An Analysis of Stakeholder Engagement in the E-Learning Policy-Making Process at a Higher Education Institution in South Africa

Abstract

Over the past two decades, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in South Africa have been formulating e-learning policies to assist them to realise the full potential of using ICTs in teaching and learning. E-learning policies serve as guiding frameworks that create enabling environments for embedding ICTs in teaching and learning. The development of e-learning policies has attracted various stakeholders and actors with varied interests, views, priorities, influence and power. Consequently, stakeholder engagement is now an essential factor in the policy process. The efficacy of an e-learning policy can therefore be judged based on the multiple perspectives that it includes and the inclusion of those it affects in the policy-making process. In light of this background, this paper examined stakeholder engagement that characterised the e-learning policy formulation process at a University of Technology in South Africa (UoT). How stakeholders were engaged in the policy-making process using stakeholder engagement as its analytical framework, the stakeholders and actors involved in the policy formulation process and the nature of the dialogue that informed the policy formulation process were examined. The qualitative study gathered evidence using semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The study's findings show that the policy-making process at the UoT followed a bureaucratic process dominated by one actor, the policy delegate. Key stakeholders were excluded during the policy formulation process and were only consulted at the drafting stage. As a result, stakeholder engagement in the policy formulation process was low, resulting in key stakeholders and actors lacking policy ownership. Our findings also show that the exclusion of key stakeholders in the policy formulation process resulted in a policy that exclusively focuses on the Learner Management System and overlooks other technologies that play a crucial role in teaching and learning. These findings suggest the need to include all critical stakeholders and actors affected and interested in the e-learning policy at every stage of the policy formulation process.