A University Conversation: Using Cloud Technology to Generate Open Institutional Policy for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching

Abstract

This paper discusses a cloud technology supported methodology for the creation of university policy through mass collaboration. The ‘University Conversation’ methodology was deployed to facilitate the creation of a University Learning, Teaching and Enhancement strategy that was ultimately authored by over 200 academic staff and had direct input from over 400 students. The methodology utilises the affordances (Gibson, 1986) of cloud technology to capture a large number of simultaneous conversations and then to mediate the iterative editing of the document through a sequence of synchronous and asynchronous collaborative events. The methodology demonstrates the potential of cloud technology to open communicative pathways between the ‘significant networks’ (Torgny Roxå & Mårtensson, 2009) where learning development often takes place and institutional machinery that converts localised innovative practice into institutional policy.

Keywords

• Cloud Technology
• University Policy
• University Governance
• Learning and Teaching
• Mass Collaboration