IT support to teaching and learning in higher education. A comparative study of implementation processes of a new Learning Management System (LMS) at two Norwegian universities

In 2017, two Norwegian universities, the University of Stavanger (UiS) and Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet), faced the same challenges related to expectations of the increased digitization of teaching and learning. They had both chosen to implement a new digital Learning Management System (LMS) and therefore saw a unique opportunity to accompany each other through the implementation process. Both had ambitions to see this as a lever to put the digitization of teaching and digital learning environments on the agenda. As part of this collaboration, a follow-up research project was established to jointly collect and analyse data from the implementation process. The comparative analysis shows that the different implementation processes of the new LMS system at OsloMet and at UiS have resulted in different types of challenges and opportunities related to both structural conditions and the anchoring and institutionalization of changes.