1

DELTA MODULE THREE ALT

Centre: The Distance DELTA 10239

Candidate Number: 306
ELTM Specialism: Academic Management
Topic Chosen: Development of Skype Lessons
Word Count: 4349 (Microsoft Word 2013)

Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

Contents

Page

1. Introduction
1.1 My interest in Academic Management
1.2 The Role of Academic Manager
1.3 Staff Development
1.4 Product Development
2. Situation Analysis
2.1 Description of the LTO
2.2 Area of Investigation
2.3 Means of Analysis
2.4 Stakeholder Analysis
2.5 Interview with the Director
2.6 Teachers Survey
2.7 Force Field Analysis
2.8 Conclusion
3. Proposal
3.1 Change
3.2 Objectives
3.3 Vision and Strategy
3.4 Raising awareness about the Skype programme
3.5 Raising awareness and providing training on possible
computer tools that can replace or enhance traditional techniques
3.6 Creating a bank of computer based resources
3.7 Establishing a Procedure of Delivering Skype lessons
3.8 Organisational Constraints
4. Implementation Plan
4.1 Unfreeze
4.2 Change
4.3 Re-freeze
4.4 My Approach and Management of People
4.5 Evaluation of Outcomes
5. Conclusion
Bibliography
Appendix 1: Situation Analysis Results
1.A Comparative Evaluation
1.B Extended Teachers Survey
1.C Questionnaire for Skype Teachers
1.D Questionnaire for Skype Students

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1.E Focus Group

1.F Stakeholder Analysis
1.G SWOT Analysis
Appendix 2: Implementation Plan

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PART 1
Introduction
My Interest in Academic Management
The choice of the specialism is determined by my interest and some
experience in the role of DOS and the necessity to continue my development in
this area so that I can pursue my career growth. I worked as a DOS for several
years in a language school in Russia. I was promoted to this position from a
teacher, I had no knowledge or experience in management, but I had a lot of
enthusiasm and determination and was finding my way by making mistakes
and learning from them. Most challenging aspect of my work was managing
teachers, as I had been one of them and had to re-establish relations, and in
general, managing people was very different from managing a class. Therefore
I hope to take the opportunity and to study this aspect closer in this work.
To begin with, it is essential to provide a definition of management in general,
and academic in particular.
To make it simple, Mullins definition can be borrowed, who says that basically
management is making things happen (Mullins 2007:411). It would be
appropriate though to extend this definition by main elements of management
identified by Brech (Mullin, 2007), which are:
1)
2)
3)
4)

Planning,
Control,
Co-ordination and
Motivation.

Speaking about academic management specifically, as a DOS I always had a

clash of commercial and professional interests, and I was far not the first to
experience this. In From Teacher to Manager by Ron White (2008) we find the
following speculation: What probably makes LTO management unique is the
tension between meeting both educational and commercial interests, and
professional and managerial concerns.
Among various aspects of academic management I would like to focus on
The role of academic manager;
Staff development;
Product development.
Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

The Role of Academic Manager

The role of an academic manager, according to Ron White (1991), can be
performed by Principal or Head of LTO, Subject leader or DOS and Class
teacher as well, though with various levels and scope of responsibilities. But it
is usually both a manager and a professional. If we adapt Whites classification
of responsibilities and turn them into roles that an academic manager can play
in an LTO, they will be the following:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
9)

Academic manager;
Business manager;
Resources manager;
Entrepreneur and Customer Assistant
Human Resources manager;
Administrator;
Professional leader;
LTO Representative;
Corporate Leader.

In my job I performed almost all the roles and functions, apart from Business
manager and Corporate leader, which was done by the owner of the school.
I believe it is important to know about the roles and their functions described
above for the following reasons:
To have a detailed job description for the academic manager (DOS, for
example);
For the teachers and administrative staff to know the scope of
authorities of the DOS;
In case there is a need for two managers, to divide responsibilities by
allocated roles. For instance, one is in charge of academic, professional
sides and resources matters, whereas the other is in charge of
administration, working with customers and liaising.
Staff Development
As R. White rightly states, Principal, Director of Studies, teachers and
administrative staff should see that one of the major responsibilities is the
growth and development of all people within the organization (White
1991:61). Also the following comment will be valuable: Staff <>

Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

development should be largely determined by the values, objectives and

curriculum development plans of the school (Everard 2004:93).
R. White (1991) categorises training needs for staff as follows:
Staff category
New staff
Newly promoted
Existing staff
Those facing change

Type of needs
Induction training
Skills training
Continuous development
Training for specific need

Induction training can involve:

Induction manual;
Teachers handbook;
Job description;
Guidance by a mentor;
Probation period.

