- Email: [email protected]
Learning in introductory e-commerce: A project-based teamwork approach
Computers & Education 48 (2007) 17–29 www.elsevier.com/locate/compedu
Learning in introductory e-commerce: A project-based teamwork approach Eric W.T. Ngai Department of Management and Marketing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, PR China Received 10 November 2003; accepted 4 November 2004
Abstract In this paper, we describe an e-commerce teamwork-based project designed and implemented at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) for undergraduate business and management students. The teaching objectives of this e-commerce project are to develop the studentsÕ knowledge and skills, such as in the use of e-commerce site building tools, critical thinking, communication skills, teamwork, and entrepreneurship. We focus on the practical implications of the project-based teamwork approach in the teaching and learning of introductory e-commerce from a business context perspective. The results of an evaluation indicate that the project-based teamwork approach to teaching e-commerce performs to expectations. Our experience and student evaluations indicate that students like the practical components of the course and are interested in the use of the learning-by-doing approach. We believe that other business colleges with e-commerce curricula will benefit from this approach. Ó 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Keywords: E-commerce; Teaching and learning of e-commerce; Project-based teamwork approach; Undergraduate courses
1. Introduction Globalization and information technologies are radically changing the face of business and organizations. There is a growing interest in the use of e-commerce as a means to perform E-mail address: [email protected]. 0360-1315/$ - see front matter Ó 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2004.11.005
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business transactions over the Internet. As universities respond to market pressures to add ecommerce to their curricula, faculty members must be prepared to develop, implement, and teach it (Greer, 2002). This is stimulating information system (IS) educators to move into the areas of e-commerce research, teaching and learning. The teaching and learning of the subject is new, and most university lecturers are still trying to figure out how best to incorporate it into existing IS/business curricula or introduce it to students as a non-mainstream subject. The goals of the study are to explore effective ways of implementing a project-based teamwork approach in the teaching and learning of e-commerce in undergraduate courses from a business context perspective. To accomplish the goal of this study, the following operational objectives will be pursued: (1) To design and implement a project-based teamwork project in the teaching and learning of ecommerce. (2) To analyse the perceptions of students and experts on the project-based teamwork approach in the teaching and learning of e-commerce. In the following sections, we describe the background to the course and the organization of the project the students engaged in during the course.
2. Background to the case study – an e-commerce course at the Hong Kong PolyU from a business context perspective An e-commerce course was offered to all second and third year business students through the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)Õs BA programme, and was delivered to approximately 120 students at the Faculty of Business. The class was held 3 h per week, with 14 class meetings. All of the students had already taken ÔIT for BusinessÕ as their first IT course in the first year of study. Most of the students had no prior programming experience. We kept this in mind when designing the course. In the fall of 2000 we were assigned to teach an undergraduate course in e-commerce using a traditional lecture-seminar format. The objective of the course was to provide students with opportunities to understand how e-commerce is conducted and managed, and its major applications, opportunities, limitations, and managerial issues. The goal was to teach concepts rather than just talking about the concepts and having students superficially memorize them. Hence, we decided to familiarize the students with the computer software packages MS FrontPage and Flash 5.0 for Websites and e-shop building. In the following year, we used a practical student project as one of the assignments in the course. We began the first two weeks by introducing MS FrontPage in a one-hour Computer Laboratory session. The following three weeks were spent introducing Flash 5.0. One of the essential reasons for choosing these software packages was that no prior programming experience was necessary and that it was easy to pick up the marketable skills. This enabled students to gain valuable skills for the IS/e-commerce workplace.
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2.1. Student e-commerce project The teaching objectives of this e-commerce project were to develop studentsÕ knowledge and skills such as in using e-commerce site building tools, problem-solving, critical thinking, communication skills, teamwork, and entrepreneurship. Students were told to think of themselves as working for a company that expected them to investigate building an e-shop to market and sell products or services. They were told that E-Mall@PolyU was an interactive platform on which users could design, develop, and host e-shops without a high initial investment or programming knowledge. The supporting documentation of the project was both distributed to the class and made available online. The following was the schedule for the development of the e-shop.
2.2. Five-phase schematic framework A five-phase schematic framework (Fig. 1) for a project-based teamwork approach in the teaching and learning of e-commerce is described below. The project consisted of five main phases: (1) the formation of teams, (2) the writing of an e-business plan, (3) the development of an e-shop, (4) online shopping (5) online peer and tutor evaluations. Phase 1 – formation of teams. Students were asked to form groups, consisting of not more than five members by using an online team formation system. The web-based self-formation of teams made it easy for the students to form teams anywhere and anytime. Phase 2 – writing the business plan. Students were asked to propose a business plan outlining the product/service line and targets, describing how the business would operate, and forecasting its profitability using the suggested proposal form, which was available online (www.ec.mgt.polyu.edu.hk/ecplatform/LabSheet/businessplan.doc). A soft copy of the business plan was submitted to the respective tutors. Once a groupÕs proposal was accepted, the group received a login id, password, and shop number for E-mall@PolyU. The groups then had to login to their e-shops, assign names to the e-shops, and write short introductory descriptions for the e-shops. Phase 3 – development of e-shops. Students were asked to design and develop their e-shops by uploading three main items to E-mall@PolyU: (a) product/service images with descriptions, (b) a Flash logo to represent their shop, and (c) a Flash banner to promote their e-shop via Ôshop owner templateÕ. Students could use HTML or JavaScript in their product/service descriptions to enhance the layout of their e-shops. Phase 4 – online shopping. Each group was given HK$10,000 in e-cash. Students then acted as customers and were asked to visit other e-shops to buy their products/services. Students could browse the e-shops on their own time and experience online shopping, as most of the students had no previous experience in shopping online. Phase 5 – online peer and tutor evaluations and submission of reports. We believe that it is important to assess what we teach and what the students learn. The online peer and tutor evaluation system can be formative (for learning), where the emphasis is on online feedback; and can be summative (for grading), for an evaluation of the work performance. The online marking system could be accessed online (i.e., at www.mis.mgt.polyu.edu.hk:8080/OMS_ Peer).
