Managing and developing online education: issues of change and identity

When a workgroup of educators determines to develop an online teaching capability, a number of fundamental change issues become apparent. For the manager, the issues relate to effecting a change process that is inclusive, sustainable and strategic. For the educators, the issues relate to their pedagogy, work practices and the power relations of the group, challenging their identities as academics. This paper examines the learning and development of one work group engaged in innovation and critiques its processes and outcomes in the light of some theories of organisational and individual change and the construction of work identity. Recommendations are made for sustainable change in similar contexts.