Models of Technology and Change In Higher Education: An international comparative survey on the curr

This study investigates which scenarios are emerging with respect to the use of ICT in higher education and how future developments can be predicted and strategic choices can be based on that.

Models of Technology and Change In Higher Education: An international comparative survey on the current and future use of ICT in Higher Education

This study seeks to answer the following questions:

• What strategic responses do institutions make with respect to the use of ICT;
• Which external conditions and developments influence these choices;
• Which external and internal conditions and measures are taken in order to achieve strategic targets;
• What are the implications for technology use, teaching and learning processes and staff?

The study applies an international comparative methodology and is carried out in the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom, Australia, Finland and the USA. Data were collected through Web-based questionnaires tailored to three different response groups: decision makers, support staff and instructors.

The main conclusions of the study are:

General conclusion 1: Change is slow, and not radical

Overall it seems that higher education institutions do not expect revolutionary change as a result from or related to the use of ICT. In general, there is not really a concern about being forced to change by external forces or developments. Rather, a “business as usual” approach is taken, without anticipating any real dramatic changes in mission, profile or market position. Nevertheless, institutions are gradually “stretching the mould”; they change their procedures and models as a process of change from within.

These changes, however, are gradual and usually slow and may comply with the slight changes in needs and demands as perceived by the institutions. Small changes between countries, however, suggest that institutions that have a clearer view on their mission with respect to serving different target groups (e.g. lifelong learning or international students) with ICT and on their position in that/those particular markets demonstrate higher levels of use of ICT.

General conclusion 2: ICT in teaching and learning: Widespread but part of a blend

ICT use, in terms of e-mail, word-processing, PowerPoint, and the Web, has become standard as part of the teaching and learning process. But this has not radically affected the nature of this process; rather, ICT has become part of the blend of on-campus delivery. This trend is seen in terms of ICT policy and objectives relating to ICT, as well as in the way that ICT use has been implemented into practice. In particular, Web-based systems are seen as valuable and leading to more efficient practices.

This second main theme emerging from the study is related to the first: ICT use, in terms of email, PowerPoint, word processing and Web resources, has become commonplace, but in a way that only gradually is stretching traditional on-campus practices. The lecture remains the “core medium”, the instructional form, which is most highly valued. However, ICT has clearly become part of the blend, serving as a complement to already existing instructional tools.

General conclusion 3: Instructors: Gradually doing more, but with no reward

The third theme regards the instructors’ role in the use of ICT, how this relates to their views on teaching and learning and on their actual workload and job satisfaction. Also here the “stretching the mould” theme is recognized. Overall, the instructor is still there, but doing more with technology with no particular reward. Instructors are less concerned/interested in/hopeful about technology than those not on the “front line” (the decision makers and support staff).

Instructors are not particularly concerned about ICT, and not actually changing their ways of teaching even though they use ICT in different ways. Thus, the instructor is also “stretching the mould” with ICT use as part of daily practices. While there are no serious concerns about this, and a generally positive feeling about ICT’s effect on personal work conditions and efficiency, there also are little or no systematic rewards to move instructors to do more than the gradual “stretching”.

Furthermore, it was concluded that in general institutions are still by and large focused on their traditional target group (high school leavers). The main challenge for both institutions and governments is now to develop more strategic policies on how ICT can be used for the different target groups that higher education is expected to serve in the knowledge economy in the 21st century. These target groups include traditional learners as well as lifelong learners from both within or outside the country. It should be explicitly understood that especially the new type of learners constitute an attractive market on which higher education institutions will find themselves in competition from both national and international, traditional and new providers.

Explicit policies at both institutional and governmental levels will be required considering the challenges ahead. For enhancing the on-campus learning experience, institutions need to improve and extent the actual (richer) pedagogical use of ICT. In order to further enhance flexibility next steps need to be made in terms of system development, integration, accessibility, user convenience, etc. But in particular the strategic use of ICT for the diversity of higher education target groups will require explicit policy development.

More concretely, institutions should develop a strategic plan relating to the relative importance to the institution of the different types of learners in the post 2005 period and should consider the corresponding technological architecture, tools and functionalities. The key feature here is a database driven system that allows easy tailoring and adapting of (portions of) courses to serve the needs of different groups of students.

For the full analysis, visit the

CHEPS website.