Institutionalized Resistance To Asynchronous Learning Networks

Most of the literature on Asynchronous Learning Networks (ALNs) has focused on the pedagogical and technological advantages of this educational delivery mode and the way ALNs can respond to the changing demands and pressures placed on institutions of higher education. However, there are considerable obstacles preventing the widespread implementation of ALNs. These obstacles, and the associated forms of opposition and resistance, must be analyzed in an organizational context that examines the prevailing academic culture and the widely institutionalized value placed on classroom-based teaching and learning. The recognition of the classroom as a sacred institution in higher education, and a major source of professorial identity, is a necessary first step toward developing strategies for organizational change and pedagogical transformation.