ERIC Number: EJ1425829
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024-Jun
Pages: 38
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2211-1662
EISSN: EISSN-2211-1670
Institutional Entrepreneurship in Loosely Coupled Systems: The Subject Position of MOOC Entrepreneurs and Their Interpretive Struggles in a Norwegian Context
Inger Dagrun Langseth; Dan Yngve Jacobsen; Halvdan Haugsbakken
Technology, Knowledge and Learning, v29 n2 p617-654 2024
While technological change in organizations is fast and eminent to most people, the adoption of Massive Open Online Courses, micro-credentials, and flexible and scalable online courses, appear to be comparatively slow in Higher Education in the Nordic countries. To explore this phenomenon, we completed 10 qualitative interviews at ten different higher education institutions across Norway in fall 2020. The informants were strategically selected among employees who had been involved in open platform technology, MOOC production and support for faculties. Adopting thematic analyses, we found entrepreneurs who positioned themselves in pockets of innovation with the intention to transform teaching and learning. Rather than seeing technological innovations as "more of the same", the entrepreneurs embraced the possibilities emerging in new educational practices. Inspired by "New Institutionalism," we focused on the organizational conditions for MOOC production. The entrepreneurs often entered interpretive struggles at higher organizational levels in competition with other stakeholders. Despite national initiatives and funding, many stakeholders questioned the value of MOOCs. Our study points to discrepancies in understanding the disruptive and transformative change that new technology can bring to study programs and lifelong learning. The informants also experienced insufficient support from leaders and lamented the lack of a national platform for open online access. We link these findings to embedded theories, belief systems and discourses in educational cultures and management in Higher Education.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, MOOCs, Entrepreneurship, Higher Education, Employee Attitudes, Educational Technology, Educational Innovation, Open Education, Educational Practices
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Norway
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A