The eBusiness of eLearning
Prof.Dr. Srisakdi Charmonman
Board Chairman and CEO, College of Internet Distance Education
Assumption University of Thailand
charm@ksc.au.edu
Abstract
Offering eLearning or online learning or learning thru the Internet is similar to
offering any other services thru the Internet. Therefore, eLearning may be considered
“eCommerce”. It may be said that “eCommerce” is using the Internet to sell products
and services, and that “eBusiness” is “eCommerce” plus using the Internet to run the
whole organization. In another word, the eCommerce part of eLearning is the front office
part, and the eBusiness of eLearning is the front office part plus the back office part. The
front office activities include eAdvertising of the eLearning programs, eApplication
where students submit their applications thru the Internet, eInterview in which the
admission officers interview the applicants thru the Internet, eAdmission in which the
announcements that the students have been admitted into the programs are made thru the
Internet, eRegisteration where students register for the courses thru the Internet,
ePayment in which students pay the fees thru the Internet, eAttendance where students
listen to or view the lectures thru the Internet, eAssignment where students get the
assignment and submit their work thru the Internet, eExamination in which students take
the examinations thru the Internet, eGrading in which the professors post the grades and
students read the grades thru the Internet, and finally eGraduation in which students may
join the graduation ceremony thru the Internet. In addition to all the front office part of
eLearning, the eBusiness part or the back office part may include eAccounting, eFinance,
eInventory, eHumanResource, and eMarketing, as well as Customer Relation
Management, and Enterprise Resource Planning. This paper will discuss business models
of eLearning, eLearning business at the university level including the topics of for-profit
and non-profit universities, Capella University, Apollo Group Inc. (the University of
Phoenix), and the College of Internet Distance Education of Assumption University;
eLearning Business for K12; and Corporate eLearning.
1. Introduction
To realize the full benefits of the Internet, the concept of eBusiness should be
applied to eLearning. As shown in Figure 1. “eBusiness” is any business process that is
empowered by an Information System. Today, this is mostly done with web-based
technologies thru the Internet [26]. Of course, “eBusiness” includes “eCommerce”.
1. Invited Paper for the Fifth International Conference on e-Business (NCEB 2006) with
the theme of “Global e-Business: Best Practice”, Asia Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand, 2-3
November 2006.
2. Board Chairman and CEO of the College of Internet Distance Education of
Assumption University of Thailand, President of the Computer Association of
Thailand under the Royal Patronage of HM the King, President of Thailand Chapter
of the ACM, and President of Thailand Chapter of the Computer Society of the IEEE.
1
Searching for “define: eCommerce” from Google, many entries were found as
shown in Figure 2. From <en.wikipedia.org>, eCommerce consists of buying, selling,
marketing, and servicing of products or services over computer network [27]. From
<www.source-web.co.uk>, eCommerce is a general term used to describe all forms of
trade on the Internet [37]. Most of “FTA” or Free Trade Agreement includes “education
services”. According to the report by the Sloan Consortium, eLearning has entered the
mainstream of education in the US [1, 14]. Therefore, the eBusiness of eLearning will
soon be a major business. There are many classifications of eLearning, including
corporate eLearning for training of employees, K12 eLearning for courses at the
Kindergarten to Grade 12 levels, and university eLearning for Bachelor’s, Master’s,
Doctoral programs as well as short courses and training provided by universities.
Figure 1. Meaning of eBusiness
Figure 2. Searching for “eCommerce”
There are also many definitions of eLearning, such as from wikipedia,
conferzone, intelera, and Sloan Consortium. From <en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elearning>
[28], “E-learning most often means an approach to facilitate and enhance learning
through the use of devices based on computer and communications technology. Such
devices would include personal computers, CDROMs, Digital Television, P.D.A.s and
Mobile Phones. Communications technology enables the use of the Internet, email,
discussion forums, and collaborative software.”
From the web <www.conferzone.com/resource/glossaryop.html> [30], “Online
Learning” is the same as “eLearning”. From the web <www.intelera.com/glossary.html>
[35], “Online Learning” has the same meaning as “eLearning”.
