Are we having fun yet? Introducing play and experimentation into learning innovation through social media

The notions and patterns of resistance are critical to the successful implementation of technology enhanced learning strategies at higher education institutions. At institutional, academic and student levels, resistance manifests itself in a variety of forms, at best supporting a critical culture and at worst creating inertia and active disquiet. Through the lens of an institutional wide strategic learning innovation vision at the University of Greenwich designed to enhance connectivity and collaboration, this paper will explore the modes and pathways of resistance extant in the process of implementing and embedding an openness agenda. Through supporting experimentation and play with social media creation and sharing as a mechanism of curricula transformation we identified a number of patterns of resistance to sharing and openness. Using a grounded theory informed approach we have attempted to represent these patterns in the form a model of institutional resistance to technology-led change.