An analysis of the Teaching, Learning, and Technology Roundtable in higher education

In 1994, the American Association of Higher Education provided support for a pilot program designed to improve teaching and learning in U.S. institutions of higher education. Four years later, in 1998, over 400 institutions worldwide had adopted the program. Today the pilot program is an established project entitled the Teaching, Learning Technology Roundtable (TLTR). The TLTR is a model of communications and organizational change designed to inform information technology planning processes for the purposes of improving teaching and learning. The TLTR is a response to: (1) the need for information technology planning to become more decentralized within higher education institutions and; (2) the need for teaching and learning to assume a more critical role in the information technology planning process. Today adoption of the TLTR is largely based on anecdotal information. No empirical data exists describing how campuses implement the TLTR and suspected implementation variations among campuses. Without empirical data to understand how and why campuses implement the program, the ability of the TLTR to do what it purports to do cannot be determined. The proposed study intends to gather information to address the current lack of TLTR empirical data. It will look at why and how campuses implement a TLTR, gathering data from both current TLTR institutions and from institutions who have discontinued the program. Variations of implementation processes will also be assessed specifically in relation to campus cultural and organizational factors. The proposed study is significant in that it will contribute to the knowledge on the effective implementation of a TLTR. This data will have benefit to both current and prospective TLTR institutions. Findings will also be useful to other constituencies interested in models of communications and organizational change unique to higher education. The proposed study will be a descriptive, cross-sectional analysis employing a quantitative research design. Data will be gathered via a postal mail survey sent to all known TLTRs throughout the United States.