E-readiness of University Divisions in Online Education

E-readiness can be defined as the degree to which a community is prepared to participate in the networked world. In this paper the concept of e-readiness is used in terms of how internal and external factors affect the delivery of online education offered by universities. The paper applies the macro level five forces model as adopted by Chan and Welebir (2003) in the context of micro (university divisional level). Thus, the purpose is not to have generalizable findings, but rather use the delivery of online education as determinant for the level of universities' e-readiness, and explore the factors affecting e-readiness and ways of utilizing the factors as central to the study. Using a qualitative method case study interviews on divisional level were used to obtain in-depth empirical evidence. The study appears to indicate potential need to further modify the five forces model by Chan and Welebir (2003) due to the non-commercial nature of the Swedish education system. Also, co-operation in providing educational services such as the Net University in Sweden precludes market forces determination by universities internally. No specialized training program for the instructors to fit any special needs of students particular to online education was perceived.