‘Over the worst or at the eye of the storm’

Purpose: Using the analogy of e-learning as “the perfect storm”, the aim of this paper is to explore the disruptive nature of e-learning in higher education.

Design/methodology/approach: Taking a case study of a university, the paper explores the movement from an e-intensive approach to e-learning into an on-campus blended learning approach. What are the lessons for higher education and how responsive are we to the new challenges. Is blended learning creating a new stability after change, or is it placing the university in the eye of the storm, a still small moment within an ongoing change process?

Findings: The paper presents findings from the E-College Wales (ECW) project, looking at the disruptive effect on such a learning organisation from student, staff and management perspectives. It concludes by moving the focus from the e-intensive ECW project to focus on the developments during the first year of a blended learning project and the disruption endemic in such a development.

Originality/value: The paper will be of special interest to the blended learning policy maker, practitioners and educators. It includes a journey of a case study concerning blended learning. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)