Literature Review

1. Introduction: The diffusion of courseware in Higher Education

Likely outcomes of e-learning innovations in higher education using information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been hotly debated, with utopian excitement about the new media matched by critical concerns over their appropriateness in many contexts (Dutton and Loader 2002). With notable exceptions (Hara and Kling 2000), this debate has been illustrated more by anecdotal evidence than empirical research on the actual role of ICTs in higher education.

This study seeks to develop an empirically-anchored perspective on the implications of e-learning through a case study, informed by work on the social shaping of technology (SST) that highlights organizational, cultural, economic and other factors influencing the process of technological change and innovation (Williams and Edge 1996; Kling 2000). It provides evidence centred on an in-depth analysis of one e-learning innovation, in order to surface patterns and themes of potential relevance to a wider range of e-learning initiatives. The innovation we focused on was an institution-wide virtual learning environment (VLE) designed to support the management and operation of most aspects of an online course: the distribution of multimedia material (such as readings, lecture notes, assignments and images); student-teacher and group discussions; exam and grade administration; and other teaching and administrative tasks.

We chose to study a VLE because such course management ‘courseware’ systems appear to be among the most rapidly diffusing e-learning technologies across the world.[1] The adoption of this kind of environment has become a symbol of innovation, with many higher-education institutions not wishing to be left without their own system. A VLE can also create incentives to invest further in electronic content, create links to other ICT applications within the university, such as wireless networks and services, and generally enable institutional innovations in learning and education.

Our study seeks to answer questions such as:

§ What is the actual experience of implementing VLEs?

§ Which main social, cultural, psychological, economic, technical and other factors facilitate or constrain the uses to which the VLE is put?

§ To what degree does a VLE complement or replace traditional learning environments?

§ What kinds of VLE-based teaching and learning approaches are most effective?

§ Which VLE capabilities lead to difficulties or are underused?

§ How easily can a VLE be tailored to the needs of particular contexts, teachers, students, administrators, etc?

§ Who in educational institutions are likely to be the winners and losers from the introduction of a VLE?

§ What kinds of policies and resources are needed to make a VLE effective?

§ What are the implications of the way a VLE can be used to reconfigure how faculty, administrators, students and others in an educational institution gain access to people, services, information and technologies (Dutton forthcoming).

The following sections describe our methodology, the patterns of eClass adoption and use we identified, and our findings on the main factors shaping these outcomes.