Faculty, Technology, and the Community College: Faculty Culture and Cyber Culture

by Smith-Hawkins, Paula L.

A qualitative study of faculty work and technology was used to identify four areas of change to community college faculty work structures; specifically, time, work space, classroom teaching and faculty service work. By examining the policies, programs, and technology initiatives as negotiated by faculty members---their work, their interactions with students, other faculty, administrators, and the local community this writer argues that technology has destabilized the nature of faculty work and the structures once associated with faculty responsibilities. This ethnography relies heavily on the theories of Rhoades, Burris, Perlow, and Vallas to examine how technology has changed the daily work of the community college faculty member. Using the ethnographic approach to qualitative research, the data for this study comes from meetings, formal and informal exchanges, writings, and promotional material handed to faculty over a two year periods. The participant/observer approach utilized in this study allows for insight into the complicated relationships between policies and practices, and formal and informal interactions between various campus groups. This particular campus site struggled with the new policies governing informational and educational technology decisions in a setting that promoted a high degree of faculty input and participation. The information gathered in this study points to the destabilizing nature of technology on faculty work. 10