Cisco CEO sees e-learning as next wave
By Mary Lisbeth D'Amico
InfoWorld Electric
Posted at 3:46 PM PT, Nov 16, 1999
LAS VEGAS -- Just as electronic commerce exploded over the past two
years, the stage is now set for "e-learning" to become the
next big wave in Internet-based applications, according to Cisco
Systems CEO and President John Chambers. Such a move will also
help close the divide between rich and poor, he added.
"Education and the Internet must go hand in hand," Chambers said in a
keynote speech here Tuesday at Comdex. "It will serve as
one of the great equalizers."
In his speech Tuesday, Chambers pointed to a host of other ways in
which he sees the Internet changing people's lives and making
companies more productive over the next two years. These ways range
from allowing companies to monitor their financial health to
letting people conduct most of their errand running over the Internet,
he added.
"It will change the way we work, live, play, and learn," Chambers
said.
Of course, Cisco has a vested interest in the growth of these
Internet-based applications. The company is one of the largest
manufacturers of routers, switches, and other equipment that provide
the plumbing for the Internet.
Chambers identified Web-based learning as one of the hottest new
applications in coming years. He showed a video on
cutting-edge universities, such as University of California Berkeley,
in California, that offer students Web sites for each separate
course offered, and integrate the Internet into the learning process.
He admitted, however, that the market for Internet-based learning has
not taken off as quickly as some observers had predicted.
Although the technology exists, roadblocks still exist. Many teachers,
accustomed to what Chambers called "command and
control," do not like to give up the power to students to decide what
they learn, and are not yet comfortable with Internet
collaboration, he said.
When e-learning does take hold over the next two years, however,
education will become a continuing process, as companies
educate their employees via the Internet, Chambers said.
He also predicted that companies will reap the productivity benefits
as their employees increasingly take care of all their errands
over the Internet, thus freeing them up for other tasks. He explained
that he would prefer to see employees taking care of tasks such
as shopping and laundry at work via the Net, rather than have them
leave early to attend to those errands.
Chambers demonstrated one new application, a gas pump with Internet
access that will be launched in North Carolina in two weeks.
Customers run their credit card or customer card through the a
smart-card holder installed at the pump. They then receive a
personalized Web page with news and other information, can look at a
Web-based map for directions, and can even order goods
online while waiting for their gas tank to fill.
The Internet will also change the way companies handle internal
information, Chambers said. He sees a big future for what he called
"virtual close" -- a company's ability to assess their own financial
health on a daily basis using Web-based applications. Such a
move will allow chief executive officers to avoid being surprised by
their results at the end of a quarter, he added.
One user listening to the keynote, who identified herself as a broker
with Smith Barney, said she was really inspired by Chamber's
comments, calling him a "visionary" speaker.
Another attendee, a student at Stanford University, said Stanford
already has the same type of Internet applications as those shown
during the keynote. He was a bit more skeptical about how much that
transformed the education process, however.
"We have it, but it doesn't really change that much about your life,"
he said.
Cisco Systems Inc., in San Jose, Calif., is at www.cisco.com.
Mary Lisbeth D'Amico is a Munich, Germany, correspondent for the IDG
News Service, an InfoWorld affilate.
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InfoWorld Media Group Inc. |
