Implementation and Use of Collaboration Technology In

IMPLEMENTATION AND USE OF COLLABORATION TECHNOLOGY IN

e-LEARNING: THE CASE OF A JOINT UNIVERSITY-CORPORATE MBA [1]

(Do not quote without Authors’ Permission)

Robert P. Bostrom[2]

L. Edmund Rast Professor of Business &

Ex-Faculty Project Manager for PwC-Terry MBA Project

Chris Kadlec

MIS PhD Student &

Ex-Technical Project Manager for PwC-Terry MBA Project

Dominic Thomas

MIS PhD Student

Management Information Systems Department

Terry College of Business

University of Georgia

Athens, GA 30602-6256

Abstract

This case study presents the learnings from the implementation and use of collaboration technology in the ongoing University of Georgia, Terry College of Business MBA program created for the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) North American Consulting Group. PwC Consulting’s primary goals were consultant retention and development through a flexible and customized MBA program. The program has been very successful in meeting these goals. Flexibility in the program comes primarily from utilizing a combination of face-to-face classroom sessions and distance learning. Small 4-5 people virtual learning teams are used as a critical learning vehicle in the program. Collaboration technologies are the critical enabling agents for classroom, distance and team learning. The case presents a model of how collaboration technologies can be successfully used in technology-supported/e-Learning environments. It also presents guidelines, based on the lessons learned, for the implementation of collaboration technology to achieve a successful, “blended” e-Learning program. The chapter is based on data gathered from the key stakeholders: faculty, students, implementation team, and PwC Consulting and UGA management. Two of the authors were heavily involved in the project: one was overall project manager and faculty member and the other was technical project manager.

Background

“The biggest growth in the Internet, and the area that will prove to be one of the biggest agents of change, will be in on-line training, or e-learning.”
John Chambers, CEO, Cisco

"It is about raising the fundamental intellect of the organization every day. It is what makes organizations win. And inspiring people to learn because the excitement and the energy they get from that learning is so enormous; it is how you energize an organization. By making it curious, by making it say wow, by finding WOW's all of the time, by creating new learning. That is what making an organization win is all about."

Jack Welch at TechLearn 2001, 10/29/01

Introduction

Many feel that the Internet is perhaps the most transformative technology in history. But for all its power, it is just now being tapped to transform education. At the dawn of the 21st Century, the education landscape is changing due to the Internet. The Internet is enabling us to bring learning to students instead of bringing students to learning. It is allowing for the creation of learning teams and communities that defy the constraints of distance and time, providing access to learning opportunities that were once difficult to obtain. This is true for the schoolhouse, on the college campus, and in corporate training rooms.

The most common terms used to describe technology-supported learning via the Internet are e-Learning and online learning. We will use the term e-Learning. The power of e-Learning to transform the educational experience is awesome, but it has many potential risks and challenges. We need to develop guidelines to ensure that e-Learning technologies will enhance, and not frustrate, learning. The focus needs to be on learning not technology.

This case study presents the learnings from the implementation and use of collaboration technology in the Terry College of Business (Terry) MBA program, University of Georgia (UGA), created for the Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) North American Consulting Group. Our reference to PwC or PwC Consulting will denote this specific group not the entire PwC organization. PwC Consulting’s primary goals were consultant retention and development through a flexible and customized MBA program. The Terry College was interested in developing a strong position in the executive education market and an e-Learning infrastructure. The program has been very successful in meeting both institutions’ goals.

The program is a combination of face-to-face classroom sessions and distance learning. Small 4-5 people virtual learning teams are used as a key-learning vehicle in the program. The two-year MBA program was launched in October 1998, and graduated its second class in September 2001. The program has been a huge success for both PwC Consulting and UGA. U.S News and World Report rated the program one of the top online graduate programs [Special Report: E-Learning, 10/15/01].

Collaboration technologies are critical enabling agents for classroom, distance and team learning. The case presents a model of how collaboration technologies can be successfully used in e-Learning environments. It also presents guidelines, based on the lessons learned, for the implementation of collaboration technology to achieve a successful, “blended” e-Learning program.

