Distance education: towards an organizational and cultural change in higher education

Abstract

Purpose – Although higher education institutions have invested substantial resources in distance education (DE) courses, major problems are associated with cultural and organizational changes. The purpose of this article is to identify and portray the organizational and cultural changes occurring while DE is initiated at a higher education institute in Israel. This article discusses the assimilation stages of educational change, the barriers and challenges, and also ways to overcome them and lessons learned.Design/methodology/approach – In order to examine the shift from traditional lecturing in large lecture halls, to DE – anytime anyplace, informal discussions were conducted with 15 lecturers and faculty, indicating a range of opinions. The five‐stage model of ACOT (Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow) were used to indicate lecturers' stages of change.Findings – Some faculty expressed positive attitudes, approving the innovative project; but some expressed negative attitudes, claiming it is a waste of resource...