Pedagogical Development, E-learning and Teaching in Higher Education

Abstract

This chapter presents an argument which rests on three interrelated premises regarding the transition to e-learning in higher education. The first is that the phenomenon of e-learning (Web-based teaching and learning) is dramatically affecting faculty roles in higher education, whether faculty are engaged in teaching with technology or not. The second is that the role of faculty member is saturated with requirements, and adding a teaching process that requires advanced teaching expertise in relation to technology and additional time commitments will not fit into the current role of faculty; this is so for e-learning. Finally, we suggest that leadership strategy which will resolve this issue, and afford students the benefits of e-learning, will take an embedded, distributed and dispersed approach. In presenting this argument, we will describe current work-life realities for faculty members in higher education institutions, present interview data from faculty at two institutions of higher education and outline why leadership strategies intended to support the role change required for faculty when teaching with technology may not work.