A Prototype Design Tool for Engaging Academic Developers with the Use of Technology by Academic Staff

Academic developers are concerned with the enhancement of the practices of academic staff. Technology plays a role in the enhancement of practice by enabling new practices, but it also has the potential to play a role in... [ view full abstract ]

Academic developers are concerned with the enhancement of the practices of academic staff. Technology plays a role in the enhancement of practice by enabling new practices, but it also has the potential to play a role in engaging and persuading academics to develop and enhance their practices. This latter approach draws on the methods of persuasive technology, a rapidly maturing field which brings together computer scientists, psychologists, and social scientists in an effort to use technology to persuade people to change or enhance practices.

In designing persuasive technologies, Fogg [1] argues that an important early step involves the identification of an appropriate technology channel. Fogg argues in favour of selecting an existing technology channel that is familiar to the target audience. This argument encourages designers of persuasive technologies to avoid creating new technologies which their users are expected to adopt and incorporate into their practice, and instead look for ways to use the technologies which are already embedded in their practices as a platform for change.

A challenge for academic developers and others who are seeking to design persuasive technology solutions relates to the identification of the appropriate technology channel(s) to incorporate into their design. The diversity of enactment of technology in practice [2] by academic staff makes this particularly challenging in an academic setting. A further challenge relates to the design of persuasive strategy which can serve to persuade a broad audience of diverse academics.

This paper presents a prototype tool which supports academic developers in identifying an appropriate suite of familiar technology performance channels to incorporate into the design of persuasive technology in environments with significant variation in the use of technology.

1. Fogg, B. J. (2009). Creating persuasive technologies: an eight-step design process. Persuasive.
2. Orlikowski, W. J. (2007). Sociomaterial Practices: Exploring Technology at Work. Organization Studies