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Team Formation Phase I
Online Peer and Tutor Evaluation Phase V
E-Business Plan Phase II
Self-directed, Peer-directed, Tutor-directed Teaching Learning Activities
Online Shopping Phase IV
E-Shop Development Phase III
Fig. 1. A five-phase schematic framework of the project-based teamwork approach to learning and teaching ecommerce.
Students were asked to: (1) Evaluate the e-shops that were developed by other groups. They gave marks based on the assessment criteria through the online marking system. This provided students with opportunities to look at and appreciate the work of other groups. (2) Submit a debriefing report, with report guidelines as shown below. Debriefing report. After the game had ended, students were asked to submit a group report that highlighted their work and commented on whether they thought that their group had worked well. They were expected to cover the e-shop setup and performance, specify what they had learned from the assignment, and describe the difficulties encountered. The students in this subject participated in this project-based team work assignment in lieu of a formal examination. The assessment weight for work on the project comprised of: 36% on
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the design of the e-shop, 20% on creativity, 30% on the content of the e-shops, and 14% on business viability. For the final debriefing report, the distribution of the marks was: 50% for reporting the setup of the e-shop and 50% for reporting on the learning experiences/lessons learnt from the project. The final overall assessment marks will be the summation of the tutor evaluation marks and peer evaluation marks, with more weighting placed on the marks assigned by the tutor. 2.3. Self-directed, peer-directed, and tutor-directed teaching and learning activities Knowledge is constructed through learner activity and interaction (Biggs, 1999). We adopted the approaches of self-directed, peer-directed, and tutor-directed (S-P-T-directed) teaching and learning activities (TLA). The S-P-T-directed TLA has been used to facilitate the design and development of the project-based teamwork approach. (1) Self-directed TLA. We provided Web-based packaged learning resources to the students, including the study of e-commerce website development skills such as MS FrontPage, Flash and e-commerce concepts that particularly relate to learning. We developed web-based courseware to teach ÔFlashÕ, FrontPage, and e-commerce concepts. The skills and knowledge learned could be used in Phases 2 and 3 of the project. The purpose of having students learn the basic tools is so that they will be able to grasp the basic learning skills in e-commerce and gain a thorough understanding of e-commerce concepts. In addition, we hoped that this flexible learning approach would able students to master independent learning skills (e.g., Web development tools and self-management). (2) Peer-directed TLA. There is evidence that student–student interaction can enrich learning outcomes (Topping, 1998). According to Biggs (1999), the following are the motivational and social outcomes of using peer-directed TLA: (a) Interacting with peers is usually more interesting than listening to lectures. (b) It can lead to increased self-confidence, communication skills, self-knowledge. (c) It can allow students to get to know other students better, from which friendships may arise. In this study, peer evaluation allows students to review the work of other students according to guidelines for assessing websites and e-shops. Students can hopefully achieve in-depth learning in such a learning environment. Students worked independently and submitted their project assignment to the e-commerce platform and to all of the other peer reviewers for each group of students. The reviewers rated and commented on the work of other students. We believe that students can develop an ability to think creatively by using this approach. (3) Tutor-directed TLA. In this study, the tutor-directed activities included formal lectures and laboratories. There were other interactive modifications including questioning the students, having the tutors give them feedback on their e-business plans, having the teachers provide guidance in designing and developing the e-shop, evaluating the e-shops and providing guidance in evaluating the good e-shops. The tutors also rated each group based on the evaluations of the peer reviewers.
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3. E-mall platform design architecture at the Hong Kong PolyU We developed a web-based E-mall system platform to encourage teachers to develop activities that empower students to take direct action in addressing e-commerce using hands-on learning. This pedagogy is based on the belief that learning is most efficient and effective when it is situated in realistic settings (Schank, 1997). The strategy of learning through the development of an e-shop is significant because it offers students a personal stake in the process of learning. 3.1. E-mall @PolyU (EMP) system The customized Web-based E-Mall@PolyU (EMP) system is used to support the teaching and learning of e-commerce. As shown in Fig. 2, it has been developed to allow students to set up eshops and to electronically buy and sell goods and services under a simulated e-commerce environment. Fig. 2 illustrates the system functionality architecture. The system is interactive and supports online shopping, e-shop development, online customer management, etc. Students form groups and propose e-business plans to their tutors for approval. They design and develop the e-shop if the proposal is approved. The main page of the E-Mall@PolyU is shown in Fig. 3. There are four components in E-Mall@PolyU:
E-Mall@PolyU Product Management Subsystem • Add Product • Delete Product • Update Product • Product Search • Upload Banner & Logo • Assign Shop Name & Descriptions • Order Status • Sales Reports
Customers
Shop Owners
Internet
Students
• • • • • • •
Search Product Compare Product Price User Registration Order History Shopping Cart Transactions Process Product Categories
Databases (User Information,Product Information, Student’s Marks)
• • •
Tutors
Shopping Subsystem
Form Project Group Upload Proposal & Report Peer Evaluation
Technical Support & Give Marks
Online Marking System Functionalities Architecture
Fig. 2. E-Mall@PolyU system architecture.
Online Learning & Analysis Subsystem • • • • • • • • •
E-business Plan Development E-shop Development E-commerce Technical Skills (Flash, HTML, Frontpage) Basic E-shop Management Communication (Group & Individual) Promotion Strategy Order Statistics Analysis Peer Evaluation Debriefing Report
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Fig. 3. Main page of E-Mall@PolyU.