R. White argues that effective induction programme can help to reduce staff
turnover.
In his other book, From Teacher to Manager (2008), White speculates more
on observations, both for new and existing staff, and on continuous
development.
Thus, he states that teacher observation is not only part of quality assurance;
it is also an important part of HRM (White, 2008). There are certain
requirements observations should meet:

Involve agreed and clear criteria

Be carried out by trained staff
Include preparation and follow up
Have provision for mentoring and support for teachers needing help
Involve agreed records which are part of a teachers personal profile and
professional portfolio.

In terms of continuous professional development (CPD), White argues that it is

a part of total quality management (TQM) and it enables continuous quality
improvement, as it has stretching and extending a teachers teaching
repertoire as its core (White, 2008).
Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

The LTO in Russia I worked for had a compulsory training for new teachers in
the schools own teaching methods, which had been developed as its key
feature and unique selling point. But apart from that there was not any
established CPD scheme as teachers worked at different time in different
premises and it is next to impossible to have all teachers in one place for a
session. Observations are also not easy to conduct due to the same specifics
most of the lessons are one-to-one with corporate students on their territory.
Though day-time and full-time LTOs, like colleges, language schools in the UK,
seem to have no hindrances for such procedures. One of the UK schools I have
worked for, successfully runs regular observations and CPD sessions.
Product Development
When speaking about product development, White differentiates between
New Product Development (NPD) and refreshing existing courses (White,
2008), saying that the latter is more common in an LTO. Reasons for either of
them can lie within the following:

demand identified by market research

declining uptake of an existing course
launching a new course by competitor
demand from new courses from existing clientele
changes in or addition to examinations or tests
publication of new textbooks, teaching materials
availability of new teaching technology
recruitment of staff with new ideas.

White describes a scheme of sequent stages, which are characteristic for NPD:
1 Idea generation

New ideas from internal or external

resources
2 Idea screening
Evaluating, sorting for pedagogical
feasibility, financial viability,
marketability, risk analysis
3 Concept development and
Converting concept into tangible
testing
product and testing it with consumers
(including agents) to find out of
product appeals
4 Marketing strategy development Designing a marketing strategy for the
new product; doing some formal
Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

5 Business analysis

6 Product development
7 Test marketing

8 Commercialization
9 Review

market research to assess products

potential.
Reviewing sales, cost and profit
projections against LTOs goals.
Estimate potential sales, income,
break-even point, profit and return on
investment and new ideas.
Designing and developing the new
product
Small-scale pilot of the new product to
assess consumer reactions, and finetuning of product.
Introducing new product to the
market.
Evaluating performance of new
product against commercial and
academic criteria as specified in
costed proposal and marketing plan.

In small LTOs which gain their secure profit from existing products, as
experience shows, launching a new course, rather carelessly, takes only a few
stages, such as idea generating, very quick product development, advertising,
enrolling students and delivering classes just to see whether it will work or not.
This, of course, results in low customer interest, low viability and huge amount
of stress and work put on the teacher.

Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

PART 2
Situation Analysis
Description of the LTO
The LTO under analysis is a private language school in Russia. It is situated in a
city with the population of about 1.5 million people and developed
manufacturing industries. The school provides courses for adults and children,
it offers exam classes, TKT course for teachers, other languages, studying
abroad and it has several Skype students. But its biggest market share is in
corporate language training, which is mainly one-to-one classes. The school
employs over 40 teachers and has the following structure: Director/the Owner;
Corporate Clients Department with the head and sales assistants, Private
Individuals Department with the head and a sales assistant, teachers and HR
manager who carries out administrative functions of a DOS, but not academic
ones. Currently my role in this LTO is a teacher working on Skype from England.
Before moving to England I used to be DOS. The school has 3 branches in other
big Russian cities.
Area of Investigation
The area of investigation is to grow and improve the schools Skype market.
The choice is influenced by the comparative evaluation of the LTO against 7
other largest schools in the city in terms of products and services they offer
(see Appendix 1.A). The result showed that there are gaps in on-line courses
and teacher training courses. The strategy of the School has always been to
have a unique selling point (for example, having own methods and specially
designed course books), therefore Director made a decision to develop Skype
courses, in order to cover a bigger market share. This also supported by
factors, such as:
Extremely highly competitive market (74 organisations offering any kind
of language classes in the city);
Technology development;
Traffic situation;
Predominant part of clients is corporate one-to-one students, who often
travel on business. Skype lessons during business trips could reduce
teaching hours loss.

