I. The Market of e-Learning in Higher Education

 Higher education institutions in the country have been involved in the development of e-Learning for a long time and the depth of application has been steadily expanding. From the aspect of blended learning, the technologies have advanced from asynchronous to synchronous teaching, and from the aspect of application, course study, report submission, discussion, assessment, and study community development have all been well developed -some school have even implemented automatic voice recognition and pronunciation learning systems for English learning and online text models. The upcoming talent placement system

will integrally organize students' talents with their licenses into one convenient platform.

Since the Ministry of Education annexed the item of “Using e-Learning Teaching Models” into the quality evaluation for higher education institutions, many higher education institutions have either set up one or more e-Learning platforms or developed their own systems. The Digital Education Institute of the Institute for Information Industry conducted a survey in September 2005 on the topic of e-Learning in Higher Education Institution in the Nation. A total of 51 effective samples were returned. We will discuss the issues relating to e-Learning in higher education institutions, like the initiation stages, motivation, and hindrances, in the following section.

(I) Initiation Stages in Higher Education Institutions

As high as 64.7% of higher education institutions have begun using e-Learning systems and 23.5% of the remaining institutions are also evaluating and setting up models. That is, higher education institutions are mainly in two stages – Implemented/already in use and evaluating and model setup/ready in the near future.

(II) Implementation Departments for e-Learning in Higher Education Institutions

A high percentage (68.6%) of schools delegated the job of implementing e-Learning to the Computer Center and the Department of Teaching Affairs (39.2%); only 19.6% of schools set up cross- departmental committees to handle relevant affairs.

(III) Users of e-Learning Systems in Higher Education Institutions

As high as 80% of higher education institutions uses e-Learning on regular/traditional students, and only 24.0 and 14.0% of schools implements e-Learning on on-job training degree programs and non-credit extended education respectively.

(IV) Uses of e-Learning in Higher Education Institutions

A high percentage of higher education institutions (80.4%) use e-Learning systems on asynchronous teaching and 68.6% of schools use the systems as a platform for teaching resources such as class notes and homework. The ratios of schools using e-Learning systems for synchronous teaching (instant broadcast of teaching over video facilities) and online tests are lower, taking only 29.4% and 23.5%(figure 4-2-4).

(V) Ratio of using e-Learning in Teaching in Higher Education Institutions

A ratio of 49% of higher education institutions use less than 10% of e-Learning in teaching, and 21.6% of higher education institutions use 11-20% of e-Learning in teaching(figure 4-2-5). This result shows that a large portion of teachers are not familiar with the operation of e-Learning systems.

(VI) Major Hindrances in Implementing e-Learning in Higher Education Institutions

A high percentage (62.7) of higher education institutions encounters the problem of “Teachers not yet established the habits” during the process of promoting e-Learning, followed by “Teachers are not fully capable of producing teaching materials” (49%) and “Students not yet established the learning habits” and “Lacking digital teaching materials” (each shares 39.2%).

From the figures, we can see that the major obstacles hindering the development of e-Learning in schools are mainly teachers' teaching habits and their capabilities in producing such teaching materials. In summary, providing teachers with adequate training and give certain incentives during the process of infrastructure setup will help to eliminate the obstacles.

II. The Market of e-Learning for Private Training & After-School Tutoring

Institutions

According to the survey done by the Digital Education Institute of the Institute for Information Industry, the production value of the e-Learning industry in Taiwan in 2005 was estimated at NT$ 6.5 billion; in which, 3/4 of the value was generated by the private training/after-school tutor industry. There are currently more than 13 thousands private training/tutor centers registered in Taiwan. According to the industry, this sector has an annual production value of NT$ 150 billion and e-Learning only constitutes approximately 3%. Therefore, we can say that this market has very high potential.

The Digital Education Institute of the Institute for Information Industry conducted a survey in September 2005 targeting on the uses of e-Learning in Taipei County/City, Taichung County/City, and Kaohsiung County/City. The following is a discussion on the results of the survey pertaining to the issues of initiation stages, scope of application, and hindrances, as well as an overview on the status of e-Learning in the Private Training/After- School Tutor centers.

(I) Application of Information Technology in Private Training/ After-School Tutor Centers

As shown in the Figure below, a large portion of the private training/after-school tutor industry (69.3%) is not using information technologies to supplement teaching, 17.9% of the industry has the service of distributing teaching materials in the form of CD, and 10.3% provide teaching resources over the internet. Furthermore, from the Figure, we can see that 78.7% of businesses in this industry have not yet implemented e-Learning, 10.6% has the potential, and 10.6% have implemented e-Learning systems.

(II) Private Training/ After-school Tutor Businesses Not Yet Implemented e-Learning

Among the private training/ after-school tutor businesses, 77.6% of them indicated that they do not have an information technology department to handle related affairs, and factors that are holding the businesses back are “insufficient funding”, “no need due to small business scale”, and “used before but the effect was not good”.

(III) Applications for Private Training/ After-school Tutor Businesses that have Potential or already Implemented e-Learning

Businesses that have high potential or already implemented e-Learning systems indicated that they use e-Learning for “Supplement for physical teaching or tutoring”, each sharing 59.5% and 65.2%, followed by Independent recruitment and selling of digital-learning programs, sharing 35.7% and 32.6%(figure 4-2-9).

(IV) Hindrances for Private Training/ After-school Tutor Businesses that have Potential or Already Implemented e-Learning

Potential private training/ after-school tutor businesses indicated that they are most likely to encounter obstacles like “Students not yet established the learning habits (40%)” and “Leaning effects not measurable (34.3%)(figure 4-2-10)”. Businesses that have implemented e-Learning mostly encountered “Students not yet established the learning habits (31.4%)”, “High cost for digital teaching material update (22.9%)”, and “Parents are unfamiliar to e-Learning (22.9%)”, and some of them encountered “Lacking references of successful models (20.0%)”, “Return-on-investment can not be estimated (20.0%), and “Lacking consultation services for initiation and setup (20.0%)”(figure 4-2-11).

(V) Platform Procurement Adopted/Likely to be Adopted by Private Training/Afterschool Tutor Businesses that are Likely or Already Implemented e-Learning

Potential private training/ after-school tutor businesses are likely to procure the platform through “Out-contract (37.1%) and “Rental (22.9%)”. Most businesses that have implemented e-Learning systems have developed their own systems (45.7%) or through “Out-Contract (31.4%)”(figure 4-2-12).

(VI) Procurement of e-Learning Materials Adopted by Potential Private Training/ Afterschool Tutor Businesses or Businesses that have Implemented e-Learning Systems

Potential Private Training/ After-school Tutor Businesses are likely to adopt the following methods for learning material procurement – “Self-development (51.4%)” and “Readymade Materials (37.1%).” Businesses that have implemented e-Learning systems procured their learning materials through “self-development (68.6%)” and “out-contract (28.6%)” (figure 4-2-13).