(1) Product Management Subsystem (see Fig. 2). This allows the shop owner to manage the products in the e-shop. For example, the shop owner can add, delete, update, and search for products without the requirement of programming skills. To provide an attractive front-end design for the e-shops, students can apply JavaScript, HTML, or FrontPage features and plug into the information on the products. They can enquire about sales and the order status of their products, and upload their shop banners and logos using Flash. (2) Shopping Subsystem (see Fig. 2). This provides a front-end shopping platform on which customers can browse for/buy products. It contains a shopping cart, the customerÕs order history, transaction process, etc., which are common requirements in e-shops. (3) Databases (see Fig. 2). All products, users, and other information are stored in the databases. Marks are also stored when students conduct peer evaluations (see Fig. 4). Lecturer/tutors also give marks to each group. (4) Online Learning and Analysis Subsystem (see Fig. 2). Students can access various teaching materials, including information about how to write an e-business plan, Flash 5.0 online self-learning materials, and FrontPage 2000 tools for building e-commerce sites on the Internet. Students can also perform a simple order statistical analysis and conduct peer evaluations.
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Fig. 4. Peer evaluation in online marking system.
4. Evaluation Once the EMP system is developed, the system can be tested and evaluated. Through system evaluation, information can be captured on what students like and dislike, and what the system does and does not do to meet their needs. First, the system was tested and evaluated. All of the EMP modules were tested for accuracy and completeness, and the outputs generated were checked and validated to ensure that they meet the requirements of users. Second, once the EMP was built, the evaluation of the outcome was conducted in two phases. The first phase was the domain expert (professors/lecturers/tutors) evaluation, and the second phase was the studentÕs evaluation. There are a number of approaches to evaluating the system. One criterion for evaluating a teaching and learning system is to measure the satisfaction felt by teachers and students. An evaluation form with several sections was designed. The usability and effectiveness of the system was measured using five-point Likert scales (1 = strongly disagree, 3 = undecided, 5 = strongly agree). Through measuring the effectiveness of the system, we can judge whether the system was able to accomplish its objectives or mission. The items employed to measure the usability of the system reflect the usefulness and ease of use of the system. It was therefore possible to assess the satisfaction of the users as one potential indicator of the success of the system.
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4.1. Expert evaluation Evaluations by domain experts were used to help determine the accuracy of the embedded knowledge and the effectiveness of this approach to teaching e-commerce. The system was validated by a group of six participants attending the E-Commerce 2003 International Workshop on ÔE-Commerce and EducationÕ in Hong Kong. The EMP was demonstrated and an evaluation form was distributed to the experts who presented papers in the workshop. All of experts were university professors and researchers with an average more than five years of experience in teaching IS/e-commerce and with a good knowledge of e-commerce education. Overall, the expertsÕ evaluations were generally positive.
4.2. StudentsÕ evaluation Evaluations by the users (the students) were used to help determine the acceptability of the project according to the following criteria: usability of the system (EMP), the extent to which the students could gain hands-on experience in e-commerce, and whether the project could help the students learn about e-commerce. The evaluation form was distributed to students who had taken on this project at the end of the course. A total of 78 responses were collected and stored for data analysis.
4.3. Evaluation results The responses from the experts and students are summarized in Table 1. Both groups rated the project-based teamwork approach highly, with a mean score of 3.62–3.94 on a five-point scale (1 = strongly disagree, 3 = undecided, 5 = strongly agree) based on the results of the evaluation (questions 15–19) in Table 1. It is clear that the project-based teamwork approach using the system that can facilitate the teaching and learning of e-commerce is exciting, innovative, and more worthwhile than traditional textbook-based learning. A further analysis was conducted to investigate whether or not a difference existed between experts and potential users in the mean ratings of the effectiveness and usability of the system. Non-parametric Mann–Whitney U tests were used and the results are presented in Table 1. There were 19 questions, and the significance levels in all questions were higher than 0.05. It was concluded that there was no significant difference between the mean ratings of the experts and those of the students on the effectiveness and usability of the system except on items 9, 12, 13, 15, and 19. In order to ensure that the values of most the median responses were statistically significantly different from the neutral value of the scale, which is Ô3 – undecidedÕ, one-sample t test using a test value of Ô3Õ was conducted for the 19 items. The results of the ttest are presented in Table 1. Overall, the evaluation of the system was satisfactory because only items 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 are not significant from the value Ô3Õ, which is ÔundecidedÕ at a significance level of 0.05. The viability of the system and the approach use to facilitate the teaching and learning of e-commerce has been ascertained by the positive feedback obtained from the evaluation form.
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Table 1 Perceived values by the students and experts Experts (n = 6)
Potential user (n = 78)
Difference between experts and students
Mean SD
Mean SD
Mann–Whitney Mean SD U test (significance level)
Using Emall@PolyU is 1 Fun 2 Pleasant 3 Exciting 4 Pleasurable 5 Enjoyable
3.50 3.17 3.17 3.33 3.50
0.84 0.41 0.41 0.52 0.55
3.18 3.14 2.91 3.10 2.96
0.77 0.78 0.87 0.82 0.83
1.089 0.047 0.779 0.618 1.681
(0.276) (0.963) (0.436) (0.537) (0.093)
3.20 3.14 2.93 3.12 3.00
0.77 0.76 0.85 0.80 0.82
2.400 1.717 0.773 1.368 0.000
(0.019)* (0.090) (0.442) (0.175) (1.000)
The 6 7 8 9 10
3.67 4.17 3.67 3.67 3.50
0.52 0.75 0.82 0.52 0.55
3.58 3.65 3.35 2.69 2.94
0.73 0.66 0.89 0.96 0.88
0.122 1.704 0.577 2.474 1.590
(0.903) (0.088) (0.564) (0.013)* (0.112)
3.58 3.69 3.37 2.76 2.98
0.72 0.68 0.89 0.97 0.87
7.479 9.359 3.806 2.262 0.253
(0.000)*** (0.000)*** (0.000)*** (0.026)* (0.801)
0.52 3.64
0.64
0.020 (0.984)
3.64
0.63
9.304 (0.000)***
0.75 3.49 0.75 3.51 0.52 3.36
0.64 0.60 0.72
2.154 (0.031)* 2.163 (0.031)* 1.039 (0.299)
3.54 3.55 3.39
0.67 0.63 0.71
7.364 (0.000)*** 8.019 (0.000)*** 4.928 (0.000)***
3.86
0.66
2.806 (0.005)**
3.92
0.68
12.349 (0.000)***
3.71
0.74
0.325 (0.745)
3.71
0.74
8.877 (0.000)***
3.92
0.70
0.803 (0.422)
3.94
0.70
12.309 (0.000)***
3.82
0.53
1.101 (0.271)
3.62
0.76
7.476 (0.000)***
3.62
0.76
2.336 (0.019)*
3.67
0.77
7.979 (0.000)***
system (E-mall@PolyU) is easy to use easy to learn to use user-friendly Stable and reliable Simulated a real online shopping environment
Effectiveness of the system The user can gain hand on experience in 11 EC technology (FLASH, 3.67 MS FrontPage, etc.) 12 E-shop development 4.17 13 E-business plan development 4.17 3.67 14 Basic e-shop management (including setting product prices and writing descriptions)
Overall, the project-based team work approach is 15 More interesting than 4.67 0.52 traditional textbook learning 16 More exciting than 3.83 0.75 traditional textbook learning 17 More innovative than 4.17 0.75 traditional textbook learning 4.00 0.89 18 Helpful in gaining more understanding about e-shop development 19 Worth doing in relation to 4.33 0.52 this subject
1 – Ôstrongly disagreeÕ, 3 – ÔundecidedÕ, 5 – Ôstrongly agreeÕ. * p 6 0.05. ** p 6 0.01. *** p 6 0.001.