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Means of Analysis
To justify the choice and assess its capacity, the current situation with Skype
lessons at the LTO was analysed by the means of

Stakeholder Analysis
Interviews with stakeholders;
Surveys;
Focus Group;
SWOT analysis;
Force Field analysis.

Stakeholder Analysis
In the respect of Skype lessons the key stakeholders will be: the
director/owner, teachers, students, HR managers of client companies, the
change agent (myself). The stakeholder analysis, which is based on stakeholder
mapping described by M. Green (2007) (Appendix 1.F), shows that
The highest power and interest belong to the owner, because she will be
the sponsor for the change and the main financial beneficiary;
The change agent has the same high interest, but less power, as key
decisions must be approved by the owner;
The teachers have high interest as it will directly involve them, but little
power, as they cannot influence decisions about the change. Motivation
work will be required;
Private students have high power in whether they want to have this
service or not, and because they have the choice, their interest is not
highest and mainly concerns the quality of the service.
Corporate students are similar to private ones, though their power is
less, because depending on their role in their company, HR managers
can impose Skype type of language training;
HR managers of client companies have high level of power in decision
making whether to use the new service or not, but their interest is low
as it does not directly concern them. Profound selling work will be
needed.

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Interview with the Director

The interview with the Director has revealed the following issues:
1. There have been complaints from the students about the lack of
formality on these lessons: teachers can be disturbed by their family or
be drinking or eating while teaching.
2. If the teachers work from the school, it will not allow to make price
Skype lessons less.
3. The school has to depend on the quality of the teachers equipment
(computer and web-camera).
4. There is no strategy on how to promote Skype courses so that
competitors cannot copy them quickly.

Teachers Surveys
The aim of the survey was to reveal teachers attitude towards Skype lessons
and the level of their motivation (Appendix 1.B).
The questionnaire showed that the majority of teachers recognise advantages
of Skype lesson, such as travel time economy (100% positive answers), travel
cost economy (66% positive answers), possibility to have more lessons within
the same period of time (83%), working from home (75%). 50% feel positive
and 41,6% are neutral about possibility to use the Internet resources.
At the same time there are certain concerns about the new teaching mode, in
particular about not having direct contact with students (58,3% positive
answers + 8 % not sure), not being able to use traditional tools and techniques
(58,3% positive + 25 not sure).
Teachers appear to be rather neutral or not sure about preferring Skype
lessons to face-to-face ones. Taking into account that most all the respondents
dont have experience in teaching on Skype and cant have a strong opinion, it
seems vital to count on the teachers with such an experience, and they
expressed their strong preference in favour of face-to-face classes (Appendix
1.C). In contrast to this, the students who are receiving Skype lessons, are
either positive about them or neutral, but no negative response was given
(Appendix 1.D).

Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

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Force Field Analysis

It appears to be the equal number of strengths and weaknesses, opportunities
and threats (see SWOT Analysis, Appendix 1.G). Thus the Force Field Analysis
(the procedure is described by various authors: K. B. Everard, 2004, M. Green,
2007) is aimed to identify the driving and restraining forces more specifically,
and to see which can be influenced.
Driving Forces: the need to stay competitive; the traffic situation and distances
in the city (and other big cities); emergence of new technologies; all the
opportunities;
Restraining Forces: dependence on the Internet connection; teachers
resistance; lack of resources; no computer rooms; peoples unawareness of
this method.
All of the restraining forces can be either eliminated or weakened (though, bad
Internet connection not so easily), whereas the driving forces are supported by
the strengths and opportunities.
Conclusion
The priority areas for the change will be:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Raising awareness among teachers

Building their motivation
Creating a bank of resources
Developing standard requirements to teachers equipment to work from
home.

Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

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PART 3
Proposal
Change
The company is making a decision to extend Skype lessons practice and to start
offering it as a new service to our current clients and to attract new ones. The
proposal from the point of view of academic management is to enable the
teachers to provide high-quality Skype lessons and to ensure that the school
has sufficient methodological base for this. As concluded from the analysis of
the surveys and the Force Field analysis (see Part 2), there is a need for
changing the teachers attitude towards Skype lessons and for building
methodological support for the new service.
Objectives
Based on the problems identified in the SWOT analysis (Appendix 1.G) and on
the strategy, the objectives of the change will be the following:
Raising awareness about the Skype programme;
Raising awareness and providing training on possible computer tools
that can replace or enhance traditional techniques;
Creating a bank of computer based resources;
Establishing a procedure of delivering Skype lessons.
Vision and Strategy
Currently the school is delivering Skype lessons to students who moved to
another city but wished to keep us as a language course provider due to the
price policy and quality. The vision is to remain the market leading position by
including Skype lessons as a service to students who often travel on business
trips, who are located in more remote places in the city as blended learning,
and also to attract new students by offering fully on-line courses.
According to the company culture and ethics, the teachers, who mostly work
on our clients territory, are seen as the main tool of the companys operation,
as the face of the school. Therefore, it is vital that the teachers share the
vision, are highly motivated and can deliver this service confidently.
From the strategic point of view, this vision can supported by maximising
opportunities and restricted by the threats seen as limitation on actions
(Mullins 2007:540), which are established in the SWOT analysis (see
Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

14

Appendix Appendix 1.G). Thus, the strategy is to cover remote areas and
maintain availability for students on the move; continue developing and
providing unique courses and methods, ensure that the teachers deliver highquality lessons.
Raising awareness about the Skype programme
From motivation theories we know that people have needs to be satisfied, and
security, we believe not only physical but also emotional, is a basic need
(Maslows hierarchy of need in Everard, 2004). Changes and unknown things
threaten peoples feeling of security. Therefore the first thing to be done is to
raise awareness about the changed condition of work. The rationale for this is:
Even though teachers think they can use Skype, they might not know
about all the features of the programme.
The teachers who are already working on Skype did not name Skype
tools among those they are currently using (Appendix 1.C).
The features in mind are: sharing screen, video conferencing with more
than 1 student, board and others.
This can be done in the form of a training and experience sharing seminar.
I believe that this will allow to reduce adverse attitude to on-line teaching.
Raising awareness and providing training on possible computer tools that can
replace or enhance traditional techniques
Similarly to the previous one, it is essential to build a secure feeling of
confidence in using new tools. At the same time, here we can rely on the need
for achievement which plays the most significant role in job satisfaction by
Frederick Herzberg (described in Everard, 2004). Achievements include the
possibility for testing new and untried ideas (Everard 2004:31). This coincides
with and reflects the top of Maslows hierarchy of needs as well. The need in
professional development is supported by the results of the survey, where 41%
of the teachers see Skype lessons as their development, the same number are
neutral, and only 16% are negative in their answer (Appendix 1.B).
At first, the training can be provided to those who are teaching currently online
so that they can try the tools and techniques in practice and then share their
expertise with others. This also can be delivered in the form of seminars and
training.
Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

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The possible tools are (taken from Teaching Online. Tools, Techniques and
Opportunities. N. Hockly, L. Clandfield, 2010):

Comic creator sites

Mindmaps
Movie creator sites
Online music players
Poster sites
Shared whiteboards
Slideshow sites
Video sharing sites
Voice boards
Word clouds, etc

I expect that this will give the teachers confidence and motivation by
achievement, as well as increase quality of their work and enable the LTO to be
more competitive.
Creating a bank of computer based resources
Working conditions, according to Herzbergs motivation and hygiene factors
(Everard, 2004) can cause a lot of dissatisfaction. Thus, having to deliver
lessons without sufficient materials and instruments can affect teachers
attitude, motivation and quality of work. Favourable conditions for teachers, as
seen, are when they can prepare interesting, motivating and effective lessons
quickly and efficiently.
Resources can include materials based on the mentioned above tools, plus
Grammar presentation made in Power Point, which can be used by
students as a visual aid instead of board;
Copyable materials for course books can be scanned and accessed by
students from the Schools website from designated area for printing
out, instead of the teachers having to scan and send them beforehand.
Obviously, there should be a person responsible for creating the resources.
Scanning can be done by non-academic staff, whereas making presentations
can be assigned to senior teachers.

