Evaluating failure:

1

• Evaluating failure
• the case of UKeU
• Rosa Michaelson
• Fellow in Business Computing
• Accountancy and Business Finance
• University of Dundee

2
Overview

• Teaching Failure
• Theories of Failure
• UKeU what went wrong?
• What can students learn?
• What can we learn?

3
Teaching Failure

• Use case studies to identify possible causes
• London Ambulance Despatch System (1992)
• Cambridge AIS (2001)
• Complexity of evaluation
• Different theories of failure
• Technology as Culture Change

4
Learning Outcomes

• Identify causes of failure
• Analysis of socio-political context
• Need for project control
• Experts of all sorts required in the project team
• Understand the difference between projects and
  change agendas
• Understand contrasting theories of failure

5
Theories of Failure

• Positivist
• Better methods
• Better management
• Socio-technical
• Beynon-Davies web of failure
• Both social technical
• Sometimes a project will never work..

6
Lyttinen Hirschheim

• Correspondence
• were objectives met?
• Process
• No workable system produced
• Over budget/time
• Interaction - is it used?
• Expectation - all of the above

7
UKeU

• Launched February 2000
• Government Initiative
• 62M
• Closed 2004
• 32M spent.
• 3 pilot courses
• ?900 students early 2004

8
Objectives

• UK Global university
• Self-financing
• PFI
• Completely on-line
• 8,000 - 10,000 in 3 years

9
New e-learning platform

• Commercial systems not wanted
• Open System
• Scalability of design
• Interoperable content
• Web-based
• Some kind of MLE
• Total Online Learning!

10
Post-closure Outcomes

• e-China project (1M)
• e-learning research centre
• Suns platform (7M???)
• Bonuses for Director and Board
• Existing courses repurposed
• Missing 32M
• Cynicsm?

11
Official Findings

• Business model was
• supply-driven not demand-led
• Insufficient market research
• New integrated e-learning platform
• Not enough private sector funding

12
Other problems

• Platform unfinished/disputes with Sun
• Existing courses rewritten for new platform
• Student fees very high
• Missing information
• Student IS?
• Financial IS?

13
Other Problems

• Money spent upfront on expensive premises and
  people
• Partners had to use new platform
• Why design for interoperability or open systems?
• Why alienate partners?
• Rest of e-learning community did not believe in
  only on-line methods

14
Danger Signs

• Overambitious
• Complex context
• Changing objectives
• Big Bang approach
• Uncontrolled time scale
• Lack of project control
• Technical expertise missing at start
• Did not meet client expectations (HEI)

15
E-learning issues

• Systems Integration
• Central v Distributed control
• Timeliness of adoption
• Inter-operability standards
• Distance v Social learning
• Cost
• Evaluation

16
Conclusion

• Analysis of computing failure requires
  understanding of social contexts and technology
• Mistakes in design of technologies currcial
• UKeU case covers ALL forms of failure so far.so
  a very useful case study!