Is there a correlation between ICT integration levels and learning organisation maturity.

Abstract

This study is set in an era when higher education institutions, similar to private business organisations are required to adapt and change at an increasingly frenetic rate to ever more intrusive environmental stimuli which require rapid cultural shifts. These adaptations are being driven by factors such as globalization, increasing competition, ubiquitous technology and communications and the emergence of the post-industrial society where the expected graduate is a knowledge worker required for the knowledge economy. This is particularly true of Ireland a small open economy on the periphery of Europe which is currently haemorrhaging its traditional manufacturing base to less costly eastern European and Asian states. The current mantra of the Irish Government and all its agencies is to transform Ireland to a leading knowledge economy as soon as possible. Higher education institutions are required to respond in ever shorter life cycles in adapting to new pedagogical cultures, driven by environmental change. In this climate there is a need to at least investigate business frameworks such as those espoused in learning organisation theory. Examples such as the COVARM project in the UK represent efforts to streamline and normalize the course validation process using business models and software engineering tools. It is salutary in exploratory research in this area to look at a model like the learning organisation in that a limited amount of research exits in a higher education setting using such a model and thus further investigation is opportune at this juncture..