Towards institution-wide online teaching and learning systems: trends, drivers and issues

Universities worldwide are consolidating and enhancing their commitments to various models of e-learning. These activities are leading to the adoption of corporate-wide e-learning systems, and accompanying changes in structures, processes and infrastructure requirements. The professed ideal is to identify narrowly defined corporate IT solutions which can deliver the full range of educational, administrative and student support features to meet the organisational need to expand e-learning activities globally. The trend seems to be away from locally driven and controlled IT development and adoption towards investments in Instructional Management Systems (IMS). In reality, however, universities generally are developing and using a broader array of solutions to meet their needs than may be deemed desirable under a more centralised, corporatised IT approach. This paper examines these trends by analysing the drivers shaping corporate approaches to IT implementation, and reflects critically on some of the educational, economic and organisational tensions and issues evident in institutional approaches to establishing such systems. The paper highlights the ongoing need for innovative, dynamic organisational solutions to progress the e-learning agenda, and the thoughtful reconciliation of centralised and decentralised approaches to achieving desired ends.