Award in Introduction to eCommerce

This first module provides students with a general outline of the key concepts and fundamentals in eCommerce. This module addresses the general notions of eCommerce, core concepts and key challenges of B2C and B2B in eCommerce, the evolving business environment within eCommerce, frameworks and regulations, and how to plan for an eCommerce business. These sessions will help students to understand better the eCommerce market and will serve as a foundation for further development in subsequent modules.

The module will cover six different topics as follows:

1. Introduction to eCommerce
2. Core concepts of B2C & B2B eCommerce
3. Key Challenges of B2C & B2B eCommerce
4. Evolving Environments
5. Frameworks and regulation
6. Planning for Business

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the module/unit the learner will have acquired the responsibility and autonomy to:

• Develop broad understanding about the eCommerce models such as Brokerage, Advertising, Infomediary, Merchant, Manufacturing, Affiliate, Community, Subscription and Utility.
• Understand the important factors that is related in exploring markets to the eCommerce models.
• Recognise the perspectives of seller and buyer in the eCommerce domain.
• Understand the existing cost structures and revenue schemes in eCommerce realms and the construction of financial plan for eCommerce business.

Learning Hours:

Module will consist of the following learning hours:

Contact hours: 10 hours (pre-recorded lectures – 6 hrs, online tutorials – 3 hrs and online forums – 1 hrs)

Self-study: 11 hours (research on notes – 6 hrs and assessment – 5 hrs)

Assessment: 4 hours (finalisation of assessment) 

Learning Hours per module: 25 hours

Course Delivery: Part-Time

Language of Instruction: English

Teaching Methods:

• Pre-recorded lecture presentations and the respective slides will be made available to students on the e-learning platform
• Discussions will be carried out via Video Conferencing and will be recorded for other students in the course to view.
• Contact hours will also include contributions in Forum discussions where the tutor will assess the students’ posts and provide his/her own feedback.
• Participating students will be presented with:
  Video presentation – 6 hours of audio-visual recording/module. This will include a presenter interviewing an expert in the field of the respective module that is being covered.
  Each hour will be split into 4 – 15minutes segments to allow for better access and download.
  Reading Material – additional reading materials for students to read and can better understand the topic
  FAQs – to assist students with basic questions that are normally asked on the topics
  Glossary – to assist students in having the correct information on key subject terms
  2 Online tutorial sessions per module
  2 online Forum discussions per module
  1 short Assignment per module

Assessment Methods:

Tutorial participation 20%
Forum discussions 30%
Assignments 50%