Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Distance Education for AusEd

This paper discusses how AusEd, a leading organization of distance learning in Australia, can improve its existing course delivery techniques with the help of Artificial Intelligence. It covers the proposed system, including intelligent network teaching platform, expert system, and intelligent retrieval system of distance education. It also talks about leadership and governance methods to overcome resistance to change in the organization and technology.

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Information Systems Strategy and Management
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Executive Summary
Information and technology (ICT) has changed the way of our living. Impact of ICT in every
field is enormous whether it is tourism, law, engineering, business, architecture, banking or
education. In today’s world, education has become the bedrock of every field. And this is
increasing the demand of education. But it is not possible for everyone to pursue higher
studies due to lot of reasons. So for them distance learning has become one of the sources to
complete their higher studies with more flexibility. In Australia, AusEd is a leading
organization of distance learning. It is providing higher education to all over the country and
its head office is located in Darwin. But advancement in technology is demanding AusEd to
upgrade and improvement in its existing course delivery techniques to sustain in the industry.
Implementation of improved ICT in AusEd will help students and learners in getting quality
education with more comfort and in a simple approach. Some of the technologies of ICT are
cloud computing, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and many more. Here, in this
paper artificial intelligence for increasing the business value of AusEd is discussed. This
report will also discuss possible leadership and governance structure needed to overcome the
resistance to change in the organization and technology.

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Contents
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................1
Overview of the organization.....................................................................................................3
Programs in Information Technology....................................................................................3
Organisational Structure.........................................................................................................3
Role of IS and ICT in Growing Business...................................................................................5
Effects of Disruptive Technology..........................................................................................6
Proposed System........................................................................................................................7
Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Distance Education...............................................7
Information System in AusEd..................................................................................................11
Leadership & Governance Method to Overcome Resistance to change..................................13
1) Education and effective Communication:........................................................................13
2) Facilitating Participation and Involvement:.....................................................................13
3) Support and Facilitation:..................................................................................................13
4) Agreement & Negotiation:...............................................................................................14
5) Co-optation & Manipulation:..........................................................................................14
Assumption and Their Effect on Distance Learning................................................................14
Conclusion................................................................................................................................15
References................................................................................................................................16

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Overview of the organization
AusEd is an educational organization providing higher online education to the students who
are willing to learn. AusEd is dedicated to provide quality digital teaching and it provides the
modern learners with quality learning experiences anytime, anywhere. AusEd is a local
private educational institution that provides education to learners of all age groups. It is a
non-profit organization providing its learners educational opportunities to magnify their skills
and knowledge without visiting the campus. AusEd enables its students to ‘be what they want
to be’. AusEd’s mission is to give an opportunity to the career professionals of diverse
community to transform themselves as scholar-practitioners. This will bring a positive social
change in the society (Boampong & Holmberg, 2015).
Programs in Information Technology
AusEd is providing online program for Master’s Degree in Information Technology which
furnishes understudies with a bland establishment to start quest for a quick paced, testing and
dynamic vocation in the data innovation industry. Inside this program understudies think
about 20 courses giving them an expansive comprehension and learning of a scope of regions
in data innovation. The centre courses in this program furnish understudies with a strong
establishing in the centre collection of IT information and aptitudes as characterized by the
Australian Computer Society (ACS). Understudies think about one noteworthy in
Networking, Application Development or IT Management.
Organisational Structure
AusEd’s study centres are located in Darwin, Broome, Port Moresby, Alice Springs, Suva
and Cairns. Administrative head office of AusEd is located in Darwin. Divisional and
corporate headquarters of AusEd are also in Darwin.

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AusEd has three major divisions. These are: Sales, course Delivery, and Operations. Each
division is operative in several locations of Australia.
Marketing and sales is done from offices located in Alice Springs, Suva and Port Moresby.
Sales and marketing operations of AusEd are managed by sales division. This division also
manage the agents and responsible for course promotion too.
Course materials are developed by the Course Delivery division. This division is also
responsible for course delivery and running special study centres. Study centres provide
online students a place to access support, access technology and resources and form study
groups.
Now all the core operations of the AusEd like accounting, email and other essential services
are managed by Operation Division.
Distance education programs provided by AusEd can be studied from anywhere in the world.
Study Programs can be accessed through a number of means by online education students.
These means include contacting lecturers, online discussion forums, special study centres,
electronic library resources, and receiving all study materials online or by post (Bandalaria,
2007).
Special study centres gives a range of facilities, these are:
 Work stations and computers to students.
 Support staff for assisting student enquiries.
 Photocopying, printing and scanning facilities
 Multimedia and Video conferencing meeting areas.
 Tutorial rooms for group study.
 Wireless networking.

