Best of Germany: Developing Strategies for Digital Transformation in Higher Education

The paper presents an organizational view on educational technology in higher education. Many institutions are eagerly implementing various digital technologies and tools for learning, they seem to follow a general trend of modernizing university teaching. Following this understanding, digital transformation can be seen as a broader movement of modernization all universities have to address in some way: a process that institutions are taking at different speeds and with different measures, but most probably with similar results, in the end. From a strategic perspective, however, digital transformation has to be perceived as a chance for an organization to position itself in a competition. Universities management has to understand that to some degree digital transformation can be understood as a “general trend of modernization” but to some degree opens up opportunities for a strategic positioning. The paper addresses the implications of these options and what measures universities can take to find their route to digital transformation. The paper is based on a set of workshops performed with members from Germany's university top management that have addressed the strategic options for digital transformation in higher education.

Kerres, M. & Getto, B. (2018). Best of Germany: Developing Strategies for Digital Transformation in Higher Education: Not a Trivial Pursuit. In T. Bastiaens, J. Van Braak, M. Brown, L. Cantoni, M. Castro, R. Christensen, G. Davidson-Shivers, K. DePryck, M. Ebner, M. Fominykh, C. Fulford, S. Hatzipanagos, G. Knezek, K. Kreijns, G. Marks, E. Sointu, E. Korsgaard Sorensen, J. Viteli, J. Voogt, P. Weber, E. Weippl & O. Zawacki-Richter (Eds.), Proceedings of EdMedia: World Conference on Educational Media and Technology (pp. 524-530). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)