Innovation or Renovation?Innovation or Renovation?The Management of Strategic and Adoption The Management of Strategic and Adoption Decisions within a UniversityDecisions within a University

Arthur Tatnall Karen ManningGraduate School of Business School of Mgt and Info SystemsVictoria University Victoria UniversityMelbourne, Australia Melbourne, Australia

ITEM-2010 – Botswana

Adoption and Use of e-Adoption and Use of e-Learning Technologies in a Learning Technologies in a UniversityUniversity

Some time ago Albert University made a strategic decision to adopt WebCT as its e-Learning platformIn 2009, however Blackboard Inc. indicated that they would soon withdraw support for WebCT in favour of their main product: BlackboardThis means that Albert University must make another strategic decision: adopt Blackboard or move to an open source product such as Moodle?

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The decision to implement a particular e-Learning product is a strategic oneThis decision does not, however, necessarily determine the extent to which each individual academic will make use of it in their teachingThe overall adoption decision by the university should be considered in terms of strategy Individual adoption decisions are best considered using innovation adoption theory

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Adoption and Use of e-Adoption and Use of e-Learning Technologies in a Learning Technologies in a UniversityUniversity

Strategy for the AdoptionStrategy for the Adoptionof Technological Innovationsof Technological Innovations

Strategic management is a process for co-ordinating decision making in what may be a large, diversified organisationIt is important to note that the actual users of the system are often not well represented in the decision making processThe actual final decision will result from an incremental series of decisions

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Innovation and ChangeInnovation and ChangeJust because a new e-Learning system has been made available does not mean that it can be assumed that organisations or individuals will want to adopt or use itEven if an organisation does adopt a new innovation, it cannot be assumed that its employees will want to use it‘You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink’

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“There is nothing more difficult to handle, more doubtful of success and more dangerous to carry through than initiating changes ... The innovator makes enemies of all those who prospered under the old order, and only lukewarm support is forthcoming from those who would prosper under the new. Their support is lukewarm partly from fear of their adversaries, who have the existing laws on their side, and partly because men are generally incredulous, never really trusting new things unless they have tested them by experience.”

(Machiavelli c1515)

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Innovation and ChangeInnovation and Change

Adoption of InnovationsAdoption of InnovationsInnovation can be defined as: “the alteration of what is established;

something newly introduced” (Oxford 1973) “introducing new things or methods”

(Macquarie Library 1981)

The process of innovation involves getting new ideas accepted and new technologies adopted and used

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Theoretical ApproachesTheoretical Approachesto Innovation Adoptionto Innovation Adoption

Theory of Reasoned Action

Theory of Planned Behaviour

The Technology Acceptance Model

(TAM)

Diffusion of Innovations

Innovation Translation

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Innovation Translation: Innovation Translation: ANTANT

Actor-Network Theory was designed as an approach to socio-technical research that would treat the contributions of both human and non-human actors fairly and in the same wayInnovation Translation notes that the process of innovation adoption is often not completely rational and that innovations are frequently not adopted in their entirety but only after ‘translation’ into a form that is more appropriate for use by the potential adopter

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Translation involves all the strategies that an actor goes through to identify other actors and work with or against them in order to achieve adoptionThe process of translation has four ‘moments’ Problematisation Interessement Enrolment Mobilisation

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Innovation Translation: Innovation Translation: ANTANT

Problem of Partial Problem of Partial AdoptionAdoption

One difficulty faced in investigating adoption of technological innovations is that not all innovations are adopted in the form they were proposed – not all are adopted without changeNeither TAM nor Innovation Diffusion take this into account to any degree and assume that much of the reason for the adoption, or non-adoption, of the technology is rational and is due to characteristics of the innovation itself

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e-Learning Innovation e-Learning Innovation Adoption DecisionsAdoption Decisions

The first step in an ANT analysis of decisions by individual academics to adopt some, or all, of the e-learning package is to identify actors:

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• Course Co-ordinators• Subject Co-ordinators• Academics (teachers) • Sessional Lecturers• Faculty Deans• University

Administration• Students

• Computers• Screens• Computer

Laboratories• Information

Technology Services Department

• e-learning Infrastructure

• e-learning Environment

Next we look at the interactions and associations between the actors and how they attempt to influence the outcomeAll of this means that many academics will translate the e-learning package into something that suits their own needs before adoption

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e-Learning Innovation e-Learning Innovation Adoption DecisionsAdoption Decisions

ConclusionConclusionAdoption and implementation of technology, such as an e-learning system in a university has both strategic and individual aspects The initial decision to invest in the technology is a

strategic one, best considered in terms of strategic decision making theory

Decisions regarding individual subjects (made by individual academics) can be analysed using one of the models of innovation adoption

Adequate weight should be given to both human and technological (non-human) factors

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