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 Social areas for students.
 Presentation areas.
To enrich and provide multiple learning experiences to its students, AusEd is trying to work
in partnership with businesses, industries and communities. AusEd’s aim is to provide
enhanced techniques to students in their online learning procedures so that they can improve
their skills and knowledge without the need of visiting education centres. AusEd is providing
platform and opportunities to the people who would not or have chance to pursue higher
education.
Role of IS and ICT in Growing Business
There is hardly any business, be of any kind that has not advantaged from revolution in
information technology and digital technology. Today, simplest and easiest way for a
business to be successful is with information systems and information technology (Business 2
Community, 2015). For the improvement in how fast people learn new topics and things,
computer applications are emphasising on active learning. Recent enhancements and
advances in the infrastructure of ICT (Ghavifekr & Rosdy, 2015) such as satellites, fibre
optics cables and microwave transmission have made it easy to communicate and transmit
information from anywhere to any place (Oliver, 2002). Technologies used for distance
learning includes telephone tutoring, multimedia and hypermedia CAI, audio graphics, e-
books, the World Wide Web (WWW), computer conferencing drill and practice,
teleconferencing, fibre optics, video conferencing, tele-text, and videotext, the “Internet”, on-
line database, call-in course- on demand, satellite, on line discussion, talk-back TV and so on
(Manzoor, 2013).

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Effects of Disruptive Technology
Emergence of ICT has brought a huge competition among distance learning institutes (Igwe,
2012). Before emergence of ICT, distance learning was not as easy as students had to visit
tutors and coaching centres to get the study materials. But ICT has changed the entire
distance education system (Pavel, et al., 2015). One example of disruptive technology is
ubiquitous computing. Ubiquitous means being everywhere. Therefore, it has become
possible to get the knowledge or education from anywhere, anytime with the help of U-
computing (Cascio & Montealegre, 2016). This has increased the competition among
distance learning education institutes as everyone is using latest and innovative technologies
to reach to maximum population and providing them ease to pursue higher education (Smith
& Brame, 2018). The advantage of competitive environment is that everyone is making use
of latest technology to provide distance education to the consumers and it has improved the
quality of education with easy access.
Work and work systems in organizations may be disrupted with the invention in U-
computing. Here are some examples to explain how U-computing will develop competition
among the organizations (Cascio & Montealegre, 2016):
 Employees are not needed to take the computers everywhere as the wearables are
embedded with sensors and computer chips.
 Networks allow to work from anywhere, anytime.
 Variety of devices can be controlled with remotes using computer networks.
 Varieties of task are performed using intelligent robots and computer programs.
 Real time monitoring of sales, product and customer information.
 GPS, smartphones, microphones and earphones will allow to access online training
and education from anywhere.

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Technologies of ICT are cloud computing, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT),
machine learning that can be used to maximise the business value of AusEd and to provide
modern and easy ways of teaching (Ward & Peppard, 2002).
Proposed System
Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Distance Education
Intelligent network teaching platform for distance education
With the help of this technology computers adapt changes for new things and series of
actions can be completed by taking an effective process to integrate the information. High-
end processing capabilities are increased by adding multiple intelligent agent systems in the
computers (Zhang & Liu, 2014). It will reduce the information processing time as subsystems
will have mutual co-operation between them. This will improve the timeliness of the
education system (Oliver, 2002).
(Simulation of tutorial education intelligent network teaching platform)
So
urce: (Zhang & Liu, 2014)

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Actions performed by intelligent agent in distance education network includes teaching
information retrieval, real-time tracking of feedback information, state analysis of students
and teachers and intelligent recommendation from system.
Expert System
Implementation of expert system in AusEd will save huge funds of educational website, as
the expert’s teaching and thinking methods can be understood by computer, and different
fields knowledge and experience of experts is summarised and analysed (Zhang & Liu,
2014).
(General structure of education transfer system)
Source: (Zhang & Liu, 2014)
Intelligent Retrieval System of Distance Education
Use of Intelligent retrieval system based on XML in AusEd will help the students in
conducting queries using keyword and hence enhance the retrieval timeliness and accuracy.

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(Intelligent Retrieval System based on XML and natural language processing)
Source: (Zhang & Liu, 2014)
Intelligent retrieval system has two important aspects. One is resource retrieval subsystem
and other is resource pre-treatment subsystem. Resource subsystem integrates dictionary
thesaurus, cable thesaurus and related thesaurus according to the needs of user; while pre-
treatment subsystem integrate information and various resources through intelligent indexing
result to give results to the students or questioner (Zhang & Liu, 2014).
Experiment teaching system of remote intelligent simulation
It generated a language technology and policy modelling software with observation of
database integration and deliberate simulation model generation. This system will be able to
replace the expert’s work, change the entire experiment and help in analysing the results of
experiment to the experimenter (Zhang & Liu, 2014).

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(Physical structure of the robot remote control experiment system)
Source: (Zhang & Liu, 2014)
The price for incorporating artificial intelligence project proposed above for improving
distance learning in AusEd depends on the work being done. To develop the above project,
first step start with the discovery and analysis of business process of customers. Next step
includes implementation of prototype. Software professionals design software as per the
requirements of the project. This phase can cost around $25K. Third step is minimum viable
product which is a real product. Cost of MVP varies from $35000-$100000. Hence total cost
of 100K-300K$ is required to develop the above proposed project that will improve the
distance education system in AusEd and hence enhance its business.

