Online assignment management: an evolutionary tale

Due to the potential benefits there has been widespread interest in the use of online assignment submission and management (OASM). However, much of the reported work is limited to small-scale use usually in courses taught by innovative staff. This paper draws on experience with OASM in a growing number of courses taught by a number of different staff from different disciplines. It aims to investigate the process by which OASM is adopted across an organization and identify the factors that influence its growth, adoption, and adaptation. In particular the paper demonstrates that the introduction and successful use of OASM requires changes in practice, the ability to cater for a wide range of requirements, and a continual questioning of the appropriateness of the resulting changes to practice.