Abstract
Technology innovations have the potential to significantly strengthen the ability of higher education institutions to deliver on their core educational mission with greater quality, efficiency, and effectiveness. Not surprisingly, managing technological changes is among the chief concerns for institutional leaders, and yet there is a dearth of research that provides concrete frameworks for managing this type of change in a higher education context. Using Guerra-López and Hicks’s Learning and Development Strategic Alignment (LDSA) framework, this qualitative study used a directed content analysis approach to develop a contextualized framework for planning and managing technology change in higher education institutions. The findings suggest that there is a meaningful fit between specific change management strategies found in the learning management systems (LMS) transition research literature and the LDSA framework. The various strategies were synthesized and grouped around LDSA dimensions and core functions, resulting in a technological change management framework contextualized for higher education.
Highlights
This study focused on one specific type of technological change, learning management system (LMS) transitions
According to the 2014 EDUCAUSE Center for Analysis and Research (ECAR) report, LMS adoption reaches an extraordinary level of higher education institutions (HEI) with more than 99% of colleges and universities reporting that they have an LMS in place and that these tend to stay in place for only eight years before institutions look to update them (Dahlstrom et al, 2014)
Given that other early change management phases, as outlined in the Learning and Development Strategic Alignment (LDSA) framework, allow us to identify or validate priority needs based on various sources of data and analyze various options based on solution requirements that are specific to our own institutional needs and realities, it seems logical to wonder whether this could partially explain the significant failure rate of institutional change initiatives (Al-Haddad & Kotnour, 2015; Hornstein, 2015; Balogun & Hailey, 2004)
Summary
Introduction of a new learning management system (LMS) is a significant institution-wide change that requires well-planned strategies and a sound decision-making process It requires involving a wide range of key stakeholders in the adoption process phases, including planning, selection, implementation, and evaluation (Boggs & Van Baalen-Wood, 2018). These technologies will be ineffective or distracting if they are not managed and integrated into the learning process in meaningful ways (Adams Becker et al, 2018). These include short transition time and lack of faculty involvement (Hannon et al, 2011), resistance to change, time demands for faculty training and associated compensation (Ryan et al, 2012), extra workload from course re-design and the possibility of re-training (Smart & Meyer, 2005), besides other issues that might hinder faculty teaching and impact student learning
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