Another important definition of eLearning was given in the report by Sloan
Consortium [1, 14]. Online Learning or “eLearning” is for a course where most of all of
the content is delivered online. Typically there is no face-to-face meeting. Proportion of
content delivered online is 80-100%. Other terms are used when proportion of contents
delivered online is less than 80%. They are “Traditional learning” when proportion of
content delivered online is 0%, “Web-Facilitated Learning” when proportion of content
delivered online is 1-29%, and “Blended/Hybrid Learning” when proportion of content
delivered online is 30-79%. The Sloan Consortium also stated that eLearning has entered
the mainstream of education:
 65% of schools offering classroom-based graduate courses also offer graduate
courses in eLearning mode.
 63% of schools offering classroom-based under graduate courses also offer under
graduate courses in eLearning mode.
The author has written more than 20 papers about eLearning [2-22] and they are
utilized in writing this paper. Presented in this paper are business models of eLearning,
eLearning business at the university level including the topics of for-profit and non-profit
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universities, Capella University, Apollo Group Inc. (the University of Phoenix), and the
College of Internet Distance Education of Assumption University; eLearning Business
for K12; and Corporate eLearning.
2. Business Model of eLearning
There are many possible business models of eLearning. They may be classified by
products or services, by how they make money, or by the markets they served.
Alternately, in the eLearning Industry Report by Morgan Keegan and Co., Inc. [24], three
variables were proposed, namely market served, revenues models, and core offering.
2.1 Market Served. The market may be academic, corporate, or consumer. The
academic market covers formal education from K12 to university. The corporate market
covers employees training, as well as training for customers and suppliers with fees paid
by the employers. The consumer market covers lifelong learners, and people taking
continuing education courses and pay the fees by themselves.
2.2 Revenue Model.
There are many different revenue models. The revenue may
be based on contracts, pay-per-use, and ads/sponsors. The contracts may be of any length,
e.g., six months, one year, or three years, covering any numbers of courses, e.g. one
course, several courses, a degree program, or several degree programs.
The pay-per-use model, as its name implies, states how much the customer has to
pay to use the service each time.
The Ads/Sponsors model is when there are advertising and/or sponsor for the web
pages, e.g., one pop-up ad for 1,000 US$ per month, or inclusion of the sponsor’s logo
for 100,000 US$.
2.3 Core Offering.
Any company may offer either content, or services, or
technology, or combinations.
There are five main types of contents, namely, Information Technology, Business
Skills, Lifestyle, Academic, and Custom-Designed.
Services could also be broken down into five areas, namely, Content Distribution,
Consulting, Implementation, eCommerce, and Community Portal.
The label of “Technology” is used for companies that may be providing contents
or services, but have their own technological tools of platforms, which may be classified
into four areas. They are Learning Management System (LMS), Content Creation Tool,
Delivery Platform, and Collaboration Tool.
2.4 Sample eLearning Business Organizations.
A partial list of
eLearning business organizations are given in this Section. Sample Content Companies
are “About” at <www.about.com>, “Digital Think, Inc.” at <www.digitalthink.com>, and
“SkillSoft Corporation” at <www.skillsoft.com>.
Sample Services Companies are “Learn2.com, Inc” at <www.learn2.com>,
“SmarterKids.com” at <www.smarterkids.com>, and “VarityBooks.com” at
<www.varitybooks.com>.
Sample
Technology
Companies
are
“Click2learn.com,
Inc”
at
<www.click2learn.com>, “eCollege.com” at <www.ecollege.com>, and “Smartforce” at
<www.smartforce.com>.
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3. Elearning Business at the University Level
Examples of treating eLearning as business may be found in many virtual
universities and colleges in the US. Most of the virtual universities were established as
“For Profit” rather than “Non-Profit”.
3.1 “For Profit” and “Non-Profit” Universities. U.S. News and World
Report offers A-Z eLearning directory [39]. The list includes notable “For-Profit”
universities such as Capella University and the University of Phoenix.
In the book entitled “Higher Ed, Inc.” [23] referring to “companies offering
higher education services”, the author discussed different orientation of the two types of
universities, “non-profit” and “for-profit”.
