Confused? Whether the incorporation of e-commerce in the educational field is a good idea or not. There is no need to get scared or confused, we are providing you a detailed analysis of e-commerce in the educational sector through various perspectives, such as:
- Are you a student or a teacher and want to integrate e-commerce education into your curriculum?
- Are you a merchant who wants to start an e-commerce business in the educational field?
It’s difficult to work with unanswered questions. Don’t panic, you can find all your questions to be answered below.
Opportunities for e-commerce in education:
Books availability: Previously, the use of technology was not common among people, students had to go to the library to get respective books for their assignments or projects. If in any library there were a single or two copies available of one book and more students wanted it. In these conditions, students had to wait for their turn to have that book. This practice used to delay their assignments.
Now, through e-commerce students have easy access to their respective books. They can order books through several websites, for example, Amazon, liberty books, etc. In case, students don’t want to purchase then there is an option of online reading where books are available for free and they don’t have to pay for them.
Understanding: The term e-commerce is not restricted to buying and selling of products only. There are many occasions where students are not able to understand any concept on their own. In these cases, they can look for the options given below:
- They can visit online websites, where numerous articles are available at one click.
- They can also listen to the lectures of different scholars from any part of the world.
By reading different articles and listening to lectures, students can have a better and clear understanding of their concept.
Beneficial for all: E-Commerce in education is not confined to students only, teachers can also benefit themselves through this medium. They can search online and visit different websites to learn various teaching strategies.
Assignment help services: Many online services are providing original, unique and plagiarism-free work, for instance, assignment ace the UK. With the help of these websites, students can get their work done. Teachers can also benefit themselves through these online services.
Easy medium for education: It becomes convenient for the students and teachers to have a book from any part of the world. For example; if there is a book that is not easily available in your town, you can either read it online or purchase it. Without e-commerce, it wouldn’t be possible to go to a particular state physically to have that book.
Economical: Doing an e-commerce business in the educational field is economical and reasonable. You don’t have to look for a physical store and don’t need to spend a handsome amount on its infrastructure. All you need to have an outstanding and magnificent idea, good and high-quality products and a well- maintained website that grabs the attention of the customers.
Challenges for e-commerce in education:
Reliability of knowledge: E-Commerce has to face this issue more often because sometimes people are not satisfied with the products, services or even the knowledge provided online. For example, the books available on websites are original or not, because there are many pirated versions of books that are being published all over the world. People often get confused about the reliability of the given information. So, providing original books and authentic knowledge via e-commerce in education is extremely important.
Availability of electronic media: The major challenge e-commerce has to face in education is the availability of electronic media. Many people around the globe cannot have access to electronic media to take advantage of e-commerce.
Internet connection: To facilitate through e-commerce people need to have an internet connection in their respective devices. For instance, there is a group of people who are reading a book online, and their internet connection gets disconnected. There are situations where people don’t even have backup plans. In these circumstances, students might get frustrated because it would delay their work.
Furthermore, the same goes for the teachers, there are occasions where teachers have to deliver online lectures to their students and their internet connection is not working fine. In these situations, there are chances of termination of the teachers for not delivering lectures on time. On the contrary, if teachers and students have to go to their respective institutions physically, then these issues wouldn’t be a problem.
Risk of fraud: Online shopping has become common all over the world, but many people don’t feel safe in providing their personal information on the website without knowing the complete data of the retailer. This is also big challenge e-commerce has to face. For example, we are buying books from Amazon; we have to provide our basic personal information and also our credit/debit card details for the transaction of money. People are mostly reluctant in providing these confidential details on any random website.
Limited audience: We are living in the age of technology, where everyone has easy access to technology and knowhow to use it, but some people don’t even know how to turn on the computer. These types of people cannot be able to facilitate e-commerce services. For instance, there are cases where children know how to use a computer and get the benefit of online knowledge but their parents are not familiar with the use of technology so that they wouldn’t be able to help their children for their better understanding.
In conclusion, E-Commerce can be beneficial in education by making knowledge and products easily accessible for the people, but at the same time, there are some challenges too. Integrating e-commerce in the educational field is a nice idea but one has to know the above-mentioned points before taking any step.
