From professors’ barriers to organisational conditions in ICT integration in higher education

Abstract

The responsibility of innovation with ICT in education has mainly been placed on professors as pivotal to adoption. However, professors are part of complex organisations with inherent obstacles related to their cultural and historical conditions. Despite some studies have stablished the complexity of internal and external barriers separately, others highlight on the importance of considering teachers' beliefs and contextual factors together. In this regard, the article aims to explore the underlying organisational factors affecting professors' adoption and institutional integration of technology, considering the professor as part of the organization. It contributes to the field of limitations and obstacles of ICT adoption, transcending the teachers' barriers approach toward organizational multi-dimensional limitations. The article describes the process of adoption of ICT as non-linear process of discovering barriers and proposing strategies to overcome them. Rather, as a process of development in which solving conflicts can generate other that must be contextually and collectively addressed. The findings contribute to the development of policies and strategies of professional development. The theoretical approach draws upon the cultural-historical activity theory as a tool to transcend the predominant study of barriers from teachers' perceptions and to obtain a comprehensive view of the obstacles restricting the adoption and integration of technology for teaching and learning purposes in higher education. Abstract in DanishDet videnskabelige personale har hidtal haft det centrale ansvaret for iktinnovation i universitetsuddannelser. Det videnskabelige personale indgår i komplekse organisationer med indbyggede forhindringer i form af kulturelle og historiske betingelser. Selvom nogle studier har adskilt interne og eksterne barrierer er der andre, som fremhaever at kontekstuelle betingelser og undervisernes personlige overbevisninger skal betragtes i en sammenhaeng. Denne artikel undersøger underliggende organisatoriske faktorers påvirkning af undervisernes adoption, ibrugtagning og institutionelle integration af ikt. Artiklen bidrager til afdaekning af begraensninger og forhindringer for adoption af ikt og bevaeger sig fra forståelsen af begraensninger og forhindringer som knyttet til individdet til at opfatte dem som organisatoriske multidimensionelle begraensninger. Denne artikel beskriver adoptionsprocessen som en ikkelineaer proces med afdaekning af barrierer og udvikling af strategier til at omgå dem. Processen opfattes her som en udviklingsproces, der løser konflikter eller ophaever modsaetninger mens nye opstår og de må håndteres med blik for konteksten og kollektivt i underviserfaellesskaber. Resultaterne bidrager til udvikling af politikker og strategier, der integrerer kompetenceudvikling og ikt-innovation blandt undervisere. Det teoretiske grundlag for artiklen er den kultur-historiske virksomhedsteori, Laering & Medier (LOM) -nr. 18 -2018 ISSN: 1903 http://www.lom.dk 3 der bruges som redskab...

Challenges of Professional Development for Technology Integration in Higher Education

“…The study evidences that the integration of technology for teaching and learning purposes is not an individual activity. Even though some researches focus on the individual level of professors' attitudes towards technology (Salleh, 2016), other highlight the importance of not only helping overcome professors barriers but also enabling organizational conditions (Castro & Nyvang, 2018).…”

“…As stated by Kennedy (2005), transformative models of TPD increase the capacity for professional autonomy. Due to the complex dynamics of barriers in professors when it comes to the adoption of ICT (Castro, 2016), and the importance of institutional conditions (Castro & Nyvang, 2018), TPD faces challenges for a successful use of technology in education. According to Kennedy (2005), transformative models are not without tensions.…”

Covid 19 and Education” The Untold Story of the Barriers to Technology Adoption From A Tertiary Viewpoint

“…A barrier can be defined as anything that prevents a specific objective from occurring. Within the area of technology adoption, studies have demonstrated that college lecturers appreciate the importance of technology adoption and how it is valuable to students' motivation while promoting students' engagement (Castro & Nyvang, 2018;Ottenbreit-Leftwich et al, 2010). Even though this may be so, college lecturers are experiencing considerable difficulties in the integration process due to barriers (Ertmer et al, 1999).…”

“…Even though this may be so, college lecturers are experiencing considerable difficulties in the integration process due to barriers (Ertmer et al, 1999). For these reasons, researchers have been driven to gain an in-depth understanding of `the various factors that contribute to technology adoption (Castro, 2016;Castro & Nyvang, 2018). Some of the most common barriers are lecturer-related variables that include the self-confidence of college lecturers and the lecturer's belief in the usefulness of the technology (Hur et al, 2016;Tondeur et al, 2016).…”

“…However, by removing these barriers, college lecturers will be further helped with the adoption process. If college lecturers remove their first-order barrier, they will become more encouraged using technology (Castro & Nyvang, 2018;Tsai & Chai, 2012). If the second-order barrier is removed, college lecturers will be more dedicated to technology empowerment for the students and be more committed to using and promoting a positive attitude to change toward technology (Tsai & Chai, 2012).…”