Boundary-Spanning and Sustainability in the Digital Higher Education Space: A Case Study of Anadolu University
Özdemir M. Kesik F. Uslu B. Aypay A. Çalıkoğlu A.
January 2025John Wiley and Sons Inc
Higher Education Quarterly
2025#79Issue 1
This research explores how boundary-spanning efforts in higher education can be expanded through the digital space and contribute to sustainability in higher education. By employing a qualitative case study design, we examine the journey of a Turkish public universitys open education faculty, focusing on how the university has leveraged its open education mission and the developments in digital space to span boundaries and contribute to societal development constantly. Alongside reviewing institutional documents, we interviewed with 12 faculty members at the case institution. Benefitting from an inductive descriptive thematic analysis approach, we categorised related strategies and experiences into three themes: key agents, drivers and challenges and sustainability. The findings reveal that universities can better position themselves in the digital education space if the leadership embraces a clear vision regarding digital evolvement. Also, national regulations influence the digital development of universities and lead them to push boundaries in generating new teaching-learning, research and service platforms. Our research demonstrates that by enhancing digital environments and online technologies, universities can extend their collaboration with different stakeholders and maintain boundary-spanning efforts to improve their societal contribution. Further discussions and recommendations are made on the role of digital space in boundary spanning and sustainability in higher education.
boundary spanning , digital space , higher education , sustainability , universities
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Department of Educational Sciences, Anadolu University, Eskişehir, Turkey
Department of Educational Sciences, İstanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, İstanbul, Turkey
Department of Educational Sciences, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Turkey
Graduate School of Education, Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan
Department of Educational Sciences
Department of Educational Sciences
Department of Educational Sciences
Graduate School of Education
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