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The Internet can be a useful tool that can enhance interactivity in classes. Accordingly, offering distance learning courses using the Web, especially in the asynchronous mode for the additional flexibility of time, is becoming an established practice in higher education. Web-based distance learning comes with numerous benefits, but not without worries for potentials deficiencies. One such deficiency in the current distance learning framework is the lack of lecture, the most relied-upon and proven means of instruction in the traditional classroom settings. This paper raises an issue of the lack of lectures in Web-based distance learning, and proposes that streaming video take the role of online lecture in that setting. Described in this paper are the rationale to put the lecture back into e-learning in higher education, two case studies in which the steps were taken to implement the proposed method, and the feedback from the students who took such courses in the undergraduate business curriculum and the MBA program.

Studies in process change have focused on the improvement of operational performance measures such as the actual waiting time of a service system. However, process redesign may not only change the actual waiting time but also have significant impact on perceived waiting time. We examine how process changes affect customer perceptions on waiting and customer satisfaction. We describe a field study in which customer waiting rimes, both actual and perceived, were measured and compared before and after a process change. Our results show that process changes can have significant impact on customer perception of waiting time as well as the actual waiting rime. This study illustrates the benefit of piloting a proposed process change and measuring key process performance and customer assessment prior to implementation. Keywords: Customer satisfaction; Field study; Perceived waiting time; Process change; Waiting line, 1. Introduction Process changes can bring about improvements in the operational performance measures such as average waiting time. However, customer satisfaction may not be realized from such improvements if they [...]

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Using a framework derived from Perrow, we have investigated the impact of expert systems in accounting at the work unit level. The results of a survey are presented. Information on 36 implemented systems was collected from participants at two recent workshops on artificial intelligence in accounting and business. A number of commonly suggested advantages of expert systems are observed. We find some significant differences between variables for the two major application areas in accounting, namely tax and auditing. This suggests that where benefits arise from differs depending upon the underlying task domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]