Example of Management Failures in Online English Education

Analysis of Difficulties Related to Management Failure in Online English Education

Bad management has the effect of undermining the entire system. For example the Beiwai Online English Education System has such main management levels constructed to serve the learners: the headquarters, the local centers including the local tutors. If each level is responsible enough, the learners can obtain help accordingly

In my own experience with online English learning, local centers as the level of the management network at the closest “interactive layer” (Gu Yueguo 2000) play a central role in bridging the gap between online and traditional learning. When the local center operates in a professional and effective manner, the chance of a successful outcome is increased substantially. However, when the local center performs poorly many problems are created down line. Analysis of possible causes of failure in management service of a local center:

One of main causes of breakdowns in local center management may be related to the local centers special status…

l Firstly, the liaison function of local centers is often not consistent or reliable.

l Secondly, poor tutorial arrangement can have adverse effects on successful outcomes.

l Thirdly, at times, the local center pays little or no attention to special online activities organized by the headquarters for the learners, such as the excellent learners’ activity, or the excellent monitors’ activity.

l Fourthly, online assignments are often not downloaded on time by the local center; sometimes the delay is so acute that deadlines are past, which causes difficulties for both the headquarters and tutors.

The four examples cited above of the failure in the management of a local center are drawn from personal experience. These lapses in quality control adversely affect the entire operating system. Learners, tutors, the headquarters reputation, and even the reputation of the local centers themselves all suffer from such poor services.

The failure in management at the local center not only causes negative experiences for the learners but also for the tutor. The tutor’s sense of responsibility for learners tends to draw learners closer; therefore when local centers fail to provide services, learners immediately turn to the tutor for assistance with non-academic problems.

In china today online learning is in its embryonic stage, therefore Chinese online developers and educators must realize that it is essentially important to deal with any structural problems, which arise immediately, before they become a permanent component of online learning. The important decisions that online developers and educators make today will certainly affect the future development of online learning in China. It must be pointed out that the examples of problems experienced by Beiwei online with local center performance are not Beiwei’s alone but exemplifies wider structural problems experienced by many online providers in China. Local tutorial centers, as previously stated serve an important bridging function in the early stages of online learning.

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Ding Jiali Terry Pickett Foreign Language Studies, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, PRC , “Analysis of Difficulties Related to Management Failure in Online English Education” Journal of A local center perspective.