Abstract:

Institutions of higher education in the United States are getting increasing pressure from students, parents, policymakers, and the business community to deliver better outcomes, often in neutral or diminishing resource scenarios for institutions. Given this, it is very important that we understand organizational decision-making regarding instructional technology because these decisions have resource and learning outcome implications.

This presentation or poster, and the study upon which it is based, will describe the culture and organizational structures of the instructional technology staff members who play an important role in the selection of, implementation of, and support of faculty use of instructional technology tools at small, liberal arts institutions in the United States. This will NOT be a presentation about the design or interface characteristics of instructional technology tools that prompt faculty to adopt them. There are plenty of studies that have thoroughly portrayed those factors. Instead, it will describe the organizational soup from which instructional technology tools emerge and become available for faculty to use.

This poster or presentation will give the viewer a better understanding of why institutions decide to “Build It, Buy It, Bend It, and Borrow It” when it comes to instructional technology, the common types of instructional technology staffing models, the effects of those models upon relationships between instructional technology staff and faculty members, and the factors (Resources, Infrastructure, People, Policies, Learning, Evaluation, and Support) that influence the types of instructional technology tools being implemented.

Keywords:

Instructional technology, organizational decision-making, organizational structure, faculty culture.