Formulating eLearning Support Strategies in Research Universities or The Strategic Management of Faculty Support at American Research Universities

Swiss higher education institutions have widely experimented with eLearning. However, sustainable integration proved to be more difficult than anticipated. The lack of a coordinated and strategic approach was presumed to be one of the core problems.
As a response, in this research the activities of three innovative American research universities were studied with a qualitative case study approach, including more than 50 interviews with key persons reflecting a wide variety of perspectives. Theoretical propositions were developed applying a grounded theory method of data analysis.
Very soon, it became clear that insufficient faculty motivation is a common barrier for the sustainable integration of eLearning into university teaching. Hence, support and intervention strategies in the area of competence development and assistance with course design are identified. A particular lack of support was detected in the reflection phase in which faculty assess the quality of the course design and decide on further initiatives and time committed to teaching.
It is suggested that a coherent support process needs to be planned and implemented incorporating substantial collaboration across all involved support units. Such a process includes regular needs analysis, a sound set of standard services, individual consulting, integrated projects, as well as serious evaluation activities.
Strategic management regarding these activities at research universities is difficult and requires adaptations to the specific cultural context. An eLearning strategy not only needs to specify an eLearning business model but it should also consider the formal and informal incentive structure for faculty as well as an adequate policy framework. Furthermore, an eLearning strategy ought to make clear statements regarding the structural conditions for eLearning support.
More specifically, an eLearning support strategy needs to be developed taking cultural conditions proactively into account and coordinating activities along the support process across the involved units. Among these units, cross-disciplinary eLearning centers take a critical role in facilitating knowledge exchange and collaboration of local and central eLearning initiatives. The substantial involvement of the libraries and their support culture were particularly insightful.
The relevance of the results presented for the Swiss higher education context was evaluated.