Report: Innovation, Technology & Online Education for Visitor Centres

This report proposes the development of an online educational environment for an aquatic visitor attraction center to remotely engage visitors and provide educational services to schools and community groups. It employs a PESTLE analysis to identify political, economic, social, technological, legal, ...Read More

Innovation and Technology
(Part – 2)

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY.............................................................................................................................1
PESTLE analysis for determining challenges and opportunities of online education
environments for visitor attractions centres...........................................................................1
The future technologies relevant to the project......................................................................4
Steps required for providing a market-oriented solution........................................................5
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Due to the covid19 pandemic, there has been development of a pandemic adapted
economy and the manner each and every look at the business along with the education has
altered forever. There has been development of a new business dynamics which is
supplementing the existing disruptive state of affairs. Now, each and every business along
with the individuals have to adopt the novel digital world with remote learning and have to
enter into the new phase of virtual world (Ignat, 2017). Based on this, the current research
report aims to prepare a proposal for the business in the field of aquatic to create an online
educational environment that allows the visitors to feel part of the experience remotely. They
also like to use the online platform for providing an educational service to schools and other
community groups. For this purpose, a PESTLE analysis will be utilized for determining the
challenges and opportunities of online educational environment for the visitor attraction
centres. The future technologies relevant for the project will also be discussed and will
determine the steps required for providing a market-oriented solution.
MAIN BODY
PESTLE analysis for determining challenges and opportunities of online education
environments for visitor attractions centres
Because of the internet, it has become quite easy for accessing the knowledge of the
world from the comfort of the home, which opens up a novel realm of prospects called online
learning. It is also being called as e-learning or online education and it is what exactly it
sounds. It simply means education serving to the students through means of internet and
electronic devices. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, people have limited their travels
due to several rules and restrictions on travels. This has majorly impacted the visitors’
attractions centres. They are now planning to create an online educational environment that
allows the visitors to feel part of the experience remotely (Wang and Siau, 2019). They also
like to use the online platform for providing an educational service to schools and other
community groups. However, it is quite important to evaluates its potential and this can be
done by seeking help of the PESTLE analysis tool and the explanation is being done
underneath:
Political – It is being regarded as one of the most crucial factors that might impact the
working of this proposal of online education for the visitor attraction centres. It is important
to note that there are some nations such as China, where the accessibility to the web is quite
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restricted for some of the political reasons. In such a case, it makes quite difficult and
challenging for offering an online education and learning experience. In addition to this,
some of the students also might not have internet access and they will come across with
problems related to accessibility. Further, it is an issue because the learning materials have to
be hosted in the suitable nation and that to by meeting the local regulations. Additionally,
there are some jurisdictions which have more particular internet regulations which largely
certifies online education, however prohibits the dissemination of some of the materials like
maps (Vieira and et.al., 2018).
Economical – In addition to the above factor, economic factor is also very crucial. Usually,
online education and learning in the field of visitor attraction centres is being regarded as a
reasonable alternative to visiting the location physically and learning directly as it does not
need the live presence of the people on any attractions. Moreover, it is extremely simple to
distribute the digital materials as there is zero manufacturing cost to account for from copy to
copy. The visitor attraction centres who are planning to offer online education can sell their
learning materials at enormously low prices at time same time making sure a healthy profit
for their business. On the other hand, in spite of being a cheaper alternative to the outmoded
physical education in the long term, there is moderately high upfront cost related with online
learning. This is because of the fact that the students will be required to access to an
electronic device for consuming digital materials. In developed countries it is not a big issue
as students are already have their own devices or can afford them. however, it is a big issue in
the developing nations (Mazur and et.al., 2016).
Social – Irrespective of being an enormously well-organized manner of learning, online
education for the visitor attraction centres has the downside of decreasing the interaction of
human. Students or learners who get the chance of going visitor attraction centre physically
communicates face to face with the fellow alumni, staff, see and learn things and other
different things like meeting people etc. On the other side, those who learn things from the
behind an electronic display majorly losses the interaction of human which is more likely to
play a crucial role in the social and mental development.
Technological – As already discussed in the economic portion of this evaluation,
accessibility to electronic devices is being regarded as the major issue in online education for
visitor attraction centres. Not all the people have electronic devices particularly in the
developing nations and thus, will not be in a position to use the online education platforms
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and learning materials. Many a times, electronic devices are present, nonetheless the quality
is so poor to make sure an optimistic learning experience. In addition to this, there is one
more technological barrier to online education for the visitor attraction centre is connectivity
of internet. Even if people have a sufficiently power electronic devices for consuming online
education materials, they still require to be able to access those materials through the web
(King, 2017). In some of the poorer areas and similarly in rural areas with limited amount of
internet infrastructure and lack of internet accessibility can rollout this online learning single-
handedly.