All (n = 84)
Difference between respondents and neutral value (i.e., 3) One sample t-test (significance level)
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5. Reflections on adopting a project-based teamwork approach A project-based teamwork approach allows students to gradually develop problem-solving, self-learning, and collaborative skills. Through a project-based teamwork approach, students are encouraged to develop a habit of self-learning and to share information and exchange ideas. A positive learning outcome has been achieved, as reflected by our student and peer evaluations. The web-based self-formation of teams allowed the students to form teams anywhere and anytime. The project involved a range of knowledge and skills, such as business knowledge, report-writing skills, business proposal writing skills, technical computing skills such as using FrontPage, Flash, etc. Thus, the formation of teams may affect their learning outcomes. Naturally, we found that a team with a mix of knowledge and skills performed better. Students could communicate, share their knowledge and find information online on the Emall@PolyU platform.
6. Benefits from the project-based teamwork approach From the evaluation questionnaires and from discussions with students and university teachers, we identified the following six benefits from the project-based teamwork approach: (1) students gained a solid understanding of how to write an e-business plan, how to set up an eshop and run it in general, (2) students gained skills and knowledge in using e-commerce site building tools and technologies that will be important for their employment prospects, (3) students learned about teamwork, which is important for future employment, (4) students learned to act as reviewers, thinking critically in a peer evaluation of the e-shops and acting as a adapter who benefits from the comments of other reviewers to make further improvements on their e-shop both in terms of design and development, (5) students built up their capabilities to learn independently (e.g., creativity and critical thinking, communication skills), and (6) students learned how to employ different ways of learning (e.g., S-P-T-directed TLA).
7. Conclusions and further work Learning e-commerce can be a joyous adventure that arouses interest in learning about business. If students can learn the process in a properly guided and effective environment, it can prepare them to learn successfully at university and for personal fulfilment. E-commerce can be a difficult subject to teach, as no simple computing package can be used for teaching undergraduate business students, most commercial e-commerce software requires the learning of new computer languages, and time is limited, particularly in e-commerce overview courses. Our pedagogy is based on the belief that learning is most efficient and effective when it is learning by doing. We use a project-based teamwork approach to empower students to take direct action in designing and setting up e-shops using hands-on learning. We believe that this type of approach enables
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students to apply learning, enhance their effectiveness in communication, and to develop creativity, entrepreneurship, and sense of commitment, which is what the community at large expects of education in the 21st century. Undergraduates benefit most from this project-based teamwork approach that allow them to take an active and practical role in learning. The use of the Internet in an educational setting will reflect, either purposely or inadvertently, some model of learning (Lin & Hsieh, 2001). The case presented in this paper illustrates the ways we have gone about teaching and learning via a project-based teamwork approach that promotes student motivation and supports e-commerce learning. We adopted a project-based teamwork approach as part of the teaching and learning of e-commerce, and conceived of our teaching and learning of the topic in more complete ways from a business context perspective. One of the rewarding aspects of teaching this course was helping students to design and develop their eshops, because many of the students found that they could apply the knowledge that they had acquired. The student response to the course was generally positive. Some students indicated that this was one of the most practical and interesting courses that they had taken. Students who had no prior knowledge of computer programming and little interest in computing at the beginning of the course indicated that they now viewed computer software packages such as Flash and MS FrontPage as powerful and important tools in the development of e-commerce systems. We believe that the success of this project-based teamwork approach depends on both the dedication of university teachers and the technical support of research assistants working with the students to set up the E-Mall platform for this project. We are planning to extend this platform: (1) to support an e-commerce role-play game involving roles such as promoters, e-shop-owners, bankers, customers, administrators, and customer relationship analysers to develop insight into the group dynamics of problem-solving situations in e-commerce environments, and (2) to continually improve the quality of the courseware for website development tools such as FrontPage, Dreamweaver, and Flash, to optimize the positive effects that the project-based teamwork approach can yield.
Acknowledgements This project was supported in part by the Teaching Development Grants provided by the University Grants Committee (UGC) of Hong Kong. The author is grateful for the constructive comments of the referee on an earlier version of this paper.
References Biggs, J. (1999). Teaching for quality learning at university. Buckingham: SRHE and Open University Press. Greer, T. H. (2002). Critical success factors in developing, implementing, and teaching a Web development course. Journal of Information Systems Education, 13(1), 17–20. Lin, B., & Hsieh, C. (2001). Web-based teaching and learner control: a research review. Computers and Education, 37(34), 377–386.
