Conflicting perceptions and complex change: promoting web‐supported learning in an arts and social sciences faculty

Abstract

This article discusses the processes and outcomes of an attempt to encourage academic staff to use a web‐supported learning package in a UK post‐1992 university. The researcher adopts an ‘insider’ approach to research, drawing on participant observation, an analysis of policy documents and a small number of semi‐structured interviews. The view of organisations as forming unitary ‘cultures’ that can be easily transformed, evident in some literatures on managing change, is critiqued. Instead, the existence of diverse cultures within universities is acknowledged, and conflict between groups is viewed as a useful method of problem solving. While no dramatic increase in the numbers of staff using the new technology was observed in the first year of implementation, the research suggests this is viewed not as a failure but indicative of the incremental and complex process of change within higher education institutions.

Keywords:

• web supported learning
• power
• trade unions
• humanities
• virtual learning environments