Today I have been thinking very much about the e-Learning process and how it translates to real world business environments. During all my graduate class work so far, I assumed most of what I have been learning correlates directly to the way business and companies in general operate. I think everything I’ve understood up to now has been intriguing as well as innovative. Now, chapter 3 has complicated my understanding quite a bit.  Bates presents the advantages and disadvantages of two possible models of managing e-learning.  First, the Lone Ranger model allows professors to maintain their independent creativity and autonomy in teaching while relying on graduate students for technological expertise.  On the other hand, project management, a rather different approach, requires that faculty work as a team to develop common “core” in projects. There are clear advantages and disadvantages to both. Yet, I find it difficult to chose which would better serve a university’s goals. I hope that I am able to devise or discover a program which combines the best of both.   While I am reading the chapters of the book, various posted resources, case studies and other links, I “see” the practical and pragmatic application of both methods.  If project management, which can be very expensive because it functions as a structured team requiring technology and subject matter experts, allowed room for individual teaching independence as allocated by the Lone Ranger model, then professors might be more inclined to agree to a knowledge repository based model.  A knowledge repository based model would encompass the structure of project management where the professors become the “experts” on technological facets as well as subject matter.  By using the system to generate and fine tune knowledge in teaching, the university could develop a significant KM (knowledge management) repository.  Every item in the repository can be cited/copyrighted which would then be accessible to all other members of the project management team.  The only conflict might be the determination of communal goals as opposed to individual discoveries and objectives.  Not sure yet how to resolve that but may find an answer with further research.

So here I am, trying to decide between vision and planning. I don’t think one can be valued more than another because they are undeniably intertwined.  Strategic planning and institutional visions are equally fundamental in developing a sound e-learning program. Both also have limitations depending on the type of institution being discussed. No program can be designed, developed and implemented without either of these elements.  Without vision, there would be no model to determine in which direction to develop e-learning.  Without planning, no vision can be effectively executed into action.  Bates seems to emphasize vision as a more important foundation, because strategic planning has its disadvantages.  Vision clearly forms the program in terms of structure and goals/objectives.  It also serves as a “benchmark” for assessing the success of a program.  Therefore, it can be recognized as the core of any e-learning model.  But, though strategic planning may have its limitations in university programs because it must keep up with constants changes and the question of autonomy in teaching, planning offers a support to the vision, which is invaluable.

Yes, institutions which have a top-down power structure such as the military and private businesses can implement strategic planning easily.  However, if a university wish to keep pace with changing social environment (technology and otherwise), it must  use strategic planning to organize departments, distribute functions, and allocate resources.  Bates might be right that in organizations like universities, strategic planning may work better at the department level. But that is not to say the entire university as an institution can’t have a strategic plan.  This plan can be the foundation for departmental planning features.  Even if professors, who are considered subject-matter experts in their fields, wish to retain creative autonomy in teaching while focusing on their research, departments can still espouse the fundamentals of university wide standards and follow a strategic plan. Personally, I think both, vision and strategic planning, can be balanced to accommodate clients/students and facilitate optimum-learning.

E-learning, in my opinion, is a constantly advancing, technologically based learning modality which surpasses traditional classroom learning because of its accessibility and varied course options. Learning is comprised of knowledge sharing amongst peers, students, teachers, and even communities.  The impact of learning about knowledge management inherently contains real world application, concerns, and issues. Because e-learning can reach beyond local establishments, it provides a more diverse forum to harness from a much greater talent pool.  Sharing ideas, challenges and solutions can come from many places in many forms.  E-learning is also more capable of infiltrating across various fields of subject matter.  For example, issues that arise in the field of HR in regards to personnel training and management can be addressed by theories and solutions from the perspective of the school of management and the school of education.  As a student, I like the idea that my classmates may have different perspectives because they come from different fields, different parts of the world, and different schools of thought.  We are always in different physical locations so we are influenced by different environments.  We can each contribute extensively varied information and/or knowledge to resolve concerns that impact an organization which may or may not be located in different communities.  This kind of learning is much closer to real world situations where organizations must strategically incorporate understanding of different people from different fields to achieve a common goal.