The chapter is based on data gathered from the key stakeholders: faculty, students, implementation team, and PwC Consulting and UGA management. Two of the authors were heavily involved in the project: one was overall project manager and faculty member and the other was technical project manager.

The chapter will start with a brief introduction to e-Learning and the role of collaboration technologies. This will be followed by an overview of the Terry-PwC Consulting MBA program and a detailed look at collaboration technologies used within it. The paper focuses on the time frame from when UGA received the contract to end of the first year of the program. The last section will summarize learnings from the case discussed as a series of guidelines for those wishing to implement e-Learning programs. Although these guidelines are derived from an academic setting, they are applicable to both organizational and academic environments.

e-Learning and Collaboration Technologies

The use of e-Learning technologies for the delivery of training continues to grow at an exponential rate. According to International Data Corporation (IDC), U.S. corporate spending on e-Learning will reach $4 billion in 2001, up from $550 million in 1998. By 2004 this is expected to rise to $14.5 billion. We see similar growth patterns in the U.S. for both k-12 and college education. For example, in 2001, over half of all U.S. colleges/universities now offer online courses and over half of all U.S. k-12 teachers now use the Internet in lessons [Johnson, 2001].

During the1999-2001 time frame, e-Learning has moved from possibility to mainstream -- from “will we?” to “how will we?” At the 2001 Comdex Conference, e-Learning was touted the next killer application [Moore & Jones, 2001]. Many feel that e-Learning soon will become as ubiquitous as e-mail. The September 11, 2001 bombings of the World Trade Centers in New York City and other events have intensified the focus on e-Learning. Reduced budgets and the inability or unwillingness of people to travel has caused many organizations to start looking at e-Learning and digital collaboration as core mechanisms for supporting and doing business. We see this trend continuing.

Until recently, geography, logistics, and scheduling concerns have severely hindered university-company relationships. e-Learning has broken down many of these barriers. Organizations are realizing that learning is at the heart of a company. It is the competitive advantage in an organization. However, organizations have difficulty retaining and developing competent workers especially where a degree is needed to successfully compete for higher positions. Currently, many companies sponsor a valuable employee to return to school; however, they typically lose the services of that employee for the two years of schooling. Companies have little control over scheduling and content in these situations. Many organizations and universities have turned to each other and e-Learning to help solve this problem. This case is an illustration of e-Learning successfully enabling a university-company relationship.

Figure 1 shows the time-place matrix, introduced in Chapter 2, used to classify collaboration technology. e-Learning refers to the technology-supported learning activities in any of the four time-place environments. Distance/Distributed/Virtual Learning refers to learning in which the learner and learning resources are separated by space and possibly also time, cells III and IV in Figure 1.

Blending became one of the keys to success for the Terry-PwC MBA program. Almost every aspect of the program blended different approaches. The blend between distance and face-to-face education was a keystone to this program. A better view of e-Learning technologies and how they can be blended together is captured in Figure 2. Figure 2 shows three primary learning environments: classroom, online anytime and online live. These correspond to cells I, III and IV in the time-place matrix. The program focused on blending these three environments, focusing on classroom and online anytime.

Online anytime technologies support learning anytime-anyplace. They primarily are database-centric creating shared information spaces for learners and faculty to work in at different times and places. Online live technologies provide same time interaction between learners and instructors at a distance through collaboration tools such as chat or a virtual classroom. Online live and online anytime correspond to the terms Synchronous and Asynchronous Shared Learning used in e-Learning model presented in Chapter 2. Chapter 2 also introduced a third type referred to as Independent e-Learning where learners take courses on an individual basis. This type of learning environment would use the same technologies as online anytime, thus, we did not include it in our model.

Many view e-Learning only in terms of online live and online anytime technology, both of which facilitate distance or virtual learning. However, the dotted lines in Figure 2 indicate that these technologies can also be used to support classroom learning. The Terry-PwC MBA program uses these e-Learning technologies when students are on campus as well as when they are back on the job. When on campus, these technologies form a “digital surround” for classroom learning. We found that using e-learning as a “digital surround” enhances classroom learning and provides a great way to introduce students to e-learning.

