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THE CONTEXT OF E-COMMERCE EDUCATION
Patrick Lee Chang Boon
Faculty of Business Administration, University of Macau
cblee@umac.mo
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ABSTRACT
E-commerce education has become
popular in many tertiary institutions.
Many students have opted for Ecommerce education because they believe
that it holds vast potential and
opportunities. Many educators, however,
are struggling with E-commerce
curriculum. This may not be surprising as
E-commerce is a multi-disciplinary subject
and it is also an evolving discipline.
While prior research has tried to determine
the appropriate emphases for an ideal Ecommerce curriculum, this paper argues
that the curriculum should be designed
based upon the context where the subject
is taught. E-commerce has developed at
different speeds in different countries
because of peculiarities across countries.
Understanding E-commerce based on the
peculiarities will help students relate better
to the subject. Ultimately, a curriculum
that is designed based upon the context
will be most useful in helping the progress
and development of E-commerce in the
future.
KEY WORDS
E-commerce education, curriculum
design, context
1. INTRODUCTION
popular questions that often bug educators
and researchers.
Despite extensive
discussions, however, there do not seem to
be any definitive answers to these
questions. Even though some researchers
have suggested some guiding principles to
help design E-commerce curriculum [2],
there is evidence that educators are still
struggling. Some of the major problems
that have been discussed regarding the
teaching of E-commerce courses include:
(i) whether to give a technological or
business emphasis on these courses
because they are multidisciplinary in
nature, (ii) how to garner resources for
teaching the courses – in terms of faculty
manpower as well as computer resources,
and (iii) how to ensure students gets
maximum mileage from the courses [1].
These are pertinent problems.
They
appear to be universal problems as well,
i.e., wherever E-commerce courses are
taught. Furthermore, these problems are
persistent. They do not seem to disappear
over time because these courses have
gained stature and popularity among many
cohorts of students. This was despite the
bursting of the dot.com bubble two years
ago. In view of these problems, it is
important to discuss how these problems
can be mitigated or managed effectively.
The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to
present, discuss, and highlight issues
related to the teaching of E-commerce.
The paper will also emphasize the
importance of context in E-commerce
education.
How should academic institutions teach Ecommerce? What should be included in
E-commerce curriculum?
These are
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2. E-COMMERCE AS A MULTIDISCIPLINARY SUBJECT
E-commerce is a new and rapidly evolving
form of commerce. Its growth is aided by
breakthrough
in
information
and
communication technologies.
These
technologies allow data to be processed
and transmitted in extremely high speed.
Technologies, therefore, form an integral
part of E-commerce. There are, however,
other components in E-commerce as well.
These include the business, legal,
logistical and marketing components.
Also, because E-commerce enables
business to be conducted globally, an
important aspect of E-commerce is that it
involves doing business in many countries
with different cultures.
Thus, while
technologies are the enablers of Ecommerce, E-commerce also encompasses
a host of other subject areas. To design an
E-commerce curriculum, therefore, one
needs to include both the technology and
non-technology aspects.
There are two ways that institutions
incorporate E-commerce subjects in their
curriculum at the undergraduate level.
Some offer it as a single, introductory, or
foundation subject – as part of the
curriculum for the business and
accounting students. The objective of
such a course is to provide students an
insight into how future businesses may be
conducted. Some institutions, however,
choose to incorporate topics on Ecommerce as an extension of the parent
subject.
For example, a subject on
principles of marketing would include
topics on advertising in the internet, and a
subject on commercial law would include
topics on laws governing E-commerce
transactions.
This approach has the
advantage of allowing topics on Ecommerce to be incorporated into the
curriculum on an incremental basis. It
allows parent-subject experts to leverage
their expertise onto E-commerce. It is also
less strenuous on staff requirements. The
disadvantage, however, is that it is a piecemeal approach and it does not provide
opportunities for students to view Ecommerce from a holistic perspective.
At present, few institutions provide Ecommerce specialisation in their business
curriculum at the undergraduate level.
Many institutions subsume E-commerce
specialisation under information systems
or information technology. The majority
of the universities in Hong Kong, for
example, have business specialisation in
information systems or information
technology. A cursory examination of the
course syllabus via the internet shows that
E-commerce related subjects are usually
offered as core or elective subjects for this
specialisation. Without looking at the
course details, it is difficult to comment or
compare the topics covered in Ecommerce related subjects. As these
subjects are offered in the business school,
it is unlikely that these courses are
technically oriented.
Specialised E-commerce programmes are
provided mostly at the graduate level.
While E-commerce is multidisciplinary in
nature and should rightfully cover both
technical and non-technical aspects, it is
possible that the range of subjects is very
wide ranging. It is difficult to provide full
coverage for the range of subjects within a
limited time. It is logical, therefore, to
design programmes that focus on specific
areas.
For example, the Chinese
University of Hong Kong offers two Ecommerce related programmes. One is
Masters of Science in E-Commerce
Technologies and the other is Masters of
Science in E-Business Management. The
former is technically oriented while the
latter is less technically oriented.
3. E-COMMERCE: AN EVOLVING
DISCIPLINE
As mentioned previously, E-commerce is
a new and multi-disciplinary subject. It is
difficult to find appropriate staff to teach
the subject. If existing staff were utilized
to teach the subject, they will have to be
put on the learning curve. Because Ecommerce is continuously evolving, it
means that the teaching curriculum will
have to be updated frequently so that the
contents remain current. The issue about
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ensuring currency has implications for
resource allocation because keeping pace
with E-commerce development and
designing an updated curriculum requires
time and effort. It is unlike other courses
where the contents are less dynamic. It is
common for institutions to grant sabbatical
leave for staff to prepare curriculum for
new E-commerce subjects. Due to rapid
development in the E-commerce industry,
staff must be prepared to learn
continuously.
