could downsize faculty.

2. Competition from private and public institutions to the long-term survival of the university due to students going elsewhere creating business/revenue issues.

3. The bonds on small developers/programmers and security concerns. DE could create a problem for the content data to be edited by hackers.

4. The thought of losing focus on the content by being distracted by the technology.

5. Using older models to develop new policies. Plans must recognize the diversity of students’ demographics and geographic, as well as background knowledge to altered course effectively.

References:

Murhprey, T. & Dooley, K. (2000) Perceived strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats Texas A & M University, Vol. 41 Issue 4, Retrieved from http://pubs.aged.tamu.edu/jae/pdf/Vol41/41-04-39.pdf

Rogers, E. M. (1995). Diffusion of innovations. 5th Edition, New York, NY: The Free Press.

Simonson, M (2009) Distant Education: The next generation [VOD] Laureate Education, Inc (Producer). Available from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/