Sustaining eLearning Innovations: Six reasons funded projects are set up to fail

Dr Cathy GunnCentre for Academic Development, The University of Auckland

1. Scoping

• Most projects are started by an individual with an idea and a passion to translate the concept into reality. Many began because there was ‘nothing available to meet their requirements’ but the scoping process used to reach this conclusion is not clear and there is no evidence that information gathered at this stage is used to inform the development.

2. Funding constraints

• Broad consensus is that project funding for two or three years is sufficient to produce a full working prototype, but not a finished product that is disseminated and sustainable.

3. Impact and influence

• Evidence of benefits to teaching and learning is either insufficient, or not in a form that influences players, such as IT departments and those making management level decisions about use of a product within an institution.

Ref: Duke, J., Jordan, A., & Powell, B. (2008). Integration of Technology into Institutional Strategies JISC Report

4. Planning for the future

• Many funded projects do not have a clear roadmap for future development, support, dissemination or sustainability.

5. ‘Owning’ the innovation

• Universities often fund development and are seen by the innovators to ‘own’ the products, but this ownership typically does not translate into meaningful actions to sustain them.

6. Skills for different stages

• Different skill sets are required at various stages of a project lifecycle. It is unrealistic to expect the innovator and development team to provide them all.

Options going forward

• Institutional adoption / support• Collaboration with a consortium• Ongoing funding from external sources• Release as open source• Commercialization• Provision as hosted service

Whose responsibility?

Clear pathways in project planning, management, dissemination and reporting are needed. However, they are not exhaustive answers complex questions around how to sustain innovations… a different mindset and organizational structures and responses are required.

Gunn & Herrick (2012) Sustaining elearning innovations: A research study report http://hub.acode.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=847 Sponsored by ACODE

Gunn, C. (2011). Sustaining eLearning Innovations. Paper presented at Ascilite 2011, Changing Demands, Changing Directions, Hobart, TAS.

Gunn, C. (2010). Sustainability Factors for eLearning Initiatives. ALT-J Research in Learning Technology, 18(2), 89-103.