• Research Associate Speaks at Conference in China
• Center Managing Director Speaks at Conference in Portland
• New Assistant Program Manager Is Up to the Challenge

• Register for the FREE newsletter
• Submit ideas for future articles
• Become a partner with the eBusiness Center

• Newsletter Archives

• Contact the editor of the eBusiness Center Newsletter:

Rachel Finley
574 TNRB
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT 84602
(801) 422-3598
prspecialist@byu.edu

Research Associate Speaks at Conference in China

Clint Rogers, research associate for the Rollins Center for eBusiness, presented a paper on the importance of innovative Web 2.0 technologies at the eleventh annual Global Chinese Conference on Computers in Education (GCCCE) last month in Guangzhou, China.

As part of the center’s eCANDLE project (electronic Coalition for the Aggregation of Net-based Digital Learning Environments), Rogers spoke on making education more relevant and accessible to developing countries around the world through Web 2.0 learning platforms.

“One of the biggest problems in China now is the lack of teachers, books, and educational resources,” Rogers says. “It’s hard for us in the United States to imagine the millions of kids in the world who only have a few outdated and often unrelated books for their education.”

Rogers also says that China does not have enough colleges and universities to meet the demand of the number of people who would like to attend. This disparity is due largely in part to the rising Chinese middle class and their demand for higher education.

To help increase access to and opportunities for education, the eBusiness Center is currently collaborating with Agilix Labs Inc., an educational software company, to develop a unique e-learning community that will allow its users to easily create, share, and adapt instructional materials over the Internet.

Rogers says there are two reasons why attending the GCCCE Conference was valuable.

“One is to strengthen a relationship with leaders of educational technology in China,” Rogers says. “This helps us better understand the specific market needs in that area of the world–an area which will require alterations to traditional business and education models. The second reason was to get another reaction to the research we are doing as a center. The positive reaction impressed upon me the timeliness and importance of what we are doing.”