The Internet Learning Business School -hyperlink http://www.ilbsnz.com www.ilbsnz.com – is an online training site, designed and developed by Internet Learning Limited to provide e-learning solutions: online training and development incorporating Internet and intranet facilities.
The company is subsidiary of the New Zealand School of Travel & Tourism and is accredited as an NZQA distance learning site. This means it has the ability to have multi-faceted range of delivery. It means for example that at its inception someone enrolling in the Internet Learning Business School has access to some 750 courses in management, business and computing available for immediate consumption. It also means that in the near future students will be able to undertake national qualifications in ?clicks and mortar’ environment, incorporating an element of both virtual classroom delivery and face-to-face components which will be scheduled in the evenings and weekends to allow huge degree of flexibility to Internet Learning customers. The way has been paved by entrepreneurs in the US where an estimated 90,000 courses at US colleges and universities are delivered by some form of distance learning. Among the current and prospective operators of virtual classrooms are established universities and colleges that want to expand their reach without expanding their physical plant.
If we take the US as an example, only one percent of the world’s population ever have the chance or opportunity to go to Stanford or Columbia which leaves the obvious gap of 99 percent who want quality education. Brazil for example has 200 million people but its college participation is under five percent. Developing countries desperately need better educated people but can’t afford the infrastructure to deliver the necessary knowledge.
“Webucation” will be big and it will be profitable which is particularly notable in an environment where the public has grown accustomed to getting information for free on the web. Whereas most dot-coms compete on price, educators will not be required to do so as most individuals and corporations seek prestige education and quality education as their first motivator to purchasing training and education. In an upwardly mobile fast-changing world, education is becoming life-long activity for ambitious people. With its interactivity and multimedia capabilities, the web is by far the most efficient means of delivering this valuable product.
A great thing about knowledge is that it is mobile and transferable. It belongs to the individual, not to the employer – and it is highly marketable today. With potential market for continuing adult education thus embracing at least 40 percent of the typical developed country’s work force, conventional institutions can no longer be everything to everyone. In many situations they are insufficiently accessible in physical sense and in many cases people who have families or other commitments and who are already working in full day job can ill afford the commuting time to get to traditional school. They need accessible and flexible ways of learning.
Online teaching, however, is more than just time efficient or cost efficient. It is more flexible than the classroom in that the student not getting the point right away can replay the material. The interactivity of online education and its facility for lending graphics and pictures with the spoken word give it an advantage over the typical classroom. With the interactivity of the Internet and the intranet’s facilities such as “Chat-Room”, “Tutorials”, “e-Support”, “Self-Tests”, the Internet Learning Business School gets the equivalent of one-to-one teacher-student ratio. Around the world chat-rooms or study groups can easily be formed to discuss how best to apply global ideas to local businesses, companies or other organisations. In short, the means are finally at hand to improve productivity in education.
Judging by historical experience the new online continuing education of the already well educated will not entirely replace traditional education. New channels of distribution are typically additions and complements rather than replacements. It will simply allow far greater flexibility and accessibility. Television for example did not replace magazines or books. The new medium TV initially enjoyed the incredible growth, but the other media continued to thrive and grow also.
Obviously, corporations of all sizes who become Internet Learning clients will be able to select any number of training options pertinent to their own area of expertise, and package these into internal qualifications to ensure their company maintains their competitive edge. They can of course use these training packages as an incentive scheme within their organisation and have the added advantage of being able to decide if they wish to incorporate components that are nationally recognised.
Human resources managers with responsibility for both local and national training will be able to significantly cut down their upfront training time as they will be able to deliver their material well in advance of their training session, set objectives and monitor progress through online chat facilities and meet only to hone up people’s practical abilities in extremely focused and stimulating practical classroom sessions. Thus erasing hours of unproductive time plowing through reading the basic business principles.
Some corporate organisations worldwide are using the material provided by the Internet Learning Business School. Corporations identify series of modules that they deem to be appropriate to someone moving up the ladder within their own organisation and allow the employees the flexibility of self pacing according to their desire to enhance their career.
Internet Learning is entering the New Zealand business market with firm success in the area of online training in that it has already won major business opportunity in Australia. Internet Learning has been able to successfully compete against major training institutions in Australia, winning the “online training campus” of STA Travel. This business was won because Internet Learning’s leading edge approach to training and innovation in distance learning based education surpassed all STA Travel expectations. Internet Learning is now also providing the “STA Travel Global Campus”, an interactive, nationally accredited travel and tourism training program entirely over the Internet and intranet, where students can experience full interaction with staff and fellow students as they would if they were attending physical campus.
Most organisations would have an idea of which forms of training are appropriate to their needs and requirements. Internet Learning, however, will provide needs analysis consulting service to individuals, groups and companies as part of its commitment to provide quality learning environment which equals any face-to-face learning opportunity the student could access.
Polytechnic selects OneWorld for systems upgrade
The Open Polytechnic is New Zealand’s leading – and only specialist – provider of open and distance learning at tertiary level. It is the country’s largest tertiary institution in terms of student numbers, with 30,000 enrolments annually – over 30 percent of all polytechnic students.
The Open Polytechnic established in 1946 has its main campus in Waiwhetu, Lower Hutt, with business centres in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch. Over 750,000 New Zealanders have studied at the Polytechnic, which offers over 130 programmes and 1300 courses, from certificate to diploma and degree level.
The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, has recently gone live with the first stage of new JD Edwards OneWorld system as part of project to replace its student and financial management systems.
Core OneWorld financial modules (General Ledger, Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable) are up and r
