‘The university doesn’t care about the impact it is having on us’: academic experiences of the institutionalisation of blended learning

Abstract

ABSTRACT The necessity of incorporating technologies into higher education has been met with a movement towards large-scale, institutional approaches to blended learning. This article reports on a qualitative study of academic learning experiences in the early implementation stage of an institutional approach to blended learning at a research-intensive university. We conducted focus groups with ten academics involved in the early phase of an institutionally driven blended learning initiative. Thematic analysis revealed that academics cared for students’ perspectives and being able to feed it back into their practices drove the blending process, but they were de-motivated by a lack of agency in designing and implementing their courses. Academics were also concerned about the effectiveness of blending for student learning and did not feel cared for by the university. A lack of collaborative dialogue left academics struggling to adjust. Through a lens of an ethic of care, we highlight the danger of a ‘care-less’ climate that impedes professional learning and promotes inefficacy and cynicism. We argue for a need to change top-down approaches to implementing blended learning; to develop policies that consider the impact on academic needs and appreciate their value as human beings, and through developing supportive relationships that enable individuals to innovate and have agency to drive the process for the betterment of student learning.