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Schank, R. (1997). Virtual learning: A revolutionary approach to building a highly skilled workforce. New York: McGraw-Hill. Topping, K. (1998). Peer assessment between students in colleges and universities. Review of Educational Research, 68(3), 249–276.
Learning in introductory e-commerce: A project-based teamwork approach Eric W.T. Ngai Department of Management and Marketing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, PR China Received 10 November 2003; accepted 4 November 2004
Abstract In this paper, we describe an e-commerce teamwork-based project designed and implemented at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) for undergraduate business and management students. The teaching objectives of this e-commerce project are to develop the studentsÕ knowledge and skills, such as in the use of e-commerce site building tools, critical thinking, communication skills, teamwork, and entrepreneurship. We focus on the practical implications of the project-based teamwork approach in the teaching and learning of introductory e-commerce from a business context perspective. The results of an evaluation indicate that the project-based teamwork approach to teaching e-commerce performs to expectations. Our experience and student evaluations indicate that students like the practical components of the course and are interested in the use of the learning-by-doing approach. We believe that other business colleges with e-commerce curricula will benefit from this approach. Ó 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Keywords: E-commerce; Teaching and learning of e-commerce; Project-based teamwork approach; Undergraduate courses
1. Introduction Globalization and information technologies are radically changing the face of business and organizations. There is a growing interest in the use of e-commerce as a means to perform E-mail address: [email protected]. 0360-1315/$ - see front matter Ó 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2004.11.005
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business transactions over the Internet. As universities respond to market pressures to add ecommerce to their curricula, faculty members must be prepared to develop, implement, and teach it (Greer, 2002). This is stimulating information system (IS) educators to move into the areas of e-commerce research, teaching and learning. The teaching and learning of the subject is new, and most university lecturers are still trying to figure out how best to incorporate it into existing IS/business curricula or introduce it to students as a non-mainstream subject. The goals of the study are to explore effective ways of implementing a project-based teamwork approach in the teaching and learning of e-commerce in undergraduate courses from a business context perspective. To accomplish the goal of this study, the following operational objectives will be pursued: (1) To design and implement a project-based teamwork project in the teaching and learning of ecommerce. (2) To analyse the perceptions of students and experts on the project-based teamwork approach in the teaching and learning of e-commerce. In the following sections, we describe the background to the course and the organization of the project the students engaged in during the course.
2. Background to the case study – an e-commerce course at the Hong Kong PolyU from a business context perspective An e-commerce course was offered to all second and third year business students through the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)Õs BA programme, and was delivered to approximately 120 students at the Faculty of Business. The class was held 3 h per week, with 14 class meetings. All of the students had already taken ÔIT for BusinessÕ as their first IT course in the first year of study. Most of the students had no prior programming experience. We kept this in mind when designing the course. In the fall of 2000 we were assigned to teach an undergraduate course in e-commerce using a traditional lecture-seminar format. The objective of the course was to provide students with opportunities to understand how e-commerce is conducted and managed, and its major applications, opportunities, limitations, and managerial issues. The goal was to teach concepts rather than just talking about the concepts and having students superficially memorize them. Hence, we decided to familiarize the students with the computer software packages MS FrontPage and Flash 5.0 for Websites and e-shop building. In the following year, we used a practical student project as one of the assignments in the course. We began the first two weeks by introducing MS FrontPage in a one-hour Computer Laboratory session. The following three weeks were spent introducing Flash 5.0. One of the essential reasons for choosing these software packages was that no prior programming experience was necessary and that it was easy to pick up the marketable skills. This enabled students to gain valuable skills for the IS/e-commerce workplace.
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2.1. Student e-commerce project The teaching objectives of this e-commerce project were to develop studentsÕ knowledge and skills such as in using e-commerce site building tools, problem-solving, critical thinking, communication skills, teamwork, and entrepreneurship. Students were told to think of themselves as working for a company that expected them to investigate building an e-shop to market and sell products or services. They were told that E-Mall@PolyU was an interactive platform on which users could design, develop, and host e-shops without a high initial investment or programming knowledge. The supporting documentation of the project was both distributed to the class and made available online. The following was the schedule for the development of the e-shop.
2.2. Five-phase schematic framework A five-phase schematic framework (Fig. 1) for a project-based teamwork approach in the teaching and learning of e-commerce is described below. The project consisted of five main phases: (1) the formation of teams, (2) the writing of an e-business plan, (3) the development of an e-shop, (4) online shopping (5) online peer and tutor evaluations. Phase 1 – formation of teams. Students were asked to form groups, consisting of not more than five members by using an online team formation system. The web-based self-formation of teams made it easy for the students to form teams anywhere and anytime. Phase 2 – writing the business plan. Students were asked to propose a business plan outlining the product/service line and targets, describing how the business would operate, and forecasting its profitability using the suggested proposal form, which was available online (www.ec.mgt.polyu.edu.hk/ecplatform/LabSheet/businessplan.doc). A soft copy of the business plan was submitted to the respective tutors. Once a groupÕs proposal was accepted, the group received a login id, password, and shop number for E-mall@PolyU. The groups then had to login to their e-shops, assign names to the e-shops, and write short introductory descriptions for the e-shops. Phase 3 – development of e-shops. Students were asked to design and develop their e-shops by uploading three main items to E-mall@PolyU: (a) product/service images with descriptions, (b) a Flash logo to represent their shop, and (c) a Flash banner to promote their e-shop via Ôshop owner templateÕ. Students could use HTML or JavaScript in their product/service descriptions to enhance the layout of their e-shops. Phase 4 – online shopping. Each group was given HK$10,000 in e-cash. Students then acted as customers and were asked to visit other e-shops to buy their products/services. Students could browse the e-shops on their own time and experience online shopping, as most of the students had no previous experience in shopping online. Phase 5 – online peer and tutor evaluations and submission of reports. We believe that it is important to assess what we teach and what the students learn. The online peer and tutor evaluation system can be formative (for learning), where the emphasis is on online feedback; and can be summative (for grading), for an evaluation of the work performance. The online marking system could be accessed online (i.e., at www.mis.mgt.polyu.edu.hk:8080/OMS_ Peer).