4. E-COMMERCE AND TEACHING
METHODS
How can educators ensure that students
derive maximum benefit from the course?
What methods of teaching E-commerce
will enhance experiences for the students?
Many educators have different styles of
teaching E-commerce courses. Some are
contend to use the traditional lectures and
tutorials method. Dhamija, Heller and
Hoffman (1999) [3] have used unique
teaching arrangements and styles – for
example, bringing together students with
different backgrounds at different levels to
engage in real-world e-commerce projects.
The projects provide students with insights
into the functioning of an E-commerce
environment. The students also get to
listen to professional speakers talk about
their E-commerce experiences.
The
resources put into designing and
implementing
this
course
were
undoubtedly high. The example, however,
provides a pedagogical benchmark for
courses seeking similar objectives.
Since E-commerce is a practical subject,
some kind of hands-on experience will be
useful. A course that is based solely on
route learning would not get students
excited. At the elementary level, I suggest
that
students
taking
E-commerce
specialisation should be able to host a
web-site for personal or business purpose.
This will be a good learning experience
because students can see for themselves
the product of their work.
Apart from reading textbooks and doing
projects, I would also argue that
incorporating local case studies might help
students to appreciate E-commerce better.
Local settings enable students to relate
better, and hopefully they can apply
concepts they have learned to something
they are familiar with.
5. E-COMMERCE TEACHING: A
STANDARD CURRICULUM?
E-commerce
holds
vast
potential.
Forrester Research estimates that North
America would realize USD 3.5 trillion of
E-commerce transactions in 2004. This
would make it the leading country in Ecommerce trade (http://www.epaynews
.com/statistics/transactions.html).
Ecommerce is slowly catching on in many
countries. It is gaining acceptance among
many organizations and consumers.
Because many countries are anxious to
jump into the E-commerce bandwagon,
many educational institutions have created
E-commerce courses that are modeled on
courses offered in the West, where Ecommerce has reached a sophisticated
standing.
I argue, however, that the curriculum for
E-commerce education should be tailored
based on the circumstances existing in the
country.
If a country is poor in
information
communications
infrastructure, then the primary mission
should be to set up the infrastructure and
produce citizens who are computer
literate. It would be irrelevant to teach Ecommerce in such a context. If a country
has got good information communications
infrastructure, then the next question to
ask is why is E-commerce not working?
Many countries have tried to implement Ecommerce like what has been done in the
West, and have found that the
implementation did not always work. The
pertinent question to ask is why didn’t Ecommerce take off in these countries? It
may be difficult to answer this question
because peculiarities exist in every
country. For example, barriers to Ecommerce in some countries may be due
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to
government
regulations,
legal
constraints, inadequate technologies, or
the way business is conducted [4].
It will be more appropriate if E-commerce
were taught in the context based on the
circumstances of the country where the
subject is taught. If lack of E-commerce
laws were hindering development of Ecommerce in the country, then there
should be more emphasis on E-commerce
laws in the E-commerce curriculum. In
this way, the teaching of E-commerce can
results in two practical end products – (1)
students become more knowledgeable in
the subject area within the local context,
and (2) students may be more
knowledgeable
and
responsive
to
overcome E-commerce barriers when they
graduate from their course. Ultimately,
such a curriculum will enhance Ecommerce development in the country.
Thus, the maxim is to pitch E-commerce
courses according to context.
Overall, therefore, it may not be sufficient
to cover topics in a standard E-commerce
textbook. E-commerce curriculum should
include contents that reflect the context of
the countries where E-commerce is being
taught. Students should not only learn
about the idealized state of an Ecommerce environment, but they should
also learn about how they can overcome
barriers to E-commerce in their country.
6. CONCLUSION
While prior research has discussed many
issues regarding E-commerce education, it
has rarely discussed the importance of
contextualizing curriculum according to
developments
within
the
country.
Contextualising is important, particularly
in the case for E-commerce education,
because it can help students to relate and
understand
the
subject
better.
Furthermore, contextualising can improve
E-commerce development by helping to
identify and overcome barriers that exist
within organizations and countries.
Ultimately, a contextualised E-commerce
curriculum may provide more benefits
compared to a standardised curriculum.
REFERENCES
[1] Chan, S., Challenges and opportunities
in E-commerce education, Proceedings of
the Seventh Americas Conference in
Information Systems, 2002.
[2] Dean, D.L. and Nasirin, S, Principles
of effective E-commerce curriculum
development, Communications of the
Association for Information Systems, 9,
2002, 378-391.
[3] Dhamija, R. Heller, R. and Hoffman,
L.J., Teaching E-commerce to a
multidisciplinary class, Communications
of the ACM, 42(9), 1999, 50-55.
[4]
Martinsons,
M.G.,
Electronic
commerce in China: emerging success
stories, Information & Management,
39(7), 2002, 571-579.
[5] Zhang, Q. B. and Chua, P.Y.K.
Creating E-commerce courses with
regional intent, Communications of the
ACM, 44(2), 2002, 35-37.
[6] Rob, M. The rise and fall of an Ecommerce programme, Communications
of the ACM, 46(3), 2002, 25-26.
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