Twenty Years of Edtech

An opinion often cited among educational technology (edtech) professionals is that theirs is a fast-changing field. This statement is sometimes used as a motivation (or veiled threat) to senior managers to embrace edtech because if they miss out now, it’ll be too late to catch up. However, amid this breathless attempt to keep abreast of new developments, the edtech field is remarkably poor at recording its own history or reflecting critically on its development. When Audrey Watters recently put out a request for recommended books on the history of educational technology, I couldn’t come up with any beyond the handful she already had listed. There are edtech books that often start with a historical chapter to set the current work in context, and there are edtech books that are now part of history, but there are very few edtech books dealing specifically with the field’s history. Maybe this reflects a lack of interest, as there has always been something of a year-zero mentality in the field. Edtech is also an area to which people come from other disciplines, so there is no shared set of concepts or history. This can be liberating but also infuriating. I’m sure I was not alone in emitting the occasional sigh when during the MOOC rush of 2012, so many “new” discoveries about online learning were reported—discoveries that were already tired concepts in the edtech field

Adoption and Use of Corporate Wikis in German Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

In recent years, corporate wikis have been increasingly adopted in enterprises. However, little research is devoted to theadoption and use of wikis in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are of high social and economic importance.The purpose of this paper is to examine the usage of enterprise wikis in SMEs and potential concerns that may hinder thediffusion of wikis in SMEs as well as other reasons for their reluctance to adopt wikis by conducting a survey of GermanSMEs. Findings indicate that a majority of SMEs do not intend to adopt wikis in their organization for various reasons.However, firms that have already introduced wikis seem to clearly benefit despite a number of concerns that might have anegative impact on the use and diffusion of wikis. Based on our results, we derive several implications for SMEs, inparticular with respect to how to overcome these obstacles to adoption and diffusion of wikis

Building an IT Taxonomy with Co-occurrence Analysis, Hierarchical Clustering, and Multidimensional Scaling

Different information technologies (ITs) are related in complex ways. How can the relationships among a large number of ITs be described and analyzed in a representative, dynamic, and scalable way? In this study, we employed co-occurrence analysis to explore the relationships among 50 information technologies discussed in six magazines over ten years (1998-2007). Using hierarchical clustering and multidimensional scaling, we have found that the similarities of the technologies can be depicted in hierarchies and two-dimensional plots, and that similar technologies can be classified into meaningful categories. The results imply reasonable validity of our approach for understanding technology relationships and building an IT taxonomy. The methodology that we offer not only helps IT practitioners and researchers make sense of numerous technologies in the iField but also bridges two related but thus far largely separate research streams in iSchools - information management and IT management

The Faces of Bureaucracy: Understanding Enterprise Social Media

The social media are often perceived as tools that support openness and flexible participation among individuals and communities. This might explain the reason why social media have become indispensible for many daily practices in organizations. But how do these organizations appropriate and use these media relative to their formal structures and characteristics is a question in focus for the current paper. Drawing on classical concepts of organizational bureaucracy from Weber (1978) and Eisenstadt (1959), we present a qualitative analysis of empirical data obtained from two large organizations that use a wiki as a collaborative knowledge platform. The results show how the tendency to organize the use of the wiki through introducing structure might create barriers for open and democratic collaboration and knowledge sharing at the workplace. They also show that while a freer approach to using wikis might allow for self-organizing, there is still a possibility for enacting social structures that limit openness and flexibility. As such, the paper contributes novel insights into how social media might be used in bureaucracies and soft bureaucracies.

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Social media use in organizations is proliferating and it has been proved to have huge transformative impact on organizations and on individuals. This paper provides a review of researches involving social media use in enterprises. Definition and content of enterprise social media are identified. The necessary complimentary organizational tasks in using social media technologies are discussed. Theoretical and practical implications are addressed

Managing enterprise information: meeting performance and conformance objectives in a changing information environment

This paper presents the findings of an in-depth survey to examine the current status of enterprise information management (EIM) in organizations. The survey explores five key areas: drivers and capabilities of EIM; current status of EIM strategies; EIM content and technologies; EIM and compliance; and the changing role of the information professional. The survey reveals that the drivers for EIM cannot be simply reduced to a series of technical or organizational needs and that EIM is a complex sociotechnical phenomenon. A fine balance is required to achieve business performance objectives whilst at the same time also meeting conformance requirements. To date, few organizations have implemented enterprise-wide EIM strategies; however those who do have them are better able to keep track of, and achieve, performance objectives. In terms of technologies and content the landscape is complex with organizations focusing their efforts into managing and reducing this complexity. Finally information management work is changing; the survey reveals EIM as a multi-stakeholder activity requiring the combination of a wide range of professional groups, skills and knowledge. The survey findings provide the basis for further research investigations in supporting organization in their EIM initiatives

Managing enterprise information: meeting performance and conformance objectives in a changing information environment

This paper presents the findings of an in-depth survey to examine the current status of enterprise information management (EIM) in organizations. The survey explores five key areas: drivers and capabilities of EIM; current status of EIM strategies; EIM content and technologies; EIM and compliance; and the changing role of the information professional. The survey reveals that the drivers for EIM cannot be simply reduced to a series of technical or organizational needs and that EIM is a complex sociotechnical phenomenon. A fine balance is required to achieve business performance objectives whilst at the same time also meeting conformance requirements. To date, few organizations have implemented enterprise-wide EIM strategies; however those who do have them are better able to keep track of, and achieve, performance objectives. In terms of technologies and content the landscape is complex with organizations focusing their efforts into managing and reducing this complexity. Finally information management work is changing; the survey reveals EIM as a multi-stakeholder activity requiring the combination of a wide range of professional groups, skills and knowledge. The survey findings provide the basis for further research investigations in supporting organization in their EIM initiatives

The use of wikis as alternatives to learning content management systems

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify whether a wiki can be used as an alternative to a popular learning content management system (LCMS) in an e-learning environment. The research attempts to identify what value each of these e-learning components added to the students learning experience. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative approach in the form of a survey was used. The survey was conducted amongst a group of undergraduate students who were using both a LCMS and a wiki in their academic course, along with the attendance of lectures. Findings – From the response of the students, the wiki used could be considered as a useful alternative to a LCMS. The LCMS was favoured over the wiki on a number of aspects but features of the wiki made it ideal to enhance collaboration amongst learners. This makes it an ideal tool to support minimal invasive education (MIE), where learners get an opportunity to learn from their peers. Research limitations/implications – The comparison used between the wiki and the LCMS was not ideal in all aspects as the wiki was used for a particular role in the course and did not have the same features and functionalities of the LCMS. Originality/value – This paper focuses on a valuable alternative to a conventional LCMS in the form of a wiki, in an attempt to improve the learning experience of students

The Concept of Social Business: Oxymoron or Sign of a Changing Work Culture?

The article discusses the source and pertinence of the term “Social Business”. We present the findings from a study of projects that are in the early stages of adoption of Social Software in organisations. Using a qualitative research approach we examine real-world cases of implementations of integrated Enterprise Collaboration Systems. 16 existing cases (desk research) and three new cases (field research) are analysed and the findings are compared and aggregated. We apply the 8C Model as an analytical lens to guide the coding of the case data. The study’s results reveal the relations between the different concepts (features, components, collaboration scenarios) that can be identified in the cases. The findings show that the most popular usage scenarios of the software are not very “social” but support people in their daily joint work with a focus on getting the job done. The study also reveals possible beneficial factors for the adoption of Social Software such as improved personal information management, mobile devices and unified communication, and better workspace and presence awareness