 A “non-profit” university is tax-exempt whereas a “for-profit” university is taxpaying.
 A “non-profit” university may be established with money from donors and
government whereas a “for-profit” university with money from investors.
 A “non-profit” university may get additional money from endowment whereas a
“for-profit” university has to raise more investment capital either from private
investors or the stock market.
 A “non-profit” university may be managed by representatives of the government
whereas a “for-profit” university is managed just like a company.
 A “non-profit” university may emphasize the quality of inputs whereas a “forprofit” emphasize the quality of outputs.
 A “non-profit” university is based on faculty power whereas a “for-profit”
university is based on student power.
 A “non-profit” university would never be listed in the stock market whereas a
“for-profit” may aim to be listed in the stock market.
 The motive of a “non-profit” university may be prestige whereas the motive of a
“for-profit” is probably profit.
Time Magazine stated that the estimated 2005 revenues of for-profit higher education
in the US are 17.6 US$ billion, representing a growth rate four times that of non-profit
universities [38].
3.2 The Business of Capella University. Capella University [32, 34, 36] is
an accredited virtual university operated by Capella Education Company in Minneapolis,
USA. Capella University was founded in 1993 to serve working adults. The University
offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business, technology, education,
human services and psychology. As of the year 2005, it serves about 13,000 enrolled
learners from all 50 states and more than 50 countries. Capella Education Company was
awarded Inc. Magazine’s distinctive Hall of Fame award in 2004, for being named in six
consecutive years to the Inc. 500, the Magazine’s annual listing of fastest-growing private
companies in America.
From Hoovers Intelligence report [34], Capella has about 740 faculty members.
About 47% of students are taking Ph.D. programs. About 70% of revenues are from
federal student financial aid programs. Chairman and CEO Steve Shank, who founded
the company in 1993, owns 21% of the company.
4
From Directoryofschool.com [32], in the year 2002, Capella had a loss of 5.7
US$ million on revenue of 49.6 US$ million. In the year 2004, Capella had a profit of
18.8 US$ million on revenue of117.7 US$ million.
In January 2005, Capella Education Company, announced new investors through
a series of transactions totaling more than 62.5 US$ million [36]. The investors are:
 Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), making a 35 US$ million investment
 Existing Capella shareholder Maveron, a venture capital firm, making an incremental
investment of 7.5 US$million,
 Insight Venture Partners, making a 15 US$ million investment
 Watershed Capital LLC, added 5 US$ million to his holdings.
r
a
On April 19, 2005, Capella announced its plan for initial public offering (IPO) to
i s e
8 6 . 2 5
U S $
m i l l i o n .
3.3 The Business of the Apollo Group Inc.
Apollo Group, Inc. [29] is a
provider of higher education eLearning to working adults. The Company operates four
educational institutions, namely, the University of Phoenix, Inc., Western International
University, Inc., Institute for Professional Development , and the College for Financial
Planning, Inc. As of August 31, 2005, Apollo Group offered its programs and services at
90 campuses and 154 learning centers in 39 states, Puerto Rico, Alberta, and British
Columbia. The Company's combined degree enrollment was approximately 307,400 as of
August 31, 2005.
The University of Phoenix had 63 local campuses and 112 learning centers in 34
states, Puerto Rico, Alberta, and British Columbia. It offers educational programs
worldwide through its computerized educational delivery system, with customized
computer programs for student tracking, marketing, faculty recruitment and training, and
academic quality management. University of Phoenix is Apollo’s largest subsidiary, and
its tuition revenues represented approximately 89.4% of its consolidated tuition revenues
during the fiscal year ended August 31, 2005. Western International University offers
undergraduate and graduate degree programs at local campuses in Arizona, and through
joint ventures in China and India. The Institute for Professional Development provides
program development and management consulting services to regionally accredited
private colleges and universities, who are interested in expanding or developing their
programs for working adults. These services typically include degree program design,
curriculum development, market research, student recruitment, accounting and
administrative services. The College for Financial Planning, near Denver, Colorado,
provides financial planning education programs, including the Certified Financial Planner
Professional Education Program certification, as well as regionally accredited graduate
degree programs in financial planning, financial analysis and finance.
