Edu-commerce is beginning to replace training portfolios traditionally offered by the VET and tertiary sectors with its own brand of training.

Realities and Trends
Does your registered training organisation have 20 000 online students yet? Do you offer convenient real time enrolment on the Web? Has the energy that your organisation has invested in e-learning been redeemed through increased efficiency? If you're an average RTO in Australia today the answer to these questions is likely to be 'no'? Let's face it, we're often still dabbling at the edge. We develop and deliver a unit or three and spend much more time battling legacy IT structures and software obstacles than delivering training. In the meantime Edu-commerce is going from strength to strength and is beginning to replace training products normally offered by the VET and tertiary sectors with it's own brand of training.

It's not harvard.edu
I'm currently enrolled in several courses in an online university. It is not a traditional academic institution I might add. During enrolment, I was not asked to present my TEE results. Instead the institution offered me the course text at a discount price. Home delivered! Within two minutes of completing the registration process, I received an automated welcoming e-mail. It contained a brief campus induction and a welcome note from my instructor. It was then that I found out that the author of my authoritative text and instructor are the same person. Fancy being taught by such an expert! I was pleased...

By now I'm well into the course. My studies consist mainly of working through the unit text and practising my new skills. Frequently I enter the web-based forum to scan questions and answers in the instructor-led discussion. There must be a least one hundred students enrolled in my particular course, a critical mass, making the forum very active. Every time a new lesson is posted in my 'classroom' there is an e-mail notification.

At the end of my current course there will be no formal accreditation. I'll only receive an assessment. This I don't mind one bit. After all, I have not paid a cent for the top notch class instruction but will have achieved what I set out to do, namely to upgrade my skills so as to enable me to run my business more efficiently.

Yes its true. In the eyes of some I may have become a 'victim' of edu-commerce by enrolling at the Barnes & Noble University* but for many of us who want to get the job of upskilling completed in a convenient, no-nonsense way it's the ideal solution. And I must say that I was impressed with the service and quality of teaching. The brick-and-click book retailer Barnes & Noble has just recently developed Barnes & Noble University, a customised Internet site for online learning. Its students, said to be in the thousands, can currently access over 50 free online classes.

"We consider distance learning a natural extension of Barnes & Noble.com's core business," said BarnesandNoble.com Vice Chairman Steve Riggio. "The Internet is clearly a very large commercial medium, but its great promise is to become a portal for the sharing of knowledge and content."

Naturally not everyone is embracing the company's move into e-learning. Some critics argue that the use of the term "university" is deceptive and that the new site is little more than a marketing tool to sell books. These observers contend that without official accreditation or the ability for students to obtain class credit for their work, such online educational programs provide little value to those seeking a university-level education.

While this appears to be true, the large number of enrolments at edu-commerce sites suggests a different trend. In the case of BN University it appears to be a win-win situation for all concerned. While the training may not be tertiary level, the majority of courses fall into the range of those traditionally delivered by the VET sector and therefore deserve our earnest attention as a potential competitor.

One thing is for sure. We can certainly learn from the slickness and ease of use displayed by edu-commerce players. Go and have a peek.

(*Barnes and Noble is the largest bookstore chain in North America as well as a leading e-tailer)


Resources

www.barnesandnobleuniversity.com
www.learn2.com
www.zdnet.com/smartplanet