Frontiers and frontlines: metaphors describing lecturers' attitudes to ICT adoption

This paper explores the assimilation gap, the gap between the acquisition of a technology and its deployment, in higher education teaching. The relevant literature covers three themes: technology diffusion, the technology acceptance model and task-technology fit. To explore the significance of these models to a teaching environment case study research was undertaken within a university college in north-west England. Using an ethnographic approach, with semi-structured interviews, lecturers' attitudes to the adoption of ICT were surfaced. Then the data collected was analysed by categorising the findings. One technique used to present these findings is the translation of the dialogue of each respondent into another character. This defamiliarised the taken for granted aspects of the informants’ response. Using this method respondents were categorised using two metaphors suggesting that staff can be classified within two different cultures. The first metaphor is that of the Frontier where the adoption of ICT is seen as an exploration and the discourse used relates to the relative desire for adoption of ICT. The second metaphor is that of the Frontline where the view of ICT adoption centres on attack and defence and the discourse relates to the differences in the perceived ease of adoption.