SME Online University

Directions

The SME Administration put out the 4-year second phase of the project. In its proposal, the SME Administration announced its goal to make the SME Online University the largest one-stop learning website for Taiwan SMEs operating in the domestic market as well as abroad.

With approval from the SME Administration, the project set forth the following development strategies to create a new generation SME Online University.

●	One-stop Shopping Brand Identity
	During this most recent development phase, the SME Administration has committed to clearly establishing the SME Online University brand identity as a “one-stop” e-learning website for the Chinese speaking community. As a one-stop site, theSME Online University will provide all the knowledge and information small business owners and their employees need.To realize this goal, two more colleges will be added to the University during the next two years, with the Human Resources Management College to be introduced in 2009. In addition, this project is expanding the site's burstable bandwidth to 27.2Mgb/s with more than 21 T1 optical cables to improve access to both domestic and overseas users. According to the latest site statistics, 2% of the traffic to the SME Online University website originates from more than a dozen countries in Asia, Europe, North America and Latin America.

●	6 Colleges and 1000 Course

	SME Online University is expanding the number of colleges to six and the number of available courses to more than 1,000 and is developing intelligent navigation aids to help learners set up their own learning program. Because there is a direct correlation between the number of courses and the number of members, namely more courses bring in more members, the proliferation of course offerings poses a challenge to learners when selecting courses. Thus, each college has been required to design set courses to help guide them through a more meaningful study program. In addition to online courses, other materials are being added to the e-learning portal, such as audio book reviews. Members can download audio book reviews on more than 250 current management related titles.

●	Customized e-Learning Programs for Individual SME
	Because the training requirements of small businesses vary greatly, one-size-fits-all approaches generally don't work, this project is promoting customized enterprise learning programs to meet the training requirements of individual SMEs. With 1,000 courses to choose from, small business owners can select courses from SME Online University that best serves their individual needs and seek assistance from one of the 50 e-learning consultants recruited by this project. Upon receiving a request by an SME, this project dispatches a consultant to the company to help them define their training needs based on the courses offered by the University. The consultant creates a virtual learning platform for the company according to their defined needs, uploading the selected courses to this virtual platform. The business owner or their personnel management officer can monitor the progress of the learning tasks for their employees through this platform. In the future, this project will also allow applicant companies to upload their own training material onto the virtual learning platform. For instance, a franchised chain store could provide training to their 100 store managers online using courses developed in-house or from the SME Online University.

●	Adopting Emerging Learning Technology
	SME Administration keeps a close eye on e-learning technology developments. To tap into the learning opportunities afforded by widely used hand-held devices such as mobile phones and MP3 players, this project has developed a series of “portable courses” to be introduced in 2009. When portable courses are downloaded to the hand-held device, users can use the course materials even when offline from the Internet. The portable courses give learners extra freedom to continue their learning and will be an important part of future course development. In order to prevent the illegal copying of the portable course content, this project has introduced a digital rights management system. The systems controls and monitors the use of the licensed courses, ensuring that they are used by authorized users only.

●	Focus on Interactivity among Learners and Teachers
	Current network environment and software allow teachers and students engage real-time communication on internet. In order to avoid the boredom that e-learning student might encounter, the Taiwan SME Online University features the high interactivities among teachers and students. For instance, students can know who is taking the same course when he or she signs on and can chat after the classmate confirms the chat request. This function when applied to the e-learning context creates a more social and relaxed learning environment. Tutors in different disciplines are available online during pre-announced time periods to answer questions raised by students via the University’s platform. Students can also host discussions on certain subjects and engage in other community-related activities.

Host: Small and Medium Enterprise Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs

Administer: Information Service Industry Association of R.O.C.

6F., No.239, Sec. 2, Chengde Rd., Datong District, Taipei City 103, Taiwan R.O.C.

E-Mail: jane@mail.cisanet.org.tw

TEL: 886-2-255339 88 FAX: 886-2-25531319