The participative development of blended learning activity across a higher education institution : Navigating potentiality in a Change Laboratory research-intervention

Munday, Dale and Bligh, Brett (2025) The participative development of blended learning activity across a higher education institution : Navigating potentiality in a Change Laboratory research-intervention. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

This thesis explores the integration of Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL) in Higher Education focusing on the pedagogical, institutional, and practical aspects that influence or inhibit its use. It engages with strands of literature on the pedagogical foundations of TEL, the role of institutional policies, and the lived experiences of stakeholders, which highlight the need for more research on approaches to integration at an institutional level. The thesis draws on a Change Laboratory (CL) project in which diverse academic and professional service stakeholders produced contextually adapted strategies for the integration of blended learning, a form of TEL which posed problems in the institution. Data are drawn from workshop recordings, transcripts, chat logs, and participant-related artefacts. Analysis focuses on understanding how the participants developed a new activity system in nine online workshops over 6 months, and the implications for future potentiality in the activity systems at the research site. Participants identified key contradictions in existing activity systems, such as a disconnect between faculty's needs and available technological tools, and a lack of institutional support or pedagogical guidance. In response, participants developed the Advanced Blended Learning Environment (ABLE) model, which seeks to align educational technology, pedagogical practice and institutional support structures. The thesis analyses stakeholders’ eventual rationale for this new system and then steps back to trace its development through a cycle of expansive learning. It is argued that this analysis provides insights into the potentiality for change within this institution, showing how a pedagogically aligned and culturally sensitive model emerged from participants’ analysis of contradictions. The findings address shortcomings in the literature around the integration of TEL in Higher Education (HE). They propose how creating a holistic approach to TEL can improve staff and student engagement. Furthermore, this thesis contributes to the literature on institutional policy on TEL in HE, highlighting the potential benefits of creating adaptable governance and context-aware policies which can lead to increased originality in teaching, learning and assessment approaches, as well as facilitating a culture of innovation and experimentation across the institution.