Is a digitalisation strategy a necessary first step towards implementing digital teaching or just another document that remains unread? Analysing the experiences of 30 university staff members of three research universities in Germany, Estonia, and the United Kingdom, we explore how digitalisation strategies impact their engagement with educational technology (EdTech). Using the theoretical concepts sensemaking and sensegiving, we identify how digitalisation strategies can both build and undermine a collective understanding of EdTech among staff members. We observe how mixed messages about the value of digital teaching from university leadership can lead to a deprioritisation of EdTech and make staff members take on roles as sensegivers when central sensegiving fails. On the other hand, a digitalisation strategy can augment already present acceptance of technology and become another sensemaking device to successfully encourage staff to embrace EdTech in the classroom. Lastly, the role of the digitalisation strategy can shift over time and a balance between sensegiving and sensemaking can be disrupted. This study adds to our understanding of the nuanced role that digitalisation strategies play within educational institutions and highlights how internal and external dynamics contribute to how staff members perceive and experience digital change.
