Development of an e-learning culture in the Australian Army

For organisations with hierarchical management and training cultures, e-learning provides opportunities for standardising content, delivery, and course management while challenging traditional teacher-student relationships. This research based case study of the Australian Army provided a longitudinal perspective of the diverse factors influencing the development of an e-learning culture. In particular, instructors' perspectives articulated the diversity of interactions between the organisational culture, the learning environment, learners' characteristics and the instructors' role. As the adopters of e-learning, instructors were balancing organisational requirements with their perspectives of the role of e-learning. Providing instructors with some control and flexibility to manage e-learning delivery had reduced resistance and enabled them to develop a range of e-learning models to meet learners' needs. Thus, encouraging coherence between learners' needs, instructors' perspectives, the learning environment and the organisational culture contributed to the development of a supportive e-learning culture.