Many higher education institutions across the world are forced to move to blended learning. As a leader in blended learning in higher education, Eiffel Corp is providing free resources and online support through our series of webinars.

Let us help you develop your skills, improve understanding of these tools and implement them effectively.

This is a recap of our webinar on, “Digital Course Development Project Management” Below are some questions asked during the session, with our answers. The webinar recording can be found at the end of the questions.

Question 1: Firstly, thank you to all the participants, presenters, and our lovely hosts. Please advise on the software applications that you can recommend as project tools?

There are so many different tools out there.

1. Choose something that will work for you, your team and the client. Keep in mind not everyone can read a project plan and a lot of people don’t understand project plans, so sometimes a simple excel sheet can also do the job.
2. Ask around in your institution, what PM software do they use?
3. Another factor to keep in mind is cost, as some of these tools can be very expensive.
4. First, try it out before you buy. Almost all project management tools come with a free trial. Even if they don’t, many companies are happy to offer one if you ask.

I personally prefer to use MS Projects.

Question 2: Do we include students as one of the stakeholders during the Initiation stage? If we do, what role do we expect them to play during the Kickoff meeting?

No, I would not advise that. For the Kick-off meeting only include the key decision-makers and sort out all the nitty-gritty parts of the project. Once that is sorted, you can set up a meeting with all the lecturer to explain the project, processes and timelines.  Maybe you can add 1 Student Representative to your meetings, or create a student survey if you want their feedback/inputs.

Question 3: How do I go about analysing my stakeholders for my project? Are there templates for analysing stakeholders?

Herewith a nice link that might help you: https://masterofproject.com/blog/7514/top-5-stakeholders-analysis-techniques-in-projects-stakeholder-analysis-in-project-management

Question 4: Good afternoon, firstly let me apologize I joined late so maybe you did answer this question already. How often do you review the courses that have been developed? Do you wait for SMEs to start this process or do you initiate it? Thank you.

I think it will be very valuable to review your course at least once a year unless there are other critical or major changes in the content. I’m currently working with an Institution who review their courses after each intake.

Deciding on a Student Information System is no small feat. While it can change management processes for the better, there are various factors to take into consideration. The system helps institutions manage student data – from registering students to documenting grading and assessments and communicating across the board. The system also provides a central point where all information is collected and processed.  

One of the major questions institutions have is whether to store this information/data on an institutional server or in the cloud. With security being a concern no the one hand, as well as ‘space’ to store data. While hosting on a local server may seem like the ‘safer’ options, there are various advantages to opting for a cloud host. According to Serosoft Solutions, 62% of the higher education IT leaders say cloud is vital to their institutional future competitiveness and reduced cost with an average saving of 21%. Here are a few key benefits of a cloud-based SIS.  

Virtual Space 

A big advantage of hosting data with a cloud service provider is space. Access to more space means that institutions can handle higher volumes of inquiries and admissions. This reflects directly on the performance of the institution. 

Saving Costs 

From an operational perspective, there are clear financial benefits to host data on a cloud-based server.  From the outset, opting for a SIS based hosted on a cloud server saves an institution in capital expenses, from equipment cost to human resources, as well as on-premises deployment. Institutions can also save on infrastructure costs, as storage of servers requires a specific environment and security. Servers may also require on-site visits by IT technicians, maintenance and on-site upgrades. The cloud allows for easy access to upgrades, is instantly scalable and users can be added or removed as needed at the click of a few buttons.

Security 

While the perception could be there that the cloud is not as secure as a server room, it has actually become the better option when it comes to security. Security used to mean locking a server room or implementing long passwords, but today it means protecting data 24/7. Using a reputable cloud-based service provider warrants better security. Each aspect of a SIS needs to be protected with a holistic approach to minimise natural, human or technical disruptions. With the cloud-based server, these considerations are a given. 

Ease of access 

The cloud allows for immediate sharing of information and operating systems across the institution. It offers instant visibility, a standardised administrative process and the opportunity to roll out any changes across the board immediately.  

From user experience, institutions have had challenges with regards to data maintenance or management on their own data center. That is why a cloud server with data backup offers a solution that can benefit an institution on every level. Academia SIS offers the option of cloud base operations and therefore Institutions are able to optimise the application of their resources, increase productivity and profitability.  