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Information System in AusEd
(Operation division in Darwin)
Two primary operational systems of AusEd that are Accounting system and the CRM are
operated through server in operation division.
Accounting System at AusEd
For the accounting purposes of AusEd, it has licensed MYOB. MYOB is installed in laptops
of users and personal computers. MYOB provides a wide range of products to the AusEd as
cloud based, browser based or physical installation software. Features that MYOB is
providing to AusEd includes student management, payroll with automatic leave calculation,
access of real life time sheets for employees, management of invoices, quotes and statements,
payment acceptation from invoices, track and pay expenses, calculate and track GST and
many more (Anon., 2018)

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Customer Relationship Management System at AusEd
CRM helps organizations in gaining and retaining customers by providing control over the
sales pipeline and greater efficiency. To coordinate all of the work processes with their
consumers, CRM uses a distributed information systems. SugarCRM is used in AusEd to
manage customer base such as recruiting, marketing, student service, and donor outreach and
alumni relations.
Externally Managed Systems
Pacific Systems Pvt Ltd manages the course delivery division externally located in Dunedin.
Learning management system used in AusEd is Moodle. Facilities provided by using Moodle
include online class conduction, uploading assessments and assignments and students-
instructor interaction (Anon., 2018). Student can access the course resources online and
communicate with the teachers. Through Moodle AusEd students can access online class, get
assignments and syllabus and track up-to-date grades.

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Leadership & Governance Method to Overcome Resistance to change
As with tremendous growth in technology, competition is increasing among all the
organizations. So to make all the faculties, staffs and members of AusEd capable of learning
new methods, adapt to change in technology and compete with the growing competition, it
requires proper leadership and governance structure to manage the change, and the leaders
who inspire their staff (Juneja, 2018). There are possibly five methods of overcoming
resistance to change:
1) Education and effective Communication: It is the simplest technique for
overcoming the resistance to change. Using this technique staff is educated about the changes
and the benefits of the changes by using effective communication. If it is explained properly
the need for change and its objective, team members will give much needed support to the
management (Juneja, 2018). Two-way communication is helpful in this scenario as it will
allow employees to ask their queries and oppositions related to change and therefore reduces
the objections that oppose implementation of change.
2) Facilitating Participation and Involvement: Staff is involved and consulted
before implementing any kind of change and a collaborative environment is set in this
technique. It is a beneficial strategy as it will help in minimising the resistance to change by
the involvement of staff and pursuing their involvement in the whole process (Juneja, 2018).
3) Support and Facilitation: There are number of reasons that employees fear or oppose
any kind of change in the existing ways of methods or work. Changes arise many emotional
challenges for the employees and they need facilitation and emotional support to handle the
problems and challenges due to the changes (Juneja, 2018) and therefore a complete space
should be given them to express their fear or anger related with the change.

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4) Agreement & Negotiation: Here a negotiation is considered with the resistors to
change. A compromise on various aspects is made in order to fulfilment the concerns of both
the resistors and the management (Juneja, 2018).
5) Co-optation & Manipulation: Mangers attempt to manipulate employees by
twisting, withholding or distortion of the information, so that it seems more appealing to the
employees. In order to convenience the staff members, false rumours are spread across the
organization so that employees accept the change (Juneja, 2018).
Assumption and Their Effect on Distance Learning
When one is thinking about distance learning, it is necessary to talk about the assumptions
related to the distance learning. In the report we discussed the advantages of distance learning
and the role of ICT in advancement of distance learning. But, it is important to consider that
this concept of distance education is new and the tools of social media for academics have
been available since 2007 only. Hence, it will take time to these tools to be adopted,
evaluated and come into wide practise (Bates, 2011).
As distance education emphasizes on digital learning, therefore students are required to
develop an understanding of digitization in order to take complete advantage of distance
education (Veletsianos & Kimmons, 2012).
Second distance education is emerging as evolutionary technology in larger culture that wants
the universities to re-design their curricula with the changing technology. This will cost
heavily to institutes in implementing new technologies frequently (Veletsianos & Kimmons,
2012).
Last but not the least distance education is considered as an effective way for achieving
higher educations but it also introduces new needs and dilemmas such as personal

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information management problems in order to keep updated with newly published
information and filtering information.
Conclusion
In the discussion, it is examined that distance education is becoming more dependent on
information and communication technology. ICT removed all the barriers in learning at a
distance and thus distance education has a different nature now. Distance education has
become helpful for those who cannot go to universities and are left with only choice of
distance education. ICT is playing a keen role in distance learning. AusEd is one of the best
distance learning organizations in Australia and with this growth in technology; it is
constantly making efforts to provide quality education to the students and learners.
Advancement in ICT is enhancing the knowledge of learners and educators. Educational
technology in AusEd is eliminating the face to face interaction of teacher and student.
Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, Internet of things and machine learning are some of
the technologies under ICT. In this report, it is stated that how artificial intelligence would be
helpful in growing business of AusEd and providing quality and higher education to the
learners. As the technology is advancing at a rapid rate, so it has become important for AusEd
to implement changes in its technology to compete in the industry. This report also discusses
about the leadership, governance structure and the methods that are needed to overcome the
resistance to change.

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