See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/259884289

Comparison of cost – effectiveness of traditional and asynchronous distance

learning education systems

Conference Paper · September 2008

CITATION READS

1 468

6 authors, including:

Nikolaos Vasilakis Mikulas Supin

University of West Attica Technical University in Zvolen
8 PUBLICATIONS   1 CITATION    30 PUBLICATIONS   141 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Dimitrios Piromalis Dimitris Tseles

University of West Attica University of West Attica ( former Piraeus University of Applied Sciences - Technol…
132 PUBLICATIONS   480 CITATIONS    289 PUBLICATIONS   541 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

GREENWOOD View project

TEMPUS View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Dimitris Tseles on 17 March 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 16 Comparison of Cost-Effectiveness of Traditional and
Asynchronous Distance Learning Education Systems

N. Vasilakis1, M. Supin2, A. Ilavska3, D. Tseles4,1. Demopoulou5, D. Piromalis6

1 T.E.I. of Piraeus, PhD candidate, vasilaki@teipir.gr
P ···^·' -2 T.U.ZVO, Department of Marketing, Trade and World Forestry, Head of D epartment
■ ■ 3 TUZVO, Department of Marketing, Trade and World Forestry, Lecturer
I 4 T.E.I. of Piraeus, Dean of School of Engineering, dtsel@teipir.gr
— 5 T.E.I. of Athens
| " 6 T.E.I. of Piraeus, Automation Dep., piromali@teipir.gr

Abstract
Nowadays the impact o f e-learning has irrupted not only life-bng learning but also the entire
system o f education from first degree to MSc and PhD degrees o f education in Universities
around the world.
By the mean "e-leaming" we define the learning which uses new technologies and comprises
cooperative education and interaction between students and teachers as well as between
students. The trainee usually has the control o f his rhythm o f learning and at the same time the
ability to the support o f his teacher, i f he wishes to.
In this paper we will examine and compare the cost-effectiveness between the traditional and
asynchronous e-leaming methods. We will fin d out i f it is worth to change from traditional
learning to asynchronous e-leaming not only from the point o f view o f the Universities but also
from the point o f view o f the students and teachers taking into account the costs fo r
implementing and supporting all the necessary components.

16.1 Introduction

After 1970 an enormous explosion existed in the establishment of Universities, faculties and
departments. Specialties broke to pieces. Today, there are more than twenty specialties in
pre-graduate level. It is obvious that HE faculties were created to help economic
development of the districts they are established, since university, unfortunately, is not
recognized, primarily, as a source of knowledge, but as an income for the regions.
In Greece, as it happened to the rest of Europe, he was split at one side University
education and at the other side Technological education, which in 1983 was upgraded from
after secondary to higher education, and in 2001 developed to the level of university
education. Technological education has now more than 150 departments dotted in most
towns of the country. These departments of HE are the heavy industry of the country, as

International Scientific Conference eRA-3 175

happens in GB. Last years more and more universities are trying to follow up with the
education model of e-leaming but we don’t know yet if this is efficient for the universities.

16.2 M odel fo r process integration

Following, we will present the system and the economic data of asynchronous electronic
learning that was used. The purpose of the program was to help learners acquire knowledge
and skills about word processing, internet services, exploitation of work spread-sheets
(Excel), creation of presentations, design and development of data-base systems (Access),
designing applications with multimedia, and applications on the world wide web. The
program also intended to facilitate the application of knowledge and skills acquired in
everyday life - both personal and professional.

16.3 Implementation o f the system

The software which was selected in order to use for implementing our case study was
Moodle. Moodle is an open source free software under the authorization of GNU General
Public License. This platform has been appreciated as most reliable, most productive and
most effective and for this reason was selected.

16.4 Econom ic Data

We have estimated the costs for the e-leaming process through the last four years for the
education process. The estimated costs conclude the salaries and allowances, the
administrative costs, the cost for all the materials and supplies, the insurance costs, the
capital and variety costs as shown of the following table.

E-learning
2005 2006 2007 2008
Salaries and allowances €1,285,300 € 1,469,330 € 1,817,600 €1,976,440
Administrative Costs € 664,900 € 745,230 € 669,250 € 669,250
Materials and supplies € 23,200 € 27,200 € 34,700 € 25,600
Insurance costs € 43,500 € 56,950 €75,110 €75,100
Variety costs €112,500 € 133,040 €129,100 € 116,400
Capital costs € 796,400 € 75,040 € 76,250 € 47,350
Total Expenses € 2,925,800 € 2,506,790 € 2,802,010 €2,910,140
Number of Students 2,050 2,100 2,250 2,400
Cost per Student
per Year (€) 1427 1194 1245 1213

Table 1. Cost o f e-leaming for 4 years.

176 International Scientific Conference eRA-3

 € 2,000,000

€ 1,500,000 a Salaries and allowances

■ Administrative Costs
€ 1,000,000
□ Materials and supplies
€ 500,000
€0
2005 2006
L
2007
*
2008
D Insurance costs
■ Variety costs
Θ Capital costs
E-leaming

Table 2. Chart o f e-leaming cost for 4 years.

Also we have estimated the costs for the traditional learning process through the last four
years for the education process. The estimated costs conclude the salaries and allowances,
the administrative costs, the cost for all the materials and supplies, the insurance costs, the
capital and variety costs as shown of the following table.

