ECONOMICS OF DISTANCE EDUCATION RECONSIDERED

According to Gartner a certain hype of e-Learning was followed by a downturn but eLearning will continue to be an important factor in learning scenarios. However the economic viability of e-learning projects will be questioned with more scrutiny than in earlier periods. Therefore it seems to be a good opportunity to see what can be learned from past experience in costing distance learning projects and what aspects are added by current attempts to measure economic efficiency. After reviewing early research about costing distance learning some more recent approaches will be discussed, such as eLearning ROI-calculators and the concept of total cost of ownership. Furthermore some microeconomic effects referring to localization of distance learning courses are outlined. Finally several unsolved issues in costing distance education are summarized