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I believe that this will take the burden of searching for or creating their own
computer based materials from the teachers, facilitate their work, reduce
dissatisfaction factor and ensure quality.
Establishing a Procedure of Delivering Skype Lessons
Teachers who have no experience in Skype lessons will need to understand
clearly how on-line lessons will differ from face-to-face ones, what to expect
and how to deal with different situations. So, they should be confident in
following a standard procedure, for example:

How to regard late start and finish

The dress code
Influence of home environment
Cancellation
Keeping records
Possibility to get companys equipment for work, like a web-camera,
head-set, etc

Having clear rules and company policy will give the feeling that even working
from home, they still represent the company and work in its interest, which
will also contribute into quality assurance.
Organisational Constraints
The main constraint is that the School operates without a DOS, therefore
for the control of the academic side of the proposal the School will need
to assign a senior teacher or a temporary academic manager.
The school does not have a computer room, so for implementing Skype
lessons it will have to rely on teachers easy access to the appropriate
technology.
There might be some expense on purchasing web-cameras and headsets for teachers.
There will be expense on creating the pool of resources, i.e. the School
will have to pay the most experienced teachers to create materials.

Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

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PART 4
Implementation Plan
Unfreeze (week 1)
Using Kotters terminology (http://www.kotterinternational.com/ourprinciples/changesteps), at this stage I aim to
establish a sense of urgency by communicating the plan to School
Director and obtaining her approval, which I can communicate later to
the staff (task 1);
create a guiding coalition by getting on board the teachers who are
currently teaching on Skype (task 2). Here I will be pursuing the following
objectives:
1) At the moment they seem to be the main resisting force because
they have experience which they are not willing to extend. Their
negative attitude might influence other teachers. Involving them into
research and training team will put them on the other side of the
conflict.
2) Their expertise is very valuable, they should be encouraged to share
it.
3) They have platform for piloting ideas (current Skype students)
develop a vision and strategy (task 2 and 5) brainstorm tool and
techniques together with the research team and design standard
procedures myself.
communicate the change vision to the staff (task 6) in the first training
session. The objective here is start planting the idea of the new teaching
mode and to prevent misunderstanding and misinterpretation on the
teachers side.
Change (Week 2 7)
At this stage aims are:
to empower broad based action, i.e. to remove barriers and unleash
people do their best work and
to generate short-term wins by:
1) having Skype teachers to pilot new tools and techniques (task 7).
Wins and achievements are to ensure their positive attitude and raise
their confidence;
Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

18

2) holding a training for teachers to raise their awareness and

motivation and to reduce scepticism and resistance (task 12);
3) piloting Skype lessons by all teachers to build confidence and
expertise, as well as to make students aware of the new service of
the school (task 16).
Re-freeze
This stage will be for
consolidating gains and producing more change by collecting and
analysing feedback from teachers and students (task 18, 19), identifying
new problems (task 20, 21);
anchoring new approaches in the culture by setting and conducting
regular CPD sessions to discuss the new mode and deal with question
may arise (task 19).
There might be expected some certain constraint for all the staff to attend
trainings due to the specifics of the organisation of the teaching process. To
ensure that all teachers receive the necessary information and training,
detailed minutes of the meetings will be taken and e-mailed to those who
cannot attend. Also, there should be a possibility to either duplicate training at
a different time or to cover main issues individually, if necessary.
My Approach and Management of People
In terms of management style I will adopt motivational/problem solving, as it is
more natural for me, but also I expect I will need to be assertive in standard
procedure of lesson delivering and solicitous when the teachers start piloting
their lessons (Everard, 2004)
In order to raise teachers motivation I am going to rely on the following
principles and techniques:
I will appeal to the teachers need for achievement and professional
development (need theories described by Everard, 2004 and Handy and
Atkien, 1986);
I will function as a role model (Everard, 2004);
I will try to keep School Director involved to show importance and
significance of the change;

Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

19

I will allow an extended period of time (8 weeks), so that the teachers

start getting used to the idea of change and to reduce their resistance
level.
In the Force Field analysis (see Part 2) I identified that one of the institutional
restrictions is the current Skype teachers resistance, who are vital for setting
example. I aim to eliminate the resistance and turn them into a driving force by
means of:
Raising their commitment and involving them into the research team;
Show the importance of their current expertise and create a further
need for recognition and achievement (Everard, 2004);
Make them responsible for teacher training, this process is identified as
Force collaboration mechanism by Everard.
Evaluation of Outcomes
To evaluate the outcomes the following actions will be taken:
1. Conducting survey among students and comparing the results with the
initial ones.
2. Conducting survey among teachers and comparing the results with the
initial ones.
3. Analysis of changing in the amount of teaching face-to-face and Skype
hours.
4. Analysis of financial impact of the new teaching mode.
5. Adopting Demings PDCA circle.

Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

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PART 5
Conclusion
The aspects of academic management discussed in Part 1 have been applied in
the proposal. Developing Skype lessons is mostly about switching to the on-line
mode of teaching, possibly using the same course books, but it certainly has
features of new product development. From the stages described as
characteristic to NPD, the following are reflected in the implementation plan:
idea generating, concept development and testing, product development, testmarketing and review.
In terms of staff development, the concept of CTD is reflected in setting regular
meeting to discuss adaptation of Skype classes. Also, the process of the
implementation is studied from the point of view of staff motivation, which, as
stated in Part 1, was a personal goal of the project.
It is also possible to identify the roles that I, as a change agent, will adopt. They
are: academic manager; resources manager; human resources manager;
professional leader; corporate leader.
The intended benefits for the LTO are to maintain the market leader position
by integrating new technologies and constantly developing new courses and
methods.
However, the proposal may be constrained by the quality of the Internet
connection or access to it the main resource the whole project relies on.

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Bibliography
1. Everard, K.B., Morris, G. & Wilson, I. (2004, 4th edition). Effective School
Management. London: Paul Chapman Publishing.
2. Green, M. 2007. Change Management Masterclass: a Step by Step Guide
to Successful Change Management. Kogan Page Limited.
3. Handy, C., Aitken, R. (1986). Understanding Schools as Organisations.
Penguin Books.
4. Hockly, N., Clandfield, L. (2010). Teaching Online. Tools, techniques,
opportunities. Delta Publishing.
5. Mullins, J. L. (2007, 8th edition). Management and Organisational
Behaviour. Pearson Education Limited.
6. Scott, G. (2003). Effective Change Management in Higher Education.
Educause Review November/December 2003.
7. White, R. (2008). From Teacher to Manager. Managing Language
Teaching Organisations. Cambridge University Press.
8. White, R. et el (1991). Management in English Language Teaching.
Cambridge University Press.
9. http://www.kotterinternational.com/our-principles/changesteps

Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

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Appendix 1
Situation Analysis Results

Appendix 1.A
Comparative Evaluation

School

Adult
s

Childre
n

Corporat
e training

Exam
s

Studyin
g
abroad

On
lin
e

Other
language
s

Teache
r
Trainin
g

Numbe
r of
offices
in the
city
2

Speaking
Planet
MasterClas
s

LSC

Oxford

EF

Langford

Lingvaacademy
English Plus

Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

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Appendix 1.B
Extended Teachers Survey
(number of answers out of 12 respondents)
1. Do you have experience in teaching on Skype?
Yes
3

No
9

2. Which factors in favour of Skype lessons are important for you (in 1 5
scale)
Travel time economy
1
2
3
4
5
0
0
0
2
10
Travel expense economy
1
2
1
1

3
2

4
2

5
6

Possibility to have more lessons on Skype in the same amount of time

1
2
3
4
5
0
0
2
4
6
Possibility to work from home
1
2
0
1

3
2

4
3

5
6

Possibility to use computer and the Internet resources

1
2
3
4
0
1
5
3

5
3

3. Which factors against Skype lessons are important for you (in 1 5
scale)
No direct contact with students
1
2
3
4
5
1
3
1
1
6
No board
1

Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

24

Impossibility to use certain tools, techniques and resources

1
2
3
4
1
1
3
5

5
2

Necessity to prepare and scan and send copyable materials for printing
out in advance
1
2
3
4
5
5
2
2
2
1
No working conditions at home
1
2
8
1

3
1

4
2

5
0

Poor Internet connection

1
2
3
2

3
2

4
3

5
2

4. To what extent do you agree with the following statements:

I will never replace face-to-face lessons with Skype ones
1
2
3
4
1
3
5
2

5
2

For me there is no difference between Skype and face-to-face lessons

1
2
3
4
5
6
1
3
2
0
I see switching to Skype lessons as my professional development
1
2
3
4
5
1
1
5
3
2
With sufficient methodological support and favourable conditions I will
prefer Skype lessons to face-to-face ones
1
2
3
4
5
1
3
6
0
2

Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

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Appendix 1.C
Questionnaire for teachers who are currently working on Skype (out of
3 respondents)
The advantages of
Skype lessons

The disadvantages
of Skype lessons

Travel time and

costs economy 3
Relative flexibility
of time 1
Working from
home 1
Using the Internet
resources and
computer tools 1

