Abstract:

Its primary focus being on the educational use of internet technology in universities, the present PhD study wanted to gain insight in the conditions that shape the integration of e-learning and construct a model of bottom-up and top-down determinants that influence the adoption and diffusion of the Internet in higher education. In addition, it aimed to investigate how often students and educators employ Internet applications for teaching and learning purposes, what they use it for and why. The central questions to be examined in this dissertation were: (1) Which e-learning modalities are actually implemented in different Flemish universities? (2) What conditions on a micro, meso and macro level influence the success rate of e-learning at Flemish universities? The focus of the field study was on the integration of online applications in study programs that were organised by six universities Belgium. The aim of the field study was to verify the nature and influence of individual characteristics and context. This was done by means of multiple analyses, both quantitative and qualitative, incorporating three different perspectives: the teaching-learning environment, the university management and its macro policy framework.
The results indicated that: a) there are high Internet penetration rates, and b) within a bricks-and-mortar environment most of the institutions blend on-and offline education to enable some or more flexibility. Overall, the Internet has a weak impact on education; it mainly optimizes and reinforces existing practices. E-learning policies are shaped by the universities and higher-order policy bodies like the EU and the Flemish government. Options and actions are merged into general educational and/or innovation strategies. The university boards, faculties and departments play key roles in actual educational policy and management. The educators’ survey results indicated that there are only three variables that have a statistically significant influence. In order of importance, these are computer and internet attitudes, project experience and competence. All of the original variables are statistically significant in predicting students’ e-learning use but attitudes and competence had the largest impact. The interviews with students and educators revealed some interesting additional factors: a) distance to university, b) students’ and educators’ intentions, needs and expectations with regard to social behaviour, information processing and co-operation and c) their view on effective and efficient teaching and studying. This is primarily determined by personal characteristics, knowledge and experiences. In addition, our study revealed that patterns of use in both user groups are related, and that some ‘areas of tension’ turned out to be of great importance to explain e-learning adoption and diffusion. These are related to: a) the alignment of strategies between the (supra)national level and the universities, b) the role of information and participation in the processes of policy preparation, determination and implementation, c) conflicts of interests between policy makers and users.

Keywords:

E-Learning, user studies, multilevel, multimethod research.