CAL 2009: Institutional policy

Captured live at #cal09, posted late.

A study of the relationship between institutional policy, organisational culture and eLearning use in four South African universities
Cheryl Brown, Laura Czerniewicz, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Is there a relationship between institutional policy and use? (Note, there is no national policy or funding drivers in South Africa.) The researcher identifies two elearning policy types: structured and unstructured. They also identified four cultural types of university: Corporate, Collegian, Bureaucratic, and Enterprise.

Policy existed in the two structured type universities. They were both embedded within broader teaching and learning policies. The biggest difference in impact is in availability of good teaching facilities. The two Corporate cultural types did much better. There was however an acknowledgement that some universities were "historically disadvantaged". In general, the Bureaucratic, unstructured university fared poorly, for example in frequency of use, variation of use, encouragement to use, availability and accessibility, ...

There is a crucial relationship between policy and use. Staff use is higher in unstructured collegian type universities. Policies are needed but they should be supportive, flexible and non-restrictive policies. These are the most use for for supporting innovation.