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Australian university's streamlined alpha-launch process for piloting and scaling educational technology

Design · All designs
Evidence · no claims cited

Description

A multi-step institutional process for acquiring educational technology, developed by an Academic Director at an Australian university. It combines a prioritized list of technology initiatives informed by external research (Horizon and Gartner reports), a market scan, and a time-boxed pilot: "An alpha launch runs for 6 weeks, or half a semester, with the idea that if it yields positive results, the technology can be in place campus-wide by the beginning of the following semester." During the launch the Office of Learning and Teaching tracks five metrics including student evaluations, grades, engagement, faculty evaluation, and longer-term student resilience. The term alpha launch signals no guarantee of continued licensing, countering pilots that inevitably led to long-term use.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

  • Leadership by a designated faculty member (the Academic Director) to spearhead the process
  • Regular stakeholder feedback mechanisms, including a showcase every 6 weeks and a technology list re-prioritized every 6 months

Constraints

  • The article states the alpha-launch study design is not sufficiently rigorous to allow causal inferences
  • Recommendations about scaling up may be made before some important results (end-of-course grades, longer-term resilience metrics) are available

Target Learners

  • Higher education students at a university implementing educational technology campus-wide

Learning Goals

  • Improving pedagogy and student outcomes through vetted educational technology adoption

Claims

Examples

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Key Sources

  • Hollands, F., & Escueta, M. (2020). How research informs educational technology decision-making in higher education: the role of external research versus internal research. Education Tech Research Dev, 68, 163–180. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-019-09678-z
Page metadata
Field Value
type design
id alpha-launch-piloting-process
title Australian university's streamlined alpha-launch process for piloting and scaling educational technology
description A multi-step institutional process for acquiring educational technology, developed by an Academic Director at an Australian university.
status review
generated by process:settle-candidates on 2026-10-29
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 1 — hollands-2020

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