How do we value academic time?

Abstract

The extent of technology usage for managing teaching workloads is not completely known, but often extrapolated or inferred by academics’ use of other technologies. This paper explores technology adoption, and attitudes toward use of technology by Australian university academics. We expected that academics would be familiar with general teaching technology tools and have some appreciation of other tools that may assist with their work and allow them to manage their time. We also expected that they would use these to identify and manage assignment work to free up time for other academic activities. To establish their usage of technology, responses to a series of questions about types and familiarity with technology tools, were collected via an online anonymous survey. It also asked for their understanding of a hypothetical assessment scenario and subsequent use of any time gained through using technology. The results from 75 Australian academics indicated that academics were familiar with and used standard teaching technology. Academics expressed a commitment to utilise any time saved for research, scholarship or teaching and learning related activities.