Whatever the learning environment, the following technologies are needed to make e-Learning happen:

•Distribution Technology: technologies that provide information distribution and exchange allowing distance learning to take place. Although the primary focus of most e-Learning is the Internet/Web, sometimes CDs or other distribution technology are used. The focus on the use of the Internet is why the term “online” is frequently used in describing e-Learning.

•Learning Management or Content/Course management software: technologies that simulate the experience of a classroom while studying both on-campus and from a distance.

•Communication and collaboration software offers a rich, shared, virtual workspace in which instructor and students can interact one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many in order to learn together anytime and anyplace. Examples:

•Asynchronous/online anywhere tools: e-mail, discussion databases, streaming audio/video.

•Synchronous/online live (Real Time) tools: Instant Messaging, Chat, Audio/Video conferencing.

•Course support software offers a rich set of tools including electronic libraries and other instructional programs to support specific courses.

•Server environment software: technologies to support client-server applications outlined above.

The core software in most e-Learning efforts is a Learning Management or Content Management System (LMS/LCS). A LMS/LCS manages the interaction between the learner and learning resources. The primary functionality provided is a database repository for learning resources (syllabus, articles, assessments, etc.). The primary difference between LMS and LCS is that a LMS usually provides additional functionality such as a course catalog, a registration system, tracking and reporting learner’s progress, etc. whereas a LCS focuses on learning content management for a given course or set of learning topics. The Terry program used a Lotus Notes based LCS, LearningSpace, which will be discussed in depth later. The LCS/LMS usually provides a limited set of collaboration tools that needs to be supplemented with other tools. The Terry program did this.

From an e-Learning perspective, collaboration technologies can be viewed as the primary tools that one can use to facilitate learning through collaboration, collaborations between teacher-student and student-student. In chapter 2, e-Learning technologies were classified in the category for integrated collaboration technology, as these incorporate a variety of digital collaboration functionality: communication (email, instant messaging, streaming audio/video), shared information spaces (LMS/LCS, discussion databases), and coordination (calendaring and scheduling). Although a majority of e-learning technology is collaboration-based, some of the technology cannot be classified as collaboration tools. Two examples would be registration and tracking features in a LMS and content software used to support specific courses. An example of the later was the computer-based instructional and testing software used to develop students’ baseline-knowledge in statistics before starting the statistics course in the Terry-PwC MBA program.

Terry-PwC Consulting MBA program

Brief Overview

Founded in 1912, the Terry College of Business is the flagship business school in the state of Georgia, one of the oldest business schools in the US, and one of 13 schools and colleges at the oldest state-chartered university in the country. The Terry College is home to one of the nation's ten largest undergraduate programs - with over 5,500 students - and one of the most selective MBA programs on any campus, public or private. The Financial Times, Business Week, Forbes and U.S. News & World Report consistently rank its undergraduate and graduate programs among the best.

With roots dating back to Samuel Lowell Price in London in 1849, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has a long history of providing consultation services. Currently, PwC Consulting serves businesses and organizations in more than 150 countries and territories with its over 150,000 staff people and 9,000 partners. PwC Consulting’s approach focuses on using multi-disciplined teams that have a global industry scope and experience as well as knowledge of relevant issues and regulations. PwC Consulting’s area of expertise spans 24 market sectors, grouped into three clusters: Consumer and Industrial Products, Financial Services, Technology Info-Com and Entertainment. It is within this parent company environment that the PwC North American Consulting Group operates. We use PwC or PwC Consulting in this chapter to refer solely to the PwC North American Consulting Group with which the Terry College worked with to establish the Terry-PwC MBA program.

The PwC Consulting two-year MBA program started with a proposal presented to PwC Consulting by the Terry College in March 1998. The goal was to create a program that would provide benefits to PwC Consulting, its employees and Terry. PwC Consulting would gain a customized learning venue for highly valued employees that would encourage them to stay with the company, without removing them from the work force for two years. The employees would gain an opportunity to earn an MBA, obtain intense professional development without foregoing knowledge of current events in the company, and develop a network of relationships with other PwC consultants in the class. Terry would gain a broader knowledge and experience-base from an e-Learning program linked with a large business consulting firm. The goal was to have approximately 40-50 students in each class.