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Team Formation Phase I
Online Peer and Tutor Evaluation Phase V
E-Business Plan Phase II
Self-directed, Peer-directed, Tutor-directed Teaching Learning Activities
Online Shopping Phase IV
E-Shop Development Phase III
Fig. 1. A five-phase schematic framework of the project-based teamwork approach to learning and teaching ecommerce.
Students were asked to: (1) Evaluate the e-shops that were developed by other groups. They gave marks based on the assessment criteria through the online marking system. This provided students with opportunities to look at and appreciate the work of other groups. (2) Submit a debriefing report, with report guidelines as shown below. Debriefing report. After the game had ended, students were asked to submit a group report that highlighted their work and commented on whether they thought that their group had worked well. They were expected to cover the e-shop setup and performance, specify what they had learned from the assignment, and describe the difficulties encountered. The students in this subject participated in this project-based team work assignment in lieu of a formal examination. The assessment weight for work on the project comprised of: 36% on
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the design of the e-shop, 20% on creativity, 30% on the content of the e-shops, and 14% on business viability. For the final debriefing report, the distribution of the marks was: 50% for reporting the setup of the e-shop and 50% for reporting on the learning experiences/lessons learnt from the project. The final overall assessment marks will be the summation of the tutor evaluation marks and peer evaluation marks, with more weighting placed on the marks assigned by the tutor. 2.3. Self-directed, peer-directed, and tutor-directed teaching and learning activities Knowledge is constructed through learner activity and interaction (Biggs, 1999). We adopted the approaches of self-directed, peer-directed, and tutor-directed (S-P-T-directed) teaching and learning activities (TLA). The S-P-T-directed TLA has been used to facilitate the design and development of the project-based teamwork approach. (1) Self-directed TLA. We provided Web-based packaged learning resources to the students, including the study of e-commerce website development skills such as MS FrontPage, Flash and e-commerce concepts that particularly relate to learning. We developed web-based courseware to teach ÔFlashÕ, FrontPage, and e-commerce concepts. The skills and knowledge learned could be used in Phases 2 and 3 of the project. The purpose of having students learn the basic tools is so that they will be able to grasp the basic learning skills in e-commerce and gain a thorough understanding of e-commerce concepts. In addition, we hoped that this flexible learning approach would able students to master independent learning skills (e.g., Web development tools and self-management). (2) Peer-directed TLA. There is evidence that student–student interaction can enrich learning outcomes (Topping, 1998). According to Biggs (1999), the following are the motivational and social outcomes of using peer-directed TLA: (a) Interacting with peers is usually more interesting than listening to lectures. (b) It can lead to increased self-confidence, communication skills, self-knowledge. (c) It can allow students to get to know other students better, from which friendships may arise. In this study, peer evaluation allows students to review the work of other students according to guidelines for assessing websites and e-shops. Students can hopefully achieve in-depth learning in such a learning environment. Students worked independently and submitted their project assignment to the e-commerce platform and to all of the other peer reviewers for each group of students. The reviewers rated and commented on the work of other students. We believe that students can develop an ability to think creatively by using this approach. (3) Tutor-directed TLA. In this study, the tutor-directed activities included formal lectures and laboratories. There were other interactive modifications including questioning the students, having the tutors give them feedback on their e-business plans, having the teachers provide guidance in designing and developing the e-shop, evaluating the e-shops and providing guidance in evaluating the good e-shops. The tutors also rated each group based on the evaluations of the peer reviewers.
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3. E-mall platform design architecture at the Hong Kong PolyU We developed a web-based E-mall system platform to encourage teachers to develop activities that empower students to take direct action in addressing e-commerce using hands-on learning. This pedagogy is based on the belief that learning is most efficient and effective when it is situated in realistic settings (Schank, 1997). The strategy of learning through the development of an e-shop is significant because it offers students a personal stake in the process of learning. 3.1. E-mall @PolyU (EMP) system The customized Web-based E-Mall@PolyU (EMP) system is used to support the teaching and learning of e-commerce. As shown in Fig. 2, it has been developed to allow students to set up eshops and to electronically buy and sell goods and services under a simulated e-commerce environment. Fig. 2 illustrates the system functionality architecture. The system is interactive and supports online shopping, e-shop development, online customer management, etc. Students form groups and propose e-business plans to their tutors for approval. They design and develop the e-shop if the proposal is approved. The main page of the E-Mall@PolyU is shown in Fig. 3. There are four components in E-Mall@PolyU:
E-Mall@PolyU Product Management Subsystem • Add Product • Delete Product • Update Product • Product Search • Upload Banner & Logo • Assign Shop Name & Descriptions • Order Status • Sales Reports
Customers
Shop Owners
Internet
Students
• • • • • • •
Search Product Compare Product Price User Registration Order History Shopping Cart Transactions Process Product Categories
Databases (User Information,Product Information, Student’s Marks)
• • •
Tutors
Shopping Subsystem
Form Project Group Upload Proposal & Report Peer Evaluation
Technical Support & Give Marks
Online Marking System Functionalities Architecture
Fig. 2. E-Mall@PolyU system architecture.
Online Learning & Analysis Subsystem • • • • • • • • •
E-business Plan Development E-shop Development E-commerce Technical Skills (Flash, HTML, Frontpage) Basic E-shop Management Communication (Group & Individual) Promotion Strategy Order Statistics Analysis Peer Evaluation Debriefing Report
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Fig. 3. Main page of E-Mall@PolyU.