From Apollo’s Annual Report [29], it had revenue of 2.251 US$ billion and net
profit of 444 US$ million in the year 2005, revenue of 1.798 US$ billion and net profit of
278 US$ million in the year 2004, and revenue of 1.340 US$ billion and net profit of 247
US$ million in the year 2003.
3.4 The Business of the “Non-Profit” Assumption University.
Although Assumption University (Au) of Thailand is registered as a non-profit university
and is tax-exempt, the university has been making more revenue than expenses. Au
receives most of the revenue from students’ fees. All the amount of revenue in excess of
5
expenses has been used to improve the university and has not been distributed to
shareholders because Au does not have any shareholder.
The author proposal to establish the College of Internet Distance Education was
approved by the Board of Trustees of Assumption University on April 25, 2002, with the
author as the Chairman of the Board and CEO of the College. The author also wrote the
first draft of the decree to legalize eLearning in Thailand which was later published in the
Royal Gazette in October 2005. The College is managed more or less like a business in
the sense that it is headed by the author with the position of the Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) similar to a university president, assisted by the Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
similar to the vice president for technology, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) similar
to the vice president for administration, the Chief Academic Officer (CAO) similar to the
vice president for academic affairs, and etc.
The College of Internet Distance Education was established to offer eLearning
without the purpose of making profit. As a matter of fact, about 15 US$ million was
invested to construct “Srisakdi Charmonman IT Center” with 12 floors and about 12,000
square meters as well as all the required IT and audio visual equipments, as shown in
Figure 3 to house the College.
Assumption University is the first university in Thailand to establish a collegelevel organization specifically to offer eLearning, the first university in Thailand to offer
complete eLearning degree programs, and the first university in the world to offer a Ph.D.
program in eLearning Methodology.
Figure 3. Srisakdi Charmonman
IT Center
Figure 4. Searching Google for
“PhD eLearning Methodology”
The College uses eBusiness for eLearning in the sense that all the processes are
done thru the Internet, including eAdvertising of the eLearning programs, eApplication
where students submit their applications thru the Internet, eInterview in which the
admission officers interview the applicants thru the Internet, eAdmission in which the
announcements that the students have been admitted into the programs are made thru the
Internet, eRegisteration where students register for the courses thru the Internet,
eAttendance where students listen to or view the lectures thru the Internet, eAssignment
where students get the assignment and submit their work thru the Internet, eExamination
in which students take the examinations thru the Internet, eGrading in which the
professors post the grades and students read the grades thru the Internet, and finally
eGraduation in which students may join the graduation ceremony thru the Internet.
Anyone anywhere in the world wishing to study for Ph.D. in eLearning
Methodology can search for “Ph.D. eLearning Methodology” from Google and would get
6
the result as shown in Figure 4, with the first five entries about Assumption University.
Clicking on the entry “Application Form for Ph.D. eLearning Methodology” would give
the application form as shown in Figure 5, and the research proposal guideline as shown
in Figure 6.
As of November 2006, the College of Internet Distance Education of Assumption
University offer four complete eLearning degree programs. They are Master of Science
in Management, Master of Science in Information and Communication Technology,
Master of Science in eLearning Methodology, and Ph.D. in eLearning Methodology.
Figure 5. Application Form for
Ph.D. in eLearning Methodology
Figure 6. Research Proposal Guideline
for Ph.D. in eLearning Methodology
4. eLearning Business for K12
In the US and Canada, K12 is used to refer to kindergarten to grade 12. Searching
Google for “K12 eLearning” resulted in 282,000 entries as shown in Figure 7. For
example, there was a press release March 2, 2005 “Landmark Study Yields First-Ever
Data on Distance Education in Elementary and Secondary Schools” as shown in Figure 8.
Figure 7. K12 eLearning
Figure 8. K12 Distance Education
The survey results released in March 2005 were obtained from the year 20022003. Eighty percents of public school districts in the US said that the most important
reasons to provide distance education are:
 To offer courses not available in the classrooms at their school.
 To make college-level courses available to all students.
Other findings are:
 Distance education in high school are gaining popularity across the US.
