Assignment 3, Artefact 3 of my MEd journey, encapsulates all that I have learned in MDDE 605 and lessons that I can apply to my own company and the NPO where I work. This comprehensive business plan reflects a detailed understanding of the business aspects of running a profitable distance education organization.
To Build or Not To Build My Own Company?
When I started the MEd Program, I quit my full time job and officially registered my own private teaching business, HKKS Education. HKKS is an education provider that my wife and I started in Tokyo, Japan in 2001. We were doing very well in Abbotsford, BC, primarily through word of mouth. I had taken MDDE 605, Planning and Management in Distance Education and Training, to learn more about developing, managing and operating HKKS (6.2).
There were three assignments in 605, complete a business analysis of an existing company, create a one-year business plan and a three-year business plan. I found these assignments to be very engaging because of their relevance to my company (4.1, 4.2). These assignments took my focus away from the role as teaching to one of businessperson. I previously focused little on the business aspects of HKKS because I didn’t have a reason or interest to do so; I am a teacher and love teaching, not managing a company. I didn’t know how to approach the assignments and didn’t feel I had the time or skills needed to pursue any business opportunity that may present itself in the assignments. I thought if I was a good teacher the business would naturally grow, which was our problem – we had too many students on the wait list (1.1).
The first assignment I could relate to, I analyzed my own company, compared it to other companies, and found ideas that I might adopt at HKKS. The course presented case studies that made it clear HKKS needed a large amount of resources to grow (1.1, 5.3). Assignment 1 helped me realize that it would take far more than two people to address the growing wait list. I felt I was comfortable in teaching, and expanding HKKS would take me farther from the classroom and further into meeting rooms. The possibility to grow was there, and assignment 3 took HKKS years into the future and helped me answer the question of whether or not to expand.
I felt our business was on a slow moving river and we were floating comfortably on a raft enjoying the freedom. If HKKS had a business model it would simply be to go with the flow of a gentle river, but the flow was picking up speed and I didn’t have oars to steer (1.2). Assignment 2 were the oars. Assignment 2 looked into the near future where I created a short-term business plan that would give us focus (1.3, 6.1). I was to create a mission and vision statement (1.5), which forced me to think critically about our direction. I saw HKKS as a short term solution while going completing my degree, but it had the potential to become something greater. It took me four tries to articulate my vision statement before my professor accepted it, but after much research I knew that achieving this vision meant a large investment in HKKS (6.2), which I wasn’t prepared to make. I was comfortable where we were and was looking at the possibility as in instructional designer in a company.
HKKS became a viable option for future income but I was questioning whether I wanted to continue being an in-class teacher. I have been teaching face-to-face for 20 years and wanted to move into e-Learning to address a larger audience. Therefore, I took the second assignment to analyze the viability of offering e-Learning courses at HKKS (1.11). Doing this would allow me to include my passion for technology (6.4). I analyzed the market potential for distance education courses and various LMS platforms that could be used to host them (3.2, 5.3). My teacher gave exceptional feedback and allowed me to clarify HKKS’s direction and rewrite the assignment (4.3). The rewrite became HKKS’s first online course. It was hosted in Canvas, a technology chosen for its cost and features (3.3, 3.5). I was happy and felt proud that we saw a business opportunity, researched it, created a course and launched it with the guidance of assignment 2 (6.2, 6.3).
According to research and theory presented in assignment 3, I discovered I would need at least three employees and a small office to take HKKS to the next level and grow as an online educational provider (6.5, 5.6). The large investment required deterred me from taking the next step in business growth. The realities of running a profitable business was made alarmingly clear in the course activities (4.6).
I have always considered myself a teacher, not a businessperson, so most of the course content was unfamiliar to me. I had no interest in being a businessperson so I had no interest in learning the business end of a school. My instructor made it clear that I needed to have a strong foundation in these skills to run my own company and at least a basic understanding as an employee. Upon completing the three assignments I concluded that teaching was my strength and business was not; I decided to still be an educator but get out of the classroom and into online learning.
I used theory, applied practical experience and participated in forum discussions to complete assignment 3 and then decided against expansion and continue on the comfortable flow of the river HKKS was currently on (1.6, 1.7). I now work for an NPO creating e-Learning courses, which will give me the practical experience required to expand on HKKS’s online courses (1.11) if desired. After completing these three assignments, my wife and I concluded that we are comfortable with the size of HKKS (1.8, 5.5). However, we are ambitious and will continue to pursue new avenues of business to achieve modest growth, such as blogging and more courses on our Canvas LMS.
In addition to providing me with a solid foundation in business planning and management, this course also provided me with an excellent example of course instruction. My instructor always allowed students to edit and resubmit assignments. The instructor was very generous with his time and provided priceless detailed feedback of resubmitted assignments, thus having to review them twice (6.5). I will endeavor to extend the same service to my students.
Competencies Achieved
1) Problem Solving, Analysis, & Decision Making
1.1 Recognize problems
1.2 Define the aspects of problems
1.3 Formulate questions
1.5 Critically evaluate the relevance of information for a given situation
1.7 Make reasoned arguments using critical reflection, leading to rational solutions.
1.8 Justify these solutions
1.10 Recognize the wider implications of specific knowledge
1.11 Adapt solutions to suit varied situations.
4) Communication & Interpersonal Skills
4.1 Write clearly and in a style appropriate to purpose (e.g. assignments, essays, published documents, and theses)
4.3 Justify and defend your ideas orally and in writing in meetings, forums, seminars, exams and other contexts
4.6 Demonstrate effective design, delivery and critical evaluation of presentations, computer conferences, or seminars
5) Research
5.1 Frame effective and meaningful research questions
5.3 Access and critically evaluate sources and content for quality, applicability and relevance
5.5 Formulate questions and reasoned arguments, leading to rational conclusions
5.6 Summarize and synthesize information with a view to pursuing deeper understanding
6) Management, Organization and Leadership
6.1 Analyze the current and future climate of the distance education and distance learning industry, and formulate strategies to respond to that climate
6.2 Describe and analyze the business and administrative functions in distance education organizations and critically discuss how business decisions affect financial and non-financial work results
6.3 Make considered recommendations regarding the selection of appropriate learning technologies and assure that these selections meet organizational needs
6.4 Outline and critically compare the relative costs of appropriate technology-based communications methods in distance education and ensure that the organization is receiving a good return on investment
6.5 Manage workload, other commitments, and information needs within time and structural constraints (in both personal and team management situations).