Legal – There are some legal factors as well which impacts the online education for visitor
attraction centre. Efficient online learning needs important cooperation from the educational
publishers who most of the time have severe rules on the ways their learning materials can be
disseminated. For instance, almost each and every traditional material, books and pdfs related
to the attraction centres cannot be shared digitally. As such, the business or the owners of the
visitor attraction centres will have to utilize the resources of experts, online friendly
producers or demand a superior permission from the traditional publishers which is nigh on
impossible.
Environmental – Another important factors that impacts the online learning for visitor
attraction centre is environmental factors. From this viewpoint, extensive online education
definitely needs the electricity for powering hundreds of millions of devices across the globe
for extended period of the day (Lee, Park and Kang, 2018). Nevertheless, it is crucial to
reminisce that when people go physically to visitor attraction centre it also consumes energy
particularly in lighting and heating premises and thus, it is unclear about the net influence of
transition to online education. Irrespective of having advantages and disadvantages for the
energy consumption, a change in the online learning will mot certainly reduce paper waste as
well. Further, with the digital learning materials, there will be nothing to get rid of at the end
of the day.
Thus, from the above evaluation, it can be stated that online learning for the visitor
attraction centre has lot of potential and this can revolutionize the manner one has learned
through offering high quality education, affordability to student throughout the world at the
same time reducing the environmental impacts of physically going to any visitor attraction
centre. Nevertheless, online education in this field positively has its challenges. In terms of
political factors, there are internet restrictions to deal with and economically, there is a huge
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upfront cost. Socio-culturally, online education reduces the interaction of human and put up
the question of the ways minors will be cared for. Legally, there is an issue related to
collaboration with the online platform and educational publishers.
It’ll be interesting to see how the online learning industry tackles these many challenges,
since the potential payoff for a streamlined education system is huge (Siau and Wang, 2018).
In the meantime, be sure to check out our PESTLE Analysis of the higher education system
in the UK.
The future technologies relevant to the project
In the present time, the electronic learning and education industry is experiencing a
revolution because of the current advancement in technology. Because of the introduction of
novel gadgets, innovative tools for the trainers along with the cutting-edge equipment has
enabled people to generate a novel learning experience that can only be dreamt about a period
ago. Since, in the current case an aquatic visitor attraction centre is planning to create an
online educational environment for allowing the visitors to be a part of the same remotely and
using the online platforms for educational services to schools and other community groups,
there are different technologies which can be utilized and some of the important among them
are being elaborated below:
 Virtual reality – It is being referred as the computer technology that makes use of
virtual reality headsets or multi-projected environment, sometimes in conjunction
with the physical environment for creating a realistic sounds, images and other
sensations which helps in promotion of physical presence of the users in an imaginary
or virtual environment (Cearley and et.al., 2016). For using this technology, the
aquatic visitor attraction centre is required to have a professional developer who can
work with the software such as Unity 3D. additionally, VR headsets are also needed
for the learning populations which by itself become a cost prohibitor factor.
 Augmented Reality (AR) – It is referred as the technology that places over the
computer created pictures on the real-world view of the users and therefore, offering
an amalgamated sight. When it is in context with the online learning for the visitor
attraction centre, AR can make the process of learning more interesting and easier to
clutch. For this, the attraction centre is required to start work with 3D modelling
software.
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 Presentation and multimedia technologies – For the purpose of offering an online
educational environmental for the visitors to experience remotely, the visitor
attraction centres can also make use of presentation software and multimedia
technologies for delivering information about a particular fish, water-based mammals
and demonstrations about the other types of sea life (Ge and et.al., 2018). In addition
to this, the live sessions can also be recorded for allowing the people or the visitors to
revisit the content if in case they have missed the live session.
 Big data – It is being referred as the data which is being generated by the learners at
the time of taking a training module or an online learning course. With this data, the
visitor attraction centres can comprehend the ways users are digesting the data and
which of the learning aspects appeals them the most. It also helps them in pinpointing
the learning communication within the online education module.
 Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Platforms – For the purpose of using an online
platform for educational services to the students and the community groups, the
visitor attraction centre can make use of massive open online course platform. There
are different platforms such as Coursera, Canvas, Udemy, European Schoolnet
Academy etc. which are offering a platform for the learners to have an affordable and
flexible way of learning new things and skills.