7
 Distance education is more prevalent in rural districts, where distance learning
may be the students’ only available option.
 In 2002-2003, there were an estimated 328,000 enrollment in distance
education course among students regularly enrolled in the classroom mode.
 Of the total enrollment in distance education courses, 68% were in high
schools, 29% in combined or un-graded school, 2% in middle or junior high
school, and 1% in elementary school.
Figure 9. Searching
“Virtual School 2006”
Figure 10. 2006 Virtual School
Symposium
Searching for “Virtual School 2006” from Google yielded 106 million entries as
shown in Figure 9. For example, there will be the “2006 Virtual School Symposium”
with the theme of “Next Generation Education: Redesign Powered by Online Learning”
as shown in Figure 10. The eLearning curricular offerings to be discussed at the
symposium are college-prep online high school courses, advanced placement (AP)
classes, English as a second language (ESL) courses, Math and Science courses with
qualified teachers, credit recovery opportunities, summer school, foreign languages,
professional development and teacher training, customized curriculum, and hundreds of
rigorous academic courses for K–12.
From the announcement of Insights School [33], Mr. Keith Oelrich has led many
virtual high schools collectively enrolled over 900,000 students. He served as President
and CEO of KC Distance Learning, Keystone National High School, iQ Academies,
Apex Learning, and etc. with collectively over 900,000 students. Apex Learning, a
leading eLearning company in the virtual high school industry, was founded by Microsoft
co-founder Paul Allen. Apex sales grew 2,500% over two years. It enteredinto contract
withState-level Virtual High Schools in 29 states. Its products were used in 14% of the
US school districts. Apex was named one of dBusiness.com’s “50 companies to Watch in
2001”.
5. Corporate eLearning
Searching for “Corporate eLearning” from Google yielded 6.27 million entries as
shown in Figure 11. There are many organizations offering eLearning short courses and
training. There are many eLearning companies providing all kinds of short courses and
training. Learned societies also offer eLearning services to members, usually free of
charge. For example, most of the computer-related societies offer computer-related short
courses. The author of this paper is the founding President of the Computer Society of the
8
IEEE Thailand Chapter which is located at Srisakdi Charmonman IT Center of
Assumption University and the Society provides several eLearning courses free of charge
to members, as shown in Figure 12, with 800 course modules covering topics such as
Java, Cisco, UNIX, project management, security, and many more.
Figure 11. Corporate eLearning
Figure 12. IEEE eLearning
From Cramer Sweenny’s web [31], Elliott Masie shared the Executive Summary
results from his Learning Consortium's survey of 240 organizations, that the learning
methods they deploy within their organizations are 46% Classroom, 27% eLearning, 19%
Blended, and 10% Other. From the Think Tank Session at the World Internet Center [25],
was about 885 US$ billion in the US, and 27% would be about 239 US$ billion.
In order for corporates to remain competitive in an increasingly fast-paced
Internet society, corporate workers must be constantly retrained with new informatiion
and skills to be retained in their jobs. Virtual classrooms or eLearning can produce
dramatic cost savings for corporate training and that is why management is interested in
corporate eLearning. The Think Tank session concluded that corporate eLearning can be
applied in the management of performance and business results, including managing the
brand, reducing the risk, driving revenue, and providing better customer services and
increasing customer loyalty.
6. Concluding Remarks
The concept of eBusiness should be applied to eLearning in order to realize the
full benefit of the Internet. The Internet can be used in both the front office and the back
office parts of eLearning. The front office part of eLearning starts from eAdvertisement,
to eApplication, and so on until eGraduation. The back office part of eLearning includes
eFinance, eAccounting, eHumanResource, and etc. Presented in this paper are business
models of eLearning, eLearning business at the university level including the topics of
for-profit and non-profit universities, Capella University, Apollo Group Inc. (the
University of Phoenix), and the College of Internet Distance Education of Assumption
University; eLearning Business for K12; and Corporate eLearning. Sloan Consortium
reported eLearning has entered the mainstream of education in the US. It will enter the
mainstream of education in other countries sooner or later. Therefore, we should explore
the application of eBusiness to eLearning for the benefits of all parties concerned.
9
References.