Why not contact us today to learn how Academia SIS can help your institution save time and resources, increase the security of data and enable efficiency – whether through cloud-based servers or optimised integration with your LMS.   

Eiffel Corp has been in the educational technology space for close to a quarter of a century. While we are well known for our services and solutions that we sell, few know the story behind the blue Eiffel Tower logo. Here is a bit more about how it all began.

Eiffel Corp was founded in 1998 by husband and wife, Gwen and Andre van der Merwe. Both Gwen and Andre had a background in Education. While Gwen went on to become a teacher, Andre decided to take a different path, swapping a potential career in Education for the IT world.  Intrigued by IT, but not so much the corporate world, Andre always remained passionate about Education. As Andre so eloquently puts it, he indeed “left education, but education never left [him].” Therefore, it was almost inevitable that Andre’s interest in the IT World would at some point meet up with his latent passion for Education.

Where Internet and Education Would Meet

It was the 1990s and the rise of the internet, that would light the spark of this underlying passion for Education in Andre. Seeing the accelerated impact of the internet in other sectors, Andre had a gut feeling that somehow education and the internet would meet somewhere. Andre’s intuition was that our future would somehow be based on the inflexion point between Education and Technology – the possibilities of what this would look like were endless. Andre took it upon himself to analyse these possibilities.

A Calculated Leap of Faith

With the support of Gwen, Andre took a very calculated leap of faith and stepped away from everything else for six months – searching to find cases where his theory on education and technology had been proven. Indeed, Andre would find a case in Ireland. Unfortunately, while this company had offered EdTech products that were pioneering, they weren’t ready to pioneer into Africa. So, Andre did the logical thing and approached their most significant competitor.

WebCT – Technology for Education, by Educators

Andre found what he was looking for in WebCT (Web Course Tools). This was a solution that not only embraced new technology but was created with education in mind. Spearheading WebCT was Murray Goldberg of the University of British Columbia, Canada.  The internet brought many new opportunities within Education. One such option was that of Web-Based learning environments. Web-Based learning was essentially a mirror image of the classroom, projected online. The question was how to increase educational outputs, by marrying online with face-to-face teaching and learning. As an Educator himself, Murray was eager to find a solution that would have an impact on Education as a whole. During his search for an answer, Goldberg found building a course for online purposes was both time consuming and expensive. And here is the “a-ha” moment – Goldberg decided to create a platform that would be easy to use and speed up the process of creating web-based learning environments. This was the birth of WebCT. WebCT became a worldwide catalyst for online learning, starting from 1997.

The Birth of Eiffel Corp

Andre reached out to a very surprised Goldberg, to see how we could introduce Africa to WebCT. It did not take long for Andre and Murray to find common grounds, and Andre signed a half-page agreement to sell WebCT to at least three universities per year. This was the start of Eiffel Corp – and the rest is, as they say, history.

Why ‘Eiffel Corp’

While the name “Eiffel” Corp may seem far removed from both Africa and Education, there is a very specific underlying meaning to this name. Much like our company, the Eiffel Tower was ahead of its time. It was an innovative piece of art, reflecting the advances made during the industrial revolution. Ahead of its time, the impressive structure married the strength of steel with mechanisation made possible through technology. Few may know that this “piece of art” was initially completely rejected by the community of Paris.  While the Eiffel Tower was both functional and beautiful (to some), it took years before the Eiffel Tower was accepted as more than an eye-sore in Paris’ skyline. Today it is embraced by the Parisians as so much more – it is the icon of Paris, a symbol of innovation and a beacon for the future.

Hence, the name “Eiffel” Corp refers to technology brought to Africa ahead of its time. Andre and Gwen dared to upset the norm and “erect a tower” in Education that signalled a change.  Eifel Corp has in many ways, paved the way to an Education Sector in South Africa, and Africa for that matter. Setting up a “tower” and changing the Education landscape in South Africa – forever.

Built to Last

Eiffel Corp was born out of two people with a passion for education and one’s particular need to marry his passion for Education with his knowledge of the IT world. Twenty-one years later, the marriage of Education and Technology makes more sense than ever before.

