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Theoretical Outline Of Distance Education Service

Posted on:2008-04-08Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:L Z WuFull Text:PDF
GTID:1117360218459980Subject:Education Technology
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
With the rapid development of global service industry, especially under thehistoric background of greatly promoting modern service industry in China, distanceeducation is paying more and more attention to service gradually. Distance educationpossesses the feature of "industrialization", and it is accompanied with offering andusing visible product, such as textbook; but its fundamental product is still educationservice and its core value derives from a series of activities among the servant(including teacher and manager) and customer (student) of e-learning school andstudy center. Therefore, distance education belongs to service industry, complyingwith basic rule of service industry, and service is the industry essence of distanceeducation. From the perspective of service, the thesis syllogistically applies somerelevant theory of service industry to distance education field, which have been testedin the case study and action study, and constructs a theoretical system framework ofdistance education service preliminary with service view of "quasi-public product" ofdistance education as recognition foundation and with system view, quality view,efficiency view of distance education as the core.1. View on the product of distance education service. The product of distanceeducation service is "quasi-public product", which has the characteristics of bothpublic product and private product. In addition to teaching service, the product ofdistance education service abundantly contains the service of management, the serviceof facilities, the service of campus culture, and the service for special students, whichare provided for the purpose of improving the quality of teaching services. Each ofabove mentioned services composes of four parts: explicit services, implicit services,facilitating goods and environment, which construct the service package of distanceeducation in organic integrity.2. View on the system of distance education service. The system of distanceeducation service includes four elements: "staff", "customers", "service interaction","equipment and environment", which carries out distance education service andcreates the service package of distance education together. Service staff and customers are the provider and consumer of distance education service respectively, equipmentand environment is necessary condition of the service, and service interaction is thecore of the system, Sometimes, equipment interacts with customers directly and formservice interaction.3. View on the quality of distance education service. The quality of distanceeducation service indicates the degrees how distance education organizations satisfythe needs of their customers, such as students, families, enterprises, societies, etc.Three parts are included: result quality, process quality and "unexpected" quality.The construction of the quality of distance education service should adhere to eightprinciples of ISO9000 (customer focus, leadership, people incoherent, systemapproach to management, process approach, continual improvement, factual approachto decision making, mutually beneficial supplier relationship), and by applyingdocuments to achieve the management of four processes: "managementresponsibility", "resource management", "product realization", "measurement,analysis and improvement".4. View on the efficiency of distance education service. As far as the wholeindustry is concerned, organization of distance education is non-profit serviceindustry because it is not aimed to earn profit. However, profit organization andnot-profit organization generally coexist within the industry and possess relativecharacteristic respectively. The cost includes three parts: intermediate consumption,depreciation of fixed assets and labor consumption. Besides the complexity ofchangeable cost, the cost possesses the characteristic that depreciation of fixed assetsand intermediate service consumption involve a great number of items and a largesum of money. The benefits include private benefit and social benefit, which arefeatured as long effect, spillover and real-time.The chief innovation of the thesis reflects in the following aspects: 1. Perspectiveinnovation. The thesis provides a completely new angle for recognizing of distanceeducation, understanding distance education, studying distance education, andreforming distance education from the perspective of service. 2. Theory innovation.The thesis proposes a tentative theoretical framework with system, quality and efficiency as its core. And it is also the study to interpret distance education fromindustrial angle and presents views systematically after the Theory of IndustrializedDistance Education. 3. Method innovation, the thesis adopts deductive method thatalways used in philosophical field.The study embodies era spirit and has supporting value to the relevant reserch ofNational Education Department and Department of Science and Technology onmodern service industry during the period of 11th five-year-plan, which not onlyenriches the theory of distance education, but also has direct and positive guidingsignificance to practice.
Keywords/Search Tags:Service, Distance Education, Product, System, Quality, Efficiency
PDF Full Text Request
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