Approaches taken by Australian universities to documenting institutional e-learning strategies

Abstract

The way in which a university communicates a strategy that it is attempting to implement to its staff can have an important bearing on the effectiveness of the strategy. However, there are currently no generally accepted conventions governing the scope, structure, content and language of strategy documents. E-learning is an area of activity in which most universities are currently striving achieve major change and therefore the documents being used to communicate institutional strategies in relation to e-learning merit investigation. A study was undertaken of the ways in which Australian universities are documenting their strategies in relation to e-learning and the types of activities that are being identified in strategy documents. The study found that two distinct approaches to documenting institutional e-learning strategies are being adopted. Some universities are developing discrete strategies whereas other universities are embedding their strategies in more general documents. The most common themes that were identified in discrete e-learning strategies included: learning management system(s), networking and infrastructure, planning, policy and strategy development, evaluation, support for projects related to e-learning, development of courses, teaching and support, learning spaces, and future developments.

The themes that more than one university covered in general documents included: staff development, programs, use, improved access, effectiveness, and teaching/learning spaces. Comparison of the documents provided by institutions showed that when e-learning strategies have been embedded in more general documents the range of aspects of e- learning that are covered tends to be less wide-ranging than is the case when discrete strategies have been produced.