1 Alert Driven Communications Management for Distance Learning Dickson K.W. Chiu, Senior Member, IEEE Dickson Computer Systems, Hong Kong Samuel P.M. Choi School of Business and Administration, The Open University of Hong Kong.

Alerts for Distance LearningEEE05-2 Introduction Increasing mobility of students and educators Awareness, accessibility, and responsiveness Using innovative technology to facilitate learning Process integration and data integration are required among education partners Managed multi-channel communications Alerts - urgent requests and critical messages Experience from healthcare alert system Alert Management System (AMS) Routing, monitoring, and logging the alerts Find suitable service - application specific considerations like costs, waiting time, service time

Alerts for Distance LearningEEE05-3 Stakeholders of Distance Learning: OUHK Both human and computerized systems involved Different degree of computerization

Alerts for Distance LearningEEE05-4 Main problems and requirements Traditional communications are no longer adequate online learning platforms web-based administrative services cellular phones and pagers or instant messenger Main problems and requirements Large number of messages require timely communication Managed multi-channel communications Seamless Integrations Web Services supports both type of interaction in a single framework Both human and computerized systems involved Different degree of computerization

Alerts for Distance LearningEEE05-5 Role of Alerts in IS Information Systems and Workflows Event / Exception Handling Data/Process Requirements Alerts Managed by AMS Web Services and Mobile Devices What are Alerts? Different from general events, alerts have more specific attributes, e.g., urgency and service requirements. Different from exceptions, they need not relate to abnormal behaviors. asynchronously received by external events / exceptions, incoming E-service requests synchronously generated by internal E- service application. handled by the AMS by requesting services: internal information systems human service provider external E-service providers

Alerts for Distance LearningEEE05-6 Alert Conceptual Model

Alerts for Distance LearningEEE05-7 System Architecture

Alerts for Distance LearningEEE05-8 Phased System Implementation Phase 1 – Call center support system Phase 2 – Upgrade existing system to support also alerts Tutoring and discussion system Venue management system Assignment management system Student and tutor monitoring system Complaint and exception management system

Alerts for Distance LearningEEE05-9 Alert Life Cycle

Alerts for Distance LearningEEE05-10 Alert Urgency Strategy Definition Defining the policies according to which the urgencies of the alert will evolve Example Urgency002Action Urgentdefault Very UrgentSubmit a second alert to the same service provider, notifying about the approaching deadline CriticalRedirect the alert to another SP that has the best response time Very CriticalSend the alert to several SPs and accept the results of the one that response first, notify an administrator

Alerts for Distance LearningEEE05-11 Advantage from student’s perspective full-time job during their part-time study senior management positions: travel frequently availability of flexible, anytime, anyplace help from tutors though quality responses are often more important than the response time AMS reliably routes their questions finds alternative tutors for assistance communications among peer students for discussions and group work communicate with the course coordinator upon exceptions: assignment extensions, attending another tutorial class, changing the tutorial group, or even deferral of examinations and studies

Alerts for Distance LearningEEE05-12 Advantage from educator’s perspective similar anytime anyplace requirement for the access and management of messages AMS help keep track of the messages, esp. important and urgent ones avoid being overwhelmed by the large amount of messages from the students full-time course coordinators monitor the performance of the tutors (e.g. marking lateness)

Alerts for Distance LearningEEE05-13 Advantage from administrator’s perspective coordinates the partner institutions’ communication with the students and the tutors especially upon exceptions such as changes in tutorial venue and tutor absences or substitutions call center automation forming a tutor pool to answer student queries: better response time and substitution monitor the tutors’ performance data integration with the partner institutes

Alerts for Distance LearningEEE05-14 Conclusions  A conceptual model for specifying alerts based on the requirements of distance learning  A practical architecture for the AMS based on contemporary Web Services – supports human and programmatic interfaces  matching service providers to alert requirements  A mechanism for (re-)routing alerts and increasing their urgency when alerts are not acknowledged or processed within deadline.  Applicability for distance learning  flexible and reusable AMS can be plug into other systems

Alerts for Distance LearningEEE05-15 Future Work  Interfacing and platform-specific issues  Inter-relations among alerts  Failure of commitments and their relation to contract enforcement  managing the diary of the personnel with agents  Impact of cancellations, other possible exceptions  Tradeoff between quality/response time and cost, and service negotiation  Location dependent applications  Workforce management  Mobile CRM