Leadership's Use of Educational Technologies in U.S. Botanic Gardens

Botanic gardens are rich informational environments that exhibit ideas in limited increments due to constraints of time and physical layout. This study addressed a gap in research about experiences and issues of botanic gardens leaders related to implementing educational technologies. Educational theorists Dewey, Kolb, and Bandura provided the conceptual framework for this study with their emphasis on experiential education. The research question examined how leaders of U.S. botanic gardens make fact-based decisions about implementing educational technologies to achieve the purposes of their organizations. Data for this qualitative case study were collected from 3 technologically advanced botanic gardens through (a) in-depth interviews with facility leadership, (b) direct observation of facility features, and (c) analysis of applicable educational materials, such as Web sites and archived data. A cross-case analysis of the data, using coding and a matrix to compare central tendencies and ranges within categories, resulted in the discovery of 5 themes. Findings were that educational leaders for botanic gardens (a) offered a variety of educational technologies; (b) leveraged Web-based technologies; (c) needed help with initiating new technologies; (d) offered education to serve the community; and (e) maintained research and a plant collection database. Positive social change for botanic gardens' education leaders may result from findings that show how leaders make fact-based decisions to implement technologies that align with their facility's purpose. Sharing knowledge about leaders' experiences may facilitate implementations that will help improve the presentation of information to botanic gardens visitors and a broader society.