(1) Product Management Subsystem (see Fig. 2). This allows the shop owner to manage the products in the e-shop. For example, the shop owner can add, delete, update, and search for products without the requirement of programming skills. To provide an attractive front-end design for the e-shops, students can apply JavaScript, HTML, or FrontPage features and plug into the information on the products. They can enquire about sales and the order status of their products, and upload their shop banners and logos using Flash. (2) Shopping Subsystem (see Fig. 2). This provides a front-end shopping platform on which customers can browse for/buy products. It contains a shopping cart, the customerÕs order history, transaction process, etc., which are common requirements in e-shops. (3) Databases (see Fig. 2). All products, users, and other information are stored in the databases. Marks are also stored when students conduct peer evaluations (see Fig. 4). Lecturer/tutors also give marks to each group. (4) Online Learning and Analysis Subsystem (see Fig. 2). Students can access various teaching materials, including information about how to write an e-business plan, Flash 5.0 online self-learning materials, and FrontPage 2000 tools for building e-commerce sites on the Internet. Students can also perform a simple order statistical analysis and conduct peer evaluations.
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Fig. 4. Peer evaluation in online marking system.
4. Evaluation Once the EMP system is developed, the system can be tested and evaluated. Through system evaluation, information can be captured on what students like and dislike, and what the system does and does not do to meet their needs. First, the system was tested and evaluated. All of the EMP modules were tested for accuracy and completeness, and the outputs generated were checked and validated to ensure that they meet the requirements of users. Second, once the EMP was built, the evaluation of the outcome was conducted in two phases. The first phase was the domain expert (professors/lecturers/tutors) evaluation, and the second phase was the studentÕs evaluation. There are a number of approaches to evaluating the system. One criterion for evaluating a teaching and learning system is to measure the satisfaction felt by teachers and students. An evaluation form with several sections was designed. The usability and effectiveness of the system was measured using five-point Likert scales (1 = strongly disagree, 3 = undecided, 5 = strongly agree). Through measuring the effectiveness of the system, we can judge whether the system was able to accomplish its objectives or mission. The items employed to measure the usability of the system reflect the usefulness and ease of use of the system. It was therefore possible to assess the satisfaction of the users as one potential indicator of the success of the system.
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4.1. Expert evaluation Evaluations by domain experts were used to help determine the accuracy of the embedded knowledge and the effectiveness of this approach to teaching e-commerce. The system was validated by a group of six participants attending the E-Commerce 2003 International Workshop on ÔE-Commerce and EducationÕ in Hong Kong. The EMP was demonstrated and an evaluation form was distributed to the experts who presented papers in the workshop. All of experts were university professors and researchers with an average more than five years of experience in teaching IS/e-commerce and with a good knowledge of e-commerce education. Overall, the expertsÕ evaluations were generally positive.
4.2. StudentsÕ evaluation Evaluations by the users (the students) were used to help determine the acceptability of the project according to the following criteria: usability of the system (EMP), the extent to which the students could gain hands-on experience in e-commerce, and whether the project could help the students learn about e-commerce. The evaluation form was distributed to students who had taken on this project at the end of the course. A total of 78 responses were collected and stored for data analysis.
4.3. Evaluation results The responses from the experts and students are summarized in Table 1. Both groups rated the project-based teamwork approach highly, with a mean score of 3.62–3.94 on a five-point scale (1 = strongly disagree, 3 = undecided, 5 = strongly agree) based on the results of the evaluation (questions 15–19) in Table 1. It is clear that the project-based teamwork approach using the system that can facilitate the teaching and learning of e-commerce is exciting, innovative, and more worthwhile than traditional textbook-based learning. A further analysis was conducted to investigate whether or not a difference existed between experts and potential users in the mean ratings of the effectiveness and usability of the system. Non-parametric Mann–Whitney U tests were used and the results are presented in Table 1. There were 19 questions, and the significance levels in all questions were higher than 0.05. It was concluded that there was no significant difference between the mean ratings of the experts and those of the students on the effectiveness and usability of the system except on items 9, 12, 13, 15, and 19. In order to ensure that the values of most the median responses were statistically significantly different from the neutral value of the scale, which is Ô3 – undecidedÕ, one-sample t test using a test value of Ô3Õ was conducted for the 19 items. The results of the ttest are presented in Table 1. Overall, the evaluation of the system was satisfactory because only items 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 are not significant from the value Ô3Õ, which is ÔundecidedÕ at a significance level of 0.05. The viability of the system and the approach use to facilitate the teaching and learning of e-commerce has been ascertained by the positive feedback obtained from the evaluation form.