Traditior al Learning
2005 2006 2007 2008
Salaries and allowances € 10,920,000 € 11,300,000 € 11,500,000 € 12,100,000
Administrative Costs € 4,000,000 € 4,000,000 € 4,000,000 € 4,000,000
Materials and supplies € 1,800,000 €1,800,000 € 1,800,000 €1,800,000
Insurance costs €1,747,200 € 1,808,000 € 1,840,000 € 1,936,000
Variety costs €4,142,300 € 4,009,000 €4,114,280 €3,193,200
Capital costs € 4,570,000 €4,710,880 € 4,400,850 € 4,206,820
Total Expenses €27,179,500 € 27,627,880 € 27,655,130 € 27,236,020
Number of Students 17500 17650 17800 18000
Cost per Student
per Year(€) 1553 1565 1554 1513

Table 3. Cost o f traditional learning for 4 years.

€ 14,000,000
€ 12,000,000
m Salaries and allowances
€ 10,000,000
€ 8,000,000 ■ Administrative Costs
€ 6 ,000,000 O Materials and supplies
€ 4,000,000
€ 2 ,000,000 □ Insurance costs
€0 ■ Variety costs
2005 2006 2007 2008
■ Capital costs
Traditional Learning

Table 4. Chart o f traditional learning cost for 4 years.

International Scientific Conference eRA-3 177

16.5 Comparison between traditional and asynchronous e-learning

As we can see from the following tables the cost for implementing an e-learning system for
2050 students is about €2,925,800 and in the same time for the same number of students the
estimated cost for a traditional system of learning is €4,100,456 for one year each of them.
That means that can we can save about more than €500 per student per year.
Also we can see from the following tables that the cost for implementing a traditional
learning system for 17500 students is about €27,179,500 and in the same time for the same
number of students the estimated cost for an e-leaming system of learning is €17,489,700
for one year each of them. That means that can we can save about €10,000,000 which is
about €554 per student per year.

Cost per Student

per Year (€)

2000
1500
1000
500 m Cost per Student
0
LO CD I^AO O ID < i r - co per Year (€)
:o ο ο ο : o < • o o
Ο Ο Ο O 0 : < •o o
'M CM CM CM CM < I CM CM

E-learning jTraditional

Table 5. Comparing cost.

E-learning Traditional
2005 Estimated 2005 Estimated
Salaries and allowances € 1,285,300 € 6,426,500 € 10,920,000 € 1,213,333
Administrative Costs € 664,900 €5,319,200 € 4,000,000 €444,444
Materials and supplies € 23,200 € 185,600 € 1,800,000 € 360,000
Insurance costs € 43.500 €217,500 € 1,747,200 € 194,133
Variety costs € 112,500 € 562,500 €4,142,300 € 1,380,767
Capital costs € 796,400 € 4,778,400 € 4,570,000 €507,778
Total Expenses € 2,925,800 € 17,489,700 €27,179,500 €4,100,456
2,050 17,500 17500 2,050
Cost per Student
per Year (€) 1427 999 1553 2000

Table 6. Estimated cost.

178 International Scientific Conference eRA-3

 16.6 References

[1], Ian M Symonds, "Simulation, Eleaming and Physical Investigation - An Integrated

Approach to Embedded Systems Study", 0-7803-9402-X/05/$20.00 © 2005 IEEE 1017
VOLUME 2.
[2]. Alison Hramiak, "A Pedagogical Framework for the Use of Information and
Communications Technology in Initial Teacher Training", Proceedings of the Sixth
International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALTO6) 0-7695-
2632-2/06 $20.00 © 2006 IEEE.
[3]. W. Naglerl, L. Fickert, A. Abartl, E. Schmautzer. C. Stojke, P. Stecher, "E-Leaming
for Electrical Power Systems at the Technical University of Graz", 0-7803-7763-
X/03/$ 17.00 © 2003 IEEE.
[4]. Abt C., "Design for an education system cost effectiveness model" OECD, Ef-ficiency
in resource utilization in education, 1969.
[5]. Ahmed M., "the economic of non-formal education: resources, costs, and benefits"
N.Y. 1975.
[6]. Alexander L. and Simmons J., "Determinants of school achievement in devel-oping
countries: The educational production function" International Bank for
Reconstruction and Development, staff working paper, no 2201, Washington D.C.,
The World Bank, 1975.
[7]. Alkin M., "Evaluating the cost-effectiveness of instructional programs" N.Y. 1970.
"[8]. Archibald G., "On the measurement of inputs and outputs in higher education"
Amsterdam, 1974.
[9], Heather Kanuka, and Liam Rourke, "The Impact of eLearning on higher education",
l-4244-0406-l/06/$20.00 ©2006 IEEE.
[10]. Yasushi Ohta, Hiroshi Nakano, Kazuhisa Suzuki, Tsuyoshi Kiyan, Yuriko Shimizu,
Chisato Noguchi, Toshihiro Kita, Hidenori Akiyama, "Practical Study of Instructional
Environments for Lifelong e-Leaming", 0-7803-9141-1/05/$20.00 © 2005 IEEE July 7
- 9, 2005, Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic, ΙΤΉΕΤ 6th Annual International
Conference.
[11]. Christian Martel, Laurence Vignollet, Christine Ferraris, Jean-Pierre David, Anne
Lejeune, "Modeling collaborative learning activities on e-learning platforms",
Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Advanced Learning
Technologies (ICALT’0 6 ), 0-7695-2632-2/06 $20.00 © 2006 IEEE.
[12]. Owen Conlan, Ian O’Keeffe, Aoife Brady and Vincent Wade, "Principles for
Designing Activity-based Personalized e-Learning", Seventh IEEE International
Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (ICALT 2007) 0-7695-2916-X/07
$25.00 © 2007 IEEE

International Scientific Conference eRA-3 179

View publication stats