Unstable Internet
connection 3
No traditional tools
2
Having to prepare
in advance to send
materials to print
out 2
Difficult to check
writing - 1

Which
computer
based tools
do you use?
Course Book2
Internet 2
CD-Rom - 1

Do you prefer
Skype or face-orface lessons?
Face-to-face 3

Appendix 1.D
Questionnaire for students who are currently receiving Skype lessons
(out of 8 respondents)
The advantages of
Skype lessons
Time economy 5
Relative flexibility of
time 1
Convenience 1

The disadvantages of
Skype lessons
Unstable Internet
connection - 6

Do you prefer Skype or

face-or-face lessons?
Skype 4
No difference 4

Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

26

Appendix 1.E
Focus Group
The advantages of Skype lessons
Time can be more flexible
Comfort of home
Wide choice of teachers due to
no territorial constraints
Cheaper
Possibility to have a teacher
from English speaking counties
Time economy
Possibility to record lessons

The disadvantages of Skype lessons

Unstable connection
Home environment prevents
from concentrating
Dependence on equipment
No direct contact with the
teacher

Appendix 1.F
Stakeholder Analysis

High

HR Managers of Client
Companies

Students

Owner

Corporate
Students

Change agent

Power
Teachers

Low

Interest

High

Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

27

Appendix 1.G
SWOT Analysis

Strengths
Corporate culture of the
school;
Loyal, young, energetic
teachers willing to develop;
Schools reputation for having
its own methods and its brand
name;
School offers a wide choice of
languages;
Already running Skype lessons;
Current Skype students favour
this method
Opportunities
To cover the region and other
big cities;
To attract more students
within the city;
To keep current students who
move away or often have to
travel;
To become the leading
provider of on-line courses in
the city and the region;
Attract native teachers for
high-level students.

Weaknesses
Currently there is no DOS to be
in charge of the academic side;
There are no computer rooms;
There are no resources;
Lack of awareness among
teacher;
There have been complaints
about teaching quality;
Skype courses are not being
marketed at the moment

Threats
Dependence on the Internet
connection, which shows to be
unstable;
Teachers resistance;
Teachers do not have tools to
facilitate a smooth switch to
Skype lessons;
People are not aware about
the Skype method yet,
therefore not ready to trust;
Other schools can copy

Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

28

Appendix 2
Implementation Plan
Tas
kN
1.
2.

3.
4.
5.
6.

5.

6.

7.
8.
9.

Task
Week 1
Have the plan approved by School Director
Meeting with Skype teachers:
-Formation of the team;
-Brainstorm ideas for tools;
-Allocate tasks for research;
-Design 1st teacher training session
Post date and time for the teacher training
session
Meeting with the School Director about
requirements to equipment
Design and approve a standard procedure
for Skype lessons
Holding the training session

Week 2 and 3
Start adopting and using new tools

Week 4
Meeting with the research team:
-Feedback on the results;
-Brainstorming ideas for the 2nd teacher
training;
-Designing training;
-Allocating roles
Post the date and time for the teacher
training session.
Preparing the training session
Meeting with School Director
-Giving feedback
-Discuss the conditions of piloting Skype

Person
responsible

Length

Myself
Myself

1,5 h
1h

Myself

15 min

Myself

30min

Myself

1h

Myself
Skype
teachers

1,5 h

Skype
teachers
Myself

10 days

Myself

1,5 h

Myself

15 min

Skype
teachers
Myself

3 days

Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

1h

29

10.

11.
12.
13.
14.
15.

16
17.
18.
19.
20.

lessons with current students

Week 5
-Holding the training session;
-Discuss the possibility of piloting Skype
lessons with current students;
-Setting piloting targets and times
Asking students involved to take part in
piloting
Preparing pilot lessons
Design students feedback questionnaire
Week 6 and 7
Piloting lessons
Providing support

Week 8
Collecting feedback from students
Meeting with teachers for the feedback
Setting regular meeting
Collating data
Analysing data and identifying problems
Meeting with School Director about the
feedback and to develop further strategy

Skype
teachers
Myself

2h

Sales
Assistants
Teachers
Myself

3 days

Teachers
Myself
Skype
teachers

10 days
10 days

Myself
Myself

5 days
1,5h

Myself
Myself
Myself

2h
1h
1h

Evgeniya Astrakhantseva. Development of Skype Lessons.

1 day
1h