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Table 1 Perceived values by the students and experts Experts (n = 6)
Potential user (n = 78)
Difference between experts and students
Mean SD
Mean SD
Mann–Whitney Mean SD U test (significance level)
Using Emall@PolyU is 1 Fun 2 Pleasant 3 Exciting 4 Pleasurable 5 Enjoyable
3.50 3.17 3.17 3.33 3.50
0.84 0.41 0.41 0.52 0.55
3.18 3.14 2.91 3.10 2.96
0.77 0.78 0.87 0.82 0.83
1.089 0.047 0.779 0.618 1.681
(0.276) (0.963) (0.436) (0.537) (0.093)
3.20 3.14 2.93 3.12 3.00
0.77 0.76 0.85 0.80 0.82
2.400 1.717 0.773 1.368 0.000
(0.019)* (0.090) (0.442) (0.175) (1.000)
The 6 7 8 9 10
3.67 4.17 3.67 3.67 3.50
0.52 0.75 0.82 0.52 0.55
3.58 3.65 3.35 2.69 2.94
0.73 0.66 0.89 0.96 0.88
0.122 1.704 0.577 2.474 1.590
(0.903) (0.088) (0.564) (0.013)* (0.112)
3.58 3.69 3.37 2.76 2.98
0.72 0.68 0.89 0.97 0.87
7.479 9.359 3.806 2.262 0.253
(0.000)*** (0.000)*** (0.000)*** (0.026)* (0.801)
0.52 3.64
0.64
0.020 (0.984)
3.64
0.63
9.304 (0.000)***
0.75 3.49 0.75 3.51 0.52 3.36
0.64 0.60 0.72
2.154 (0.031)* 2.163 (0.031)* 1.039 (0.299)
3.54 3.55 3.39
0.67 0.63 0.71
7.364 (0.000)*** 8.019 (0.000)*** 4.928 (0.000)***
3.86
0.66
2.806 (0.005)**
3.92
0.68
12.349 (0.000)***
3.71
0.74
0.325 (0.745)
3.71
0.74
8.877 (0.000)***
3.92
0.70
0.803 (0.422)
3.94
0.70
12.309 (0.000)***
3.82
0.53
1.101 (0.271)
3.62
0.76
7.476 (0.000)***
3.62
0.76
2.336 (0.019)*
3.67
0.77
7.979 (0.000)***
system (E-mall@PolyU) is easy to use easy to learn to use user-friendly Stable and reliable Simulated a real online shopping environment
Effectiveness of the system The user can gain hand on experience in 11 EC technology (FLASH, 3.67 MS FrontPage, etc.) 12 E-shop development 4.17 13 E-business plan development 4.17 3.67 14 Basic e-shop management (including setting product prices and writing descriptions)
Overall, the project-based team work approach is 15 More interesting than 4.67 0.52 traditional textbook learning 16 More exciting than 3.83 0.75 traditional textbook learning 17 More innovative than 4.17 0.75 traditional textbook learning 4.00 0.89 18 Helpful in gaining more understanding about e-shop development 19 Worth doing in relation to 4.33 0.52 this subject
1 – Ôstrongly disagreeÕ, 3 – ÔundecidedÕ, 5 – Ôstrongly agreeÕ. * p 6 0.05. ** p 6 0.01. *** p 6 0.001.
All (n = 84)
Difference between respondents and neutral value (i.e., 3) One sample t-test (significance level)
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5. Reflections on adopting a project-based teamwork approach A project-based teamwork approach allows students to gradually develop problem-solving, self-learning, and collaborative skills. Through a project-based teamwork approach, students are encouraged to develop a habit of self-learning and to share information and exchange ideas. A positive learning outcome has been achieved, as reflected by our student and peer evaluations. The web-based self-formation of teams allowed the students to form teams anywhere and anytime. The project involved a range of knowledge and skills, such as business knowledge, report-writing skills, business proposal writing skills, technical computing skills such as using FrontPage, Flash, etc. Thus, the formation of teams may affect their learning outcomes. Naturally, we found that a team with a mix of knowledge and skills performed better. Students could communicate, share their knowledge and find information online on the Emall@PolyU platform.
6. Benefits from the project-based teamwork approach From the evaluation questionnaires and from discussions with students and university teachers, we identified the following six benefits from the project-based teamwork approach: (1) students gained a solid understanding of how to write an e-business plan, how to set up an eshop and run it in general, (2) students gained skills and knowledge in using e-commerce site building tools and technologies that will be important for their employment prospects, (3) students learned about teamwork, which is important for future employment, (4) students learned to act as reviewers, thinking critically in a peer evaluation of the e-shops and acting as a adapter who benefits from the comments of other reviewers to make further improvements on their e-shop both in terms of design and development, (5) students built up their capabilities to learn independently (e.g., creativity and critical thinking, communication skills), and (6) students learned how to employ different ways of learning (e.g., S-P-T-directed TLA).
7. Conclusions and further work Learning e-commerce can be a joyous adventure that arouses interest in learning about business. If students can learn the process in a properly guided and effective environment, it can prepare them to learn successfully at university and for personal fulfilment. E-commerce can be a difficult subject to teach, as no simple computing package can be used for teaching undergraduate business students, most commercial e-commerce software requires the learning of new computer languages, and time is limited, particularly in e-commerce overview courses. Our pedagogy is based on the belief that learning is most efficient and effective when it is learning by doing. We use a project-based teamwork approach to empower students to take direct action in designing and setting up e-shops using hands-on learning. We believe that this type of approach enables
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students to apply learning, enhance their effectiveness in communication, and to develop creativity, entrepreneurship, and sense of commitment, which is what the community at large expects of education in the 21st century. Undergraduates benefit most from this project-based teamwork approach that allow them to take an active and practical role in learning. The use of the Internet in an educational setting will reflect, either purposely or inadvertently, some model of learning (Lin & Hsieh, 2001). The case presented in this paper illustrates the ways we have gone about teaching and learning via a project-based teamwork approach that promotes student motivation and supports e-commerce learning. We adopted a project-based teamwork approach as part of the teaching and learning of e-commerce, and conceived of our teaching and learning of the topic in more complete ways from a business context perspective. One of the rewarding aspects of teaching this course was helping students to design and develop their eshops, because many of the students found that they could apply the knowledge that they had acquired. The student response to the course was generally positive. Some students indicated that this was one of the most practical and interesting courses that they had taken. Students who had no prior knowledge of computer programming and little interest in computing at the beginning of the course indicated that they now viewed computer software packages such as Flash and MS FrontPage as powerful and important tools in the development of e-commerce systems. We believe that the success of this project-based teamwork approach depends on both the dedication of university teachers and the technical support of research assistants working with the students to set up the E-Mall platform for this project. We are planning to extend this platform: (1) to support an e-commerce role-play game involving roles such as promoters, e-shop-owners, bankers, customers, administrators, and customer relationship analysers to develop insight into the group dynamics of problem-solving situations in e-commerce environments, and (2) to continually improve the quality of the courseware for website development tools such as FrontPage, Dreamweaver, and Flash, to optimize the positive effects that the project-based teamwork approach can yield.
Acknowledgements This project was supported in part by the Teaching Development Grants provided by the University Grants Committee (UGC) of Hong Kong. The author is grateful for the constructive comments of the referee on an earlier version of this paper.
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