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University of Technology Thonburi. March 9, 2001.
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Second International Conference on eLearning for Knowledge-based Society. Bangkok,
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10
17. Charmonman, S. and Chorpothong, N. "To Develop or Not to Develop New Courseware
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for the 9th SEAMOLEC Governing Board Meeting, Hanoi, Vietnam. September 13,
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the International Seminar on “Policies and Technologies in ODL: Issues and
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Prof.Dr.Srisakdi Charmonman
Professor Dr.Srisakdi Charmonman has extensive and well-rounded experience in
education, business, government, and learned societies.
In education, he is the first Thai national to earn a Ph.D. in computer-related area
and that was from Georgia Institute of Technology in the US in 1964. Then he became
Director of Graduate Studies in Computer Science at the University of MissouriColumbia in the US, Full Professor of Computer Science at the State University of New
York at Brockport in the US, a full Professor at NIDA, a C-11 Professor at King
Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang in Thailand, and Founder and Chairman
of the Board and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the College of Internet Distance
Education (www.eLearning.au.edu).
In business, Prof.Srisakdi Charmonman was Chairman of Computer Professional
Services Co., Ltd. providing consulting services to many organizations such as BAHINT
and Siam Commercial Bank. He was Founder and Chairman of KSC which was the first
and largest ISP (Internet Service Provider) in Thailand, once valued at one billion US$,
and Chairman of eASEAN Business Council
In government, Prof. Srisakdi Charmonman was one of the few highest-ranking
civil servants, i.e. C11 (the same rank as the highest-ranking Permanent Secretary in any
Ministry, the same rank as Field Marshal in the armed forces, one rank higher than the
Provincial Governors) and stayed in that rank for 10 years (longer than most other civil
servants). He was Chairman of the Computer Working Group at the Office of the Prime
Minister, Chairman of the Committee to Use the Internet to Display Traffic Conditions at
the Office of the Prime Minister, Member of the University Civil Service Commission
chaired by the Prime Minister, IT Expert in the Committee to Integrate and Revolutionize
the National Records chaired by the Prime Minister, Deputy Chairman of the
Extraordinary Committee on Copyrights of the House of Representatives, Chairman of
five Subcommittees on National Professional Standards at the Ministry of Labor, Director
of eCommerce Pilot Project and Chairman of the Committee on Specifications of
eRegistration Project at the Ministry of Commerce, Expert Member of the National
Copyright Committee, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Software Copyright in the
National Copyright Committee, President of the Club of the Associate Judges of the
Central Intellectual Properties and International Trade Court, etc.
In learned societies, Prof.Dr.Srisakdi Charmonman was Founder and President of
Thailand Chapter of the ACM, Founder and President of Thailand Joint Chapter of the
Computer Society and the Engineering Management Society of the IEEE, Founder and
President of Thailand Chapter of ISOC, President of the Computer Association of
Thailand under the Royal Patronage of HM the King 2002-2004 and 2006-2008. He was
also elected one of the 5 Directors of APNIC, one of the 15 members of the Board of
Trustees of ISOC, and one of the 10 members of the Board of Trustees of IFIP
(International Federation for Information Processing).
Prof.Dr.Srisakdi Charmonman was named Asian Computer Man of the Year
1981 and appeared on the front cover of Computer-Asia magazine published in Hong
Kong. He was named Father of the Internet in Thailand by Bangkok Post and several
other publications. He was named Man of the Year in 1996 and 1997 by GM Magazine,
and Person of the Year 2004 by EconNews (Vol. 15, No. 449, September 2004), Man of
the Year 2004 by the American Biographical Institute, In 2006, the International
Biographical Centre of Cambridge in England called him the Father of Thai ELearning.
Assumption University of Thailand honored him by constructing a 15 US$
million building named “Srisakdi Charmonman IT Center (www.scBuilding.info)” and
declared “Center of Excellence in IT Education” by the Ministry of Information and
Communications Technology of Thailand.
More information at <www.charm.au.edu>. Email: charm@ksc.au.edu.
Tel: 662-723-2925-6. Fax: 662-723-2927-8. Mobile: 66-81-621-4526.
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