Everything under Control? How Universities Manage the Impact of Digital Transformation

The presentation examines the impact of institutional digitalization strategies on teaching practices and the tension field created by digitalization processes at various levels.

The higher education system plays a crucial role in preparing individuals for an increasingly digitalized world. In response to rapid developments, universities are developing strategies to cope with technological change (such as GenAI) and find their positions. The influences of digitalization affect both the institutional and individual levels, manifesting as disruptive innovations within educational organizations. The question arises as to the extent to which normative strategies in the sense of a top-down process operate within universities and how they relate to digitalization processes that are also initiated by the individual dispositions of educators, thus corresponding more to a bottom-up approach.

As part of a study conducted at universities in Germany and Switzerland, the congruences and interactions of strategies at the macro level with teaching at the micro level, as well as the individual dispositions of educators, are investigated.

Lead:

• Barbara Getto, Professor for Media Education, Zurich University of Teacher Education (CH)
• Franka Herfurth, Researcher, University of Rostock (D)