Graphic: Service blueprinting is part of "Service Engineering" that identifies all relevant activities of the service provision process. Workflow designed by Hoffmann & Reif.
Content and service as a product
Autor: Leopold Reif, Hoffmann & Reif
Content on the Internet needs to be dealt with as a product. In other words content is the result of a development process and a workflow involving different stakeholders with different competencies. As a product content has a life cycle in which conceptualisation, design, development, maintenance, adaptation, further development and "phasing out" takes place.
Since we are talking here about the production of e-learning courses technical competencies with regards to applications, platforms and publishing are needed in addition. The following graphic is an example of "Service blueprinting". It shows a workflow for instructional product development and deployment established already in eLearning academies in northern countries.
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In the content development scenario of this graphic the author represents the subject matter expertise, he does the instructional design, provides the tutoring and in addition functions also as the product/course manager.
Through a suite of publishing and collaboration applications the author is enabled to undertake and manage a significant portion of the value creation chain. At a certain development stage of the organisation one might want to introduce a higher degree of division of work. But even then, it is an important strategic decision to combine the three specific competencies - instructional design, tutoring and course management - within the role of the author at the initiation of the programme.
Blending technology with learning poses requirements that determine the solutions to be developed and the skills to operate them, be it as a producer, teacher or administrator. Guiding learners via an Internet learning portal demand specific pedagogical skills with regards to the functionalities provided, such as chat, bulletin board, e-mail and media. Content needs to be constructed along the lines of the technical environment in which it is represented.
Furthermore content as a product needs to be embedded in a business plan. It has a defined market, development costs, a prize, customers and possibly or hopefully revenues.
In this scenario one can see that instructional design and course management know-how are important components that are supplementing the work of an expert author. As stated above this scenario introduces rather new aspects to an academic institution. Furthermore bringing together a multidisciplinary team in order to fulfill the demands of a productisation process embedded in a business proposition increases significantly complexity.