Understanding change in higher education as bricolage: how academics engage in curriculum change

Abstract

HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access archive for the deposit and dissemination of scientific research documents, whether they are published or not. The documents may come from teaching and research institutions in France or abroad, or from public or private research centers. L'archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, émanant des établissements d'enseignement et de recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires publics ou privés. Understanding change in higher education as bricolage: how academics engage in curriculum change Séverine LouvelTo cite this version: Séverine Louvel. Understanding change in higher education as bricolage: how academics engage in curriculum change. To cite this article Séverine Louvel. Understanding change in higher education as bricolage: how academics engage in curriculum change. Higher Education, Springer Verlag, 2013, 66 (6), pp.669-691. AbstractThe engagement of academics in organizational change in higher education institutions is generally understood as involving a wide range of behaviors, and previous studies have situated academics' actions at various points along a continuum between passivity and proactivity. This article complements this approach by asking how -rather than in which contexts -academics act as central agents for change in higher education. Rather than trying to assess their global level of proactivity in a given change situation, we aim at identifying the actions which show them behaving more or less strategically. We argue that the notion of 'bricolage' -widely used in organization theory -can be useful in this respect. Based on a qualitative study of the creation of 20 post-graduate nanotechnology programs on French university campuses, the article shows that academics participating in curriculum change engage in three distinct forms of bricolage. We suggest that the bricolage lens can identify two types of actions via which academics implement more or less pro-active strategiesidentifying a repertoire of resources, and assembling those resources -and so allows us to reflect more deeply on how these actions may demonstrate several forms of agency, as well as several different relationships with norms, in each organizational change situation.

Response strategies for curriculum change in engineering

“…However, change is seldom based on such a comprehensive approach but much more based on small steps in the classroom (Louvel 2013). Even for the classroom level, resistance is an issue and not much change has happened (Schierenbeck 2013), although a recent study on faculty attitudes indicates that faculty are more positive towards individual change strategies rather than system and strategic change (BesterfieldSacre et al 2014).…”

Entrepreneurial Universities and Sustainable Development. The Network Bricolage Process of Academic Entrepreneurs

“…Interestingly, entrepreneurs who face institutional restraints engage in bricolage to reconfigure the existing resources at hand [54]. Network bricolage has been studied in artists, in particular regarding how they develop their bricolage networks [26] and in university settings, in particular applying bricolage to study the engagement of professors in curriculum change [55]. In this context, the difficulties to change things or do them in a different way, for example, in an entrepreneurial way, are particularly relevant, as universities are considered institutionalized organizations [56].…”

Is the role of academics as teachers changing? An exploratory analysis in Italian universities

“…In this uncertain scenario, a potential weakness has been identified: the difficulty or even the inability of academics to fully define their professional profile in general terms of roles and responsibilities with respect to society and, more specifically, in the field of teaching functions. 19,20,21,22 In fact, the general question about whether academics are professionals has been debated for years since professionalism is a term encompassing many elements. Everett C. Hughes made a distinction between scientist, who do not have clients and professionals who do.…”