Seeking legitimacy with ‘best practices’ for ICT in higher education facilities projects

Information and communication technologies have had an ongoing impact on the material conditions of higher education at all levels for many years. Not only is this process documented by scholarly work (Dutton & Loader 2002; Dutton et al. 2004; Temple 2008; Jamieson et al. 2000), but its results are made visible by the increasing presence of ICT artifacts in the form of projectors, screens, computers, Wi-Fi routers, Ethernet access points, power outlets and all the mobile computing carried by students and teaching staff alike. The emerging pedagogical practices based on new technologies have pushed higher educational institutions to adapt their traditional spaces of learning such as classrooms, lecture halls and shared campus areas. New building projects on university campuses incorporate a strong consideration for ICT-supported learning activities. This is an important point given that billions of US Dollars are spent annually on building or renovation projects by higher education institutions around the globe (universitybusiness.com). The stakes for getting it ‘right’ are very high from an industry perspective. Although localized institutional constraints are fundamental to the shaping of new physical spaces for learning in higher education, external competitive forces drive many - if not most - renovation or building projects. Amongst these forces are the evolving and ever-increasing demands from staff, students and academics for advanced information and communication equipped facilities. Some of these demands can be directly translated into objectives for facilities projects, however most of the time, higher education institutions turn to what they consider to be the ‘best practices’ in their industry for guidance on how to produce new higher educational spaces incorporating new technologies. This process of seeking to align with industry ‘best practices’ can be best explained by the quest for legitimacy. Eventually, it can be from these industry ‘best practices’ which emerge industry standards. These standards are not only institutionalized, but also formalized with the creation of organizations and bodies tasked with the maintenance, documentation and communication of these industry standards (Besen & Farrell 1994). The objective of this contribution to the workshop will be to examine how a higher educational institution has sought legitimacy by following industry ‘best practices’ for ICT in a facilities renovation project. Indications of how this process can lead to the establishment of industry standards will be explored as well. This presently proposed contribution to this workshop will be developed within the framework of an ongoing thesis project on the relationship between higher educational space and information and communication technologies. This thesis project is a multiple case study of three university environments dispensing management education. Each of these institutions has recently undertaken building or renovation projects that have taken into consideration requirements for ICT-based learning. The results of initial fieldwork on the first of these cases – Université Paris-Dauphine will be the basis of the proposed contribution. This university has already renovated four of its language classrooms with a strong emphasis on technology. It is currently putting together plans for a 100 million euro renovation program beginning in 2015. These plans are already taking into account ‘best practices’ on ICT-supported learning from elsewhere and have been touted as a manner to ‘improve the institution’s image’ (from an interview with the Facilities Manager).