ABSTRACT
A good deal of work has been done on measuring the costs of web-based learning (see for example, Potashnik and Adkins, 1996; Bartolic-Zlomislic and Bates, 1999; Jewett, 1999; Ortner and Nickolmann, 1999; Young, 1999; Bates, 2000; Finkelstein et al., 2000; Hülsmann, 2000; Whalen and Wright, 2000; Boeke, 2001; Jones, 2001). There is a good deal of agreement about what direct costs to measure, and often about how to assign costs across different cost variables. There is also general agreement about the methodology of analysis, such as differentiating between fixed and variable costs, the importance of student numbers, as well as the methods of course development and the media used, and there is a general recognition of the importance of overhead or indirect costs (although little agreement on how to treat them).
