Electronic education system model

E-learning e€orts and experiments currently receive much attention across the globe. The availability of electronic and web-enabling technologies also dramatically in ̄uences the way we view the learning strategies of the future [Kramer, B. J. (2000). Forming a federal virtual university through course broker middleware. In Proceedings: LearnTec 2000. Heidelberg, Germany, 2000. Hiltz, S. R. (1995). Teaching in a virtual classroom. In Proceedings: International conference on computer assisted instruction.(ICCAI'95), Taiwan,March 1995]. However, due to disappointing experiences in wide spread implementation of computers in schools [Foshay, W. R. (1998). Education technology in schools and in business: a personal experience. Education Horizons, 66(4),154±157], many are already predicting the failure of web technologies for learning [Rogers, A. (2000). The failure and the promise of technology in education. Global SchoolNet Foundation, 27 May 2000 (http://www.gsm.org/teacharticles/promise.html)]. It is indeed likely that e-learning, making use of technological advances such as the Internet, may also be dissatisfying and frustrating unless we design electronic educational models that can avoid potential complications. In this paper, we de®ne and describe an electronic educational system model (EES model). The aim of this model is to assist the designers of di€erent e-learning settings to plan and implement a speci®c learning situation, with the focus on the individual requirements and milieu of the learning group. The EES model is composed of four layers, each consisting of di€erent objects (components) addressing issues speci®c to each layer. When constructing a learning situation, the planners, schedulers and facilitators come together with a clear view of their particular learning situation in mind. They then use the EES model to design their course layer by layer, including objects from each layer. Each object consists of one or more methods/strategies to be implemented in order to achieve the learning objectives of the course. This approach promises to increase the chances of successful and quality implementations [Cloete, E. (2000). Quality issues in system engineering a€ecting virtual distance learning systems. To appear in Proceedings. COMPSAC'2000. Taiwan, October 2000] with as few frustrations and disappointments as possible. # 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.