A study on the design/development time of e-learning projects in New Zealand.

Abstract

This thesis is an exploratory descriptive research undertaken to explore “What is the time and cost to make one hour of E-learning in New Zealand?” It seeks to investigate the time and cost involved in the development of one hour of E-learning in Tertiary and corporate E-learning in New Zealand. Also, it pursues to establish any changes occurring in training and development and to determine the dynamics influencing the strategies and policies of those responsible for employee development. The study employed a web-survey delivered through e-mail. The survey questionnaire was sent 200 E-learning development professionals in different industries. The return rate was 32%. The data were analysed using statistical analysis using pivot tables, Cronbach’s Alpha, Pearson’s correlation and descriptive statistics. This research investigated E-learning industry size, type of New Zealand E-learning industry, the scope of the instruction developed, the outsourcing of E-learning. The correlation was used to find the interrelationship between time and cost to develop different levels of E-learning. It lime lights the current training and human resourcing issues, training priorities, areas in which training is provided, the most popular types of training delivery, the status of E-learning. Awareness and understanding of E-learning, current usage, reasons for implementing E-learning (or for choosing otherwise), benefits anticipated and already experienced by early E-learning adopters, return on investment and expectations for the future were revealed. The data analysis indicated that many New Zealand businesses and tertiary institutions are using E-learning for training. The results indicated one hour of finished E-learning took an average of 90 hours, and the average cost was around 6300 NZD for one hour of finished developed E-learning. The results also showed that most of the New Zealand industries developed the learning material to apply the learned skills and used interactive scenarios type instruction. The level of multimedia used was (level 2) intermediate. The study revealed that not many companies had specific budget was allocated towards E-learning development. The need for advancement to develop a higher level (Level 3) of E-learning using games and simulations and for analysis and synthesis of the learned material with an advanced level of multimedia were identified. New Zealand is still developing in the E-learning development industry.