Abstract
The innovation of education seems to beself-evident. Boosted by a wide range of newtechnologies, educational institutes all overthe world are innovating their educationalsystems, in order to extend their services, toimprove their performances or to reduce costs.The apparent self-evidence of educationalinnovation hardly prompts the educational staffto reflect on the very idea of innovation andits consequences. This paper treats the basicprinciples that support the phenomenon oftechnology-induced educational innovation. Itaims to contribute to a better insight andunderstanding of its implications to anyoneengaged in education. It also aims to effect agrowing awareness of the premises on technologyand to support the right attitude to realiseimprovements in practice. The paper goes intostrategies of change, while discussing bothsubstitutional and transformational strategies.It explains its supposed differences byreferring to the philosophical frameworks ofJaspers, Heidegger and Borgmann. Starting fromBorgmann's ``devices paradigm'', four principlesfor educational innovations are formulated,referring to the transparency and interactivityof educational technologies, the socio-culturalsignificance of products, the importance ofvalues beyond efficiency and the political biasinvolved with technological innovation.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.
References
Barnett, R. (1994). The Limits of Competence. Knowledge, Higher Education and Society. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Bates, A. (1995). Technology, Open Learning and Distance Education. London/New York: Routledge.
Baudrillard, J. (1995). The Gulf War Did Not Take Place (trans. Patton, P.). Bloomington/ Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
Borgmann, A. (1984). Technology and the Character of Contemporary Life. Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press.
Bounds, G., Yorks, L., Adams,M. and Ranney, G. (1994). Beyond Total Quality Management; Toward the Emerging Paradigm. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.
Ebersole, S. (2001). 'Media determinism in cyberspace', in Vandervert, L.R., Shavinina, L.V. and Cornell R.A. (eds.), CyberEducation, the Future of Long Distance Learning. New York: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Publishers, pp. 15-40.
Ellul, J. (1964). The Technological Society. New York: Vintage.
Fromm, E. (1941). Escape from Freedom. 24th printing (1964). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Grotevant, S.M. (1998). 'Business engineering and process redesign in higher education: Art or science?'. Presented at CAUSE 98 Seattle, Washington. Online version: http:// www.educause.edu/ir/library/html/cnc9857/cnc9857.html
Heidegger, M. (1977). The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays (trans. Lovitt, W.). New York: Harper and Row.
Hickman, L. (1990). John Dewey's Pragmatic Technology. Bloomington/Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
Husserl, E. (1913). Logische Untersuchungen. Tübingen: Niemeyer.
Idhe, D. (1990). Technology and the Lifeworld. Bloomington/Minneapolis: Indiana University Press.
Itzkan, S.J. (1994). 'Assessing the future of tele-computing environments: Implications for instruction and administration', The Computing Teacher 22(4), 60-64.
Jaspers, K. (1931). Die geistige Situation der Zeit. Berlin: Göschen.
Kaufman, R. (1998). 'The Internet as the ultimate technology and panacea', Educational Technology 38(1) 63-64.
McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding Media: Extensions of Man. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Martin, J. (1995). The Great Transition, Using the Seven Disciplines of Enterprise Engineering to Align People, Technology and Strategy. American Management Association.
Mises, L. von (1957). Theory and History, an Interpretation of Social and Economic Evolution. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Pelgrum,W.J, Janssen Reinen, I.A.M. and Plomp, Tj. (1993). Schools, Teachers, Students and Computers: A Cross-National Perspective. The Hague: IEA.
Postman, N. (1986). Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. New York: Penguin.
Procee, H. (1997). De nieuwe ingenieur. Amsterdam: Boom.
Utterbeck, J.M. (1994). Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Verbeek, P. (2000). De daadkracht der dingen. Amsterdam: Boom.
Walton, R.E. (1985). 'Towards a strategy of eliciting employee commitment based on policies of mutuality', in Walton, R.E. and Lawrence, P.R. (eds.), HRM, Trends and Challenges. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Westera, W. (1999). 'Paradoxes in open, networked learning environments: Towards a paradigm shift', Educational Technology 39(1), 17-23.
Westera,W., Sloep, P.B. and Gerrissen, J. (2000). 'The design of the virtual company; Synergism of learning and working in a networked environment', Innovations in Education and Training International 37(1), 23-33.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Westera, W. On strategies of educational innovation: Between substitution and transformation. Higher Education 47, 501–517 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:HIGH.0000020875.72943.a7
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:HIGH.0000020875.72943.a7
- ICT
- innovation
- innovation strategy
- learning technologies
- philosophy of technology
- substitution
- technology
- transformation