| Popis: |
There are major global changes and transformations that have affected the structure and operation of all the social-economic activities of the industrialized economies, the educational industry included (Slaughter & Leslie, 1997; Steinmueller, 2002; Shane, 2004a). Because of these changes, the nature of most universities worldwide has rapidly been changing to address the terror of reduced funds (Shane, 2004; Williams, 2010; Wright, Clarysse, Mustar, & Lockett, 2007), and there have been many calls for overt decrement in universities dependency on the government subsidies. The university is being pushed to industrialize its systems by commercializing its operations, particularly spinning-off the knowledge, technology and innovation generated by its members. This phenomenon in which university faculty, staff and students engage in entrepreneurial activities by creating products and services related to their research and academic areas is best known as `academic entrepreneurship’ (Rose & Patterson, 2016; Shane, 2004a; 2004b). The purpose of this study was to shed light on the topic of academic innovation and entrepreneurship in instructional technology, particularly in the field of computer-assisted language learning (CALL). It employed qualitative techniques to explore the experience of representative CALL academic entrepreneurs who are or have undertaken entrepreneurial journeys in changing their knowledge and skills to create invaluable technological tools and services that advocate the use of technology in facilitating language learning and teaching. The key objectives of this study included describing the CALL academic entrepreneurs, products or services that they make, the opportunity recognition and exploitation, the role of the university in supporting CALL-based academic entrepreneurship, and the challenges that they face during the process. In this study, faculty and students in the field of CALL engage in different forms of academic entrepreneurial activities to create different products and services that target both language learners and instructors. The findings revealed that, although entrepreneurial experience is not necessary in CALL academic entrepreneurship, knowledge and skills in the field is paramount. Also, the study found that the university has an indisputable role to play in academic entrepreneurship. However, its policy and bureaucratic system does not seem to favor academic entrepreneurism in CALL as it does in hard sciences and engineering. |
