Negotiating growth of online education in higher education

Morris, Neil P, Ivancheva, Mariya ORCID: 0000-0003-4066-4074, Coop, Taryn, Mogliacci, Rada and Swinnerton, Bronwen (2020) Negotiating growth of online education in higher education. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY IN HIGHER EDUCATION, 17 (1). 48-.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s41239-020-00227-w

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Universities are facing growing internal and external pressures to generate income, educate a widening continuum of learners, and make effective use of digital technologies. One response has been growth of online education, catalysed by Massive Open Online Courses, availability of digital devices and technologies, and notions of borderless global education. In growing online education, learning and teaching provision has become increasingly disaggregated, and universities are partnering with a range of private companies to reach new learners, and commercialise educational provision. In this paper, we explore the competing drivers which impact decision making within English universities and their strategies to grow online education provision, through interviews with senior managers, and interrogation of their views through the lens of a range of internal, external and organisational drivers. We show that pressures facing universities may be alleviated by growth of online education provision, but that negotiating an appropriate route to realise this ambition involves attempts to resolve these underlying tensions deriving from competing drivers. We use a modified form of the PEST model to demonstrate the complexities, inter-dependencies and processes associated with these drivers when negotiating delivery of unbundled online education through use of private company services, or in partnership with private companies.</jats:p>

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Higher education, Digital technology, Marketisation, Unbundling, Online programme management companies
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Histories, Languages and Cultures
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	04 Aug 2021 10:20
Last Modified:	17 Mar 2024 10:43
DOI:	10.1186/s41239-020-00227-w
Open Access URL:	https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-020-00227-w
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3132366