Web-assisted learning: A case study in academic staff engagement

In the UK, Higher Education (HE) is moving from teaching towards learning and facilitating knowledge by means of a blended learning approach. To this end, HE institutions recognise that such change requires instigation and guidance from the top down. Increasingly, they are adopting web-based, virtual learning environments (VLE) such as WebCT/Blackboard to support and engage students in their learning. However, within the institutional environment, learning objectives are achieved through the engagement and interaction of students and academic staff. In seeking a shift to a web-assisted/blended learning, the institution is reliant upon both students and academic staff embracing the new technology, by engaging and interacting within the new learning environment. Increasingly, students are entering higher education with the expectation that IT resources and computer-based information will be provided as standard. Feedback from students suggests good on-campus computing provision and particular aspects of VLEs to be amongst the best features of the learning experience. In contrast, academic staff show a certain resistance to this technological change which, coupled with a fragmented development of Managed Learning Environments (MLEs), suggests that there is a mismatch of demand and supply. This paper further develops an ongoing study of change implementation at Napier University, Edinburgh. It explores the attitudes of both academic staff and students to the new learning environment first introduced by the University in session 2003/04, and whether there is a mismatch between the engagement of staff and students. The paper builds upon technology-acceptance models and the 4-E model applied to education, attempting to clarify the key stimuli and inhibitors to engagement of academic staff in a mandatory web-assisted learning environment.