Steps required for providing a market-oriented solution
There has been rise in the level of global market of online education after the current
coronavirus pandemic. Due to restrictions on movement, travel bans and fear of getting
infected from this deadly disease, people have resorted to online means instead of travelling
physically to different attractions (Meissner and Kotsemir, 2016). In the current case, the
aquatic visitor attraction centre is planning to make use of online platforms for offering
educational services for the students and community groups and is also creating an online
learning for the experience of the visitors remotely. Thus, there will be requirement of certain
steps for providing a market-oriented solution for the project and these are being explained
underneath:
 Making decision about the content – The very first step that the visitor attraction
centre has to undertake it deciding upon the content they want to make their visitor
and learner know, understand and learn. For example, the attraction centre wants to
deliver information about a particular fish, water-based mammals and demonstrations
about the other types of sea life to the visitors, students and community groups.
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 Determining the right target audience – Secondly, it is important that the business
should determine the correct audience to be targeted such as visitors who have knee
interest towards aquatic and marine life, students and other community groups.
 Validating the market demands – This can be done by the business through two
important methods. firstly, it is important that the attraction centre must research and
evaluate the competition in the online learning and education market and must
evaluate their target audience (Bilotta and et.al., 2020). Secondly, the visitor attraction
centre can also ask to the target audience about their demands and needs. This can be
performed by conducting the market research with the help of survey, questionnaire
and social media marketing such as Facebook and Instagram. With this, the business
will be able to gauze at the demands of the market and accordingly online learning
materials can be customized.
 Strategic positioning with unique selling preposition (USP) – Now, the next step is
strategic positioning with the help of unique selling preposition. As in the current
case, the aquatic visitor attraction centre desires to cerate use an online platform for
offering educational services than in such event, they can make use of Massive Open
Online Course (MOOC) Platforms for rendering education and marketing their USP
such as different types of education being offered, benefits to students and visitors etc.
 Building the audience through marketing strategies – The next step towards market-
oriented solution for the current project is building the audience. It is important that
large base of users needs to be created for better growth of the online learning
business. it can be built by utilizing different marketing strategies such as social
media, content marketing, public speaking, networking and joint ventures, publicity
and PR, paid advertising and email marketing (Shabani, Munir and Hassan, 2019).
 Paying attention on the success and scaling the business – Ensuring success to the
visitor and students is very important for building a profitable and success business.
Finally, after attaining success, it is important to scale up the business through
creating systema and hiring people for ensuring continuous level of growth.
CONCLUSION
Thus, from the above evaluation, it can be stated that aquatic visitor attraction can
create an online education environment and can use online learning platforms for offering
educational services to schools and other community groups, however they will come across
with different challenges and opportunities. It has been found from the study that there are
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different sorts of technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence
and so forth which can be utilized by the business for successfully completing this project.
Additionally, there are certain steps being discussed above which can be utilized by the
business for having a market-oriented solutions to the project.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bilotta, E., Bertacchini, F., Gabriele, L., Giglio, S., Pantano, P.S. and Romita, T., 2020.
Industry 4.0 technologies in tourism education: Nurturing students to think with
technology. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education. p.100275.
Cearley, D., Burke, B., Searle, S. and Walker, M.J., 2016. Top 10 strategic technology trends
for 2018. Technological innovation assignment The Top, 10.
Ge, B., Yang, Y., Jiang, D., Gao, Y., Du, X. and Zhou, T., 2018. An empirical study on green
innovation strategy and sustainable competitive advantages: Path and boundary.
Sustainability. 10(10). p.3631.
Ignat, V., 2017. Digitalization and the global technology trends. In IOP Conference Series:
Materials Science and Engineering. 227(1). p.012062.
King, K.P., 2017. Technology and innovation in adult learning. John Wiley & Sons.
Lee, C., Park, G. and Kang, J., 2018. The impact of convergence between science and
technology on innovation. The Journal of Technology Transfer. 43(2). pp.522-544.
Mazur, V.V., Barmuta, K.A., Demin, S.S., Tikhomirov, E.A. and Bykovskiy, M.A., 2016.
Innovation clusters: Advantages and disadvantages. International Journal of
Economics and financial issues. 6(1S).
Meissner, D. and Kotsemir, M., 2016. Conceptualizing the innovation process towards the
‘active innovation paradigm’—trends and outlook. Journal of Innovation and
Entrepreneurship. 5(1). p.14.
Shabani, N., Munir, A. and Hassan, A., 2019. E-Marketing via Augmented Reality: A Case
Study in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry. IEEE Potentials. 38(1). pp.43-47.
Siau, K. and Wang, W., 2018. Building trust in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and
robotics. Cutter Business Technology Journal. 31(2). pp.47-53.
Vieira, A.A.C., Dias, L.S., Santos, M.Y., Pereira, G. and Oliveira, J.A., 2018. Setting an
Industry 4.0 research and development agenda for simulation. A literature reviews.
17. pp.377-390.
Wang, W. and Siau, K., 2019. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, automation, robotics,
future of work and future of humanity: a review and research agenda. Technological
innovation assignment. Journal of Database Management (JDM). 30(1). pp.61-79.
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