Much like it is impossible to imagine Paris without its Eiffel Tower, Education cannot be separated from technology.

In fact, in 2020 the digital technology landscape in education has changed drastically from where we started. Furthermore, the speed at which it is continually changing is unprecedented. Tools on offer are no longer about accessing information but offer real-time interaction  – from submitting and accessing information, to socialising online, to having conversations with an artificial intelligence assistant. It has become a real-time opportunity for not only virtual education, but for incorporating face-to-face education with the virtual realm for both teaching and learning; but also impacts the management of institutions in its entirety.

From the very inception of Eiffel Corp, we were asking the right questions. Now, with a team with over 440 years of combined experience, we have been and will be ready to constantly develop and apply technology solutions that “make sense” in the changing digital landscape.

The proof has not been in our successes, but in the success stories of how technological solutions have made a difference in the lives of the nearly 10 million students, we have been involved with through our clients over the past 21 years.

Today, just as from the beginning, Eiffel Corp is constantly striving to find new technologies that enable education – taking its outcomes to the next level and South Africa into the future.

How can we help? Contact us for relevant EdTech solutions.

As you may know, Turnitin can be described as an electronic text matching system that compares text in a student assignment against a database of sources. Once compared and processed, the system generates an originality report in which ‘matched’ text is underlined and colour coded. These indicators are then linked to either the original source or a similar document on Turnitin’s database. As a result, Turnitin also gives an indication of the proportion of the submitted work that matches other sources.

So, while many would refer to using Turnitin as a plagiarism detection tool, it is not actually detecting plagiarism as such. When used correctly – Turnitin flags articles that have a large portion of text that is similar to what is already published. It is then up to the moderator or lecturer to investigate whether the academic work is indeed plagiarised.

Turnitin as a time-saving tool

In South Africa (and in the world) there has been what is called a ‘massification’ of education. High student enrolment as part of the motivation for students to build a better future for themselves. The high numbers in classes impact the teaching and learning space. This means less contact time with students, leading to a compromise on quality assurance (Mahabeer and Pirtheepal, 2019). The large numbers of students in the classroom often lead to a lecturer who is overwhelmed with the volume of assignments that need to be marked. With the help of Turnitin flagging similarity, students are forced to review and amend articles that do not score well. When used correctly, this can contribute to quality control and more refined assignments being handed in. Consequently, the lecturers’ assessment load is lifted.

Turnitin as a teaching tool

The sentiment of students is often that Turnitin instils fear – acting as a policing that is out to get the student. When in fact, Turnitin as a tool can actually benefit both the student and the institution. Recent studies have shown that many students in South Africa plagiarise because they are not well equipped to write academically. Often language barriers play a larger role. Often students in fact commit plagiarism unintentionally, simply because they do not know how to cite and report the ideas of others in academic writing.

This is where Turnitin can benefit students and institutions. If used as a teaching tool, Turnitin’s reports can contribute to enhancing students’ writing skills, building their confidence and in the long run reduce pressure and anxiety when it comes to submitting work.

Diagram 2 (Source: Rogerson, 2014)

Turnitin as a creator of a culture of integrity

It is this system of reviewing, amending and uploading that helps a student to improve on their writing abilities. Students also become aware of the difference between arguing their own, original ‘case’, supported by other authors’ reasoning – as opposed to writing an article that is filled with the opinions of others. Learning what plagiarism entails and building confidence while developing a specific writing style, students learn to reap the rewards of original writing. This is the ultimate benefit of Turnitin as a tool for preventing plagiarism. Not catching out students, but rather creating a culture of academic integrity through its processes.

Is your institution already using Turnitin? If not, and you would like to find out more, please get in touch with us for an obligation free demo. Work towards a culture of Academic Integrity, starting today!

Sources consulted:

Rogerson, A. 2014.‘Turnitin Overview’ PowerPoint presentation, University of Wollongong, viewed 27 October 2014.

Mahabeer, P and Pirtheepal T. 2019. Assessment, plagiarism and its effect on academic integrity: Experiences of academics at a university in South Africa. S Afr J Sci. 2019;115(11/12), Art. #6323, 8 pages. https://doi.org/10.17159/ sajs.2019/6323