Thoughts About Higher Education and IT

JA-SigJune 10, 2003

Putting Portals in Perspective:

The E-Volution of Higher Education

Richard N. Katz EDUCAUSE

An Outline

General propositionsHistory of the worldWhere are we today? Reflections about the future

Proposition # 1

“Events” are increasingly volatile, e.g. the rate of change is increasing. Increasing volatility increases the pressure on everyone to become more adaptable. Colleges and universities are historically adaptable organizations.

“Technology is embedded in, and used by, institutions that have a history… technology will cut its own channels, leading to the creation of institutions that differ from those of today; institutions where the weight of history does not condition and constrain technology’s use.”

Proposition # 2

Martin TrowDaedelus, Fall 1997

“Every jump in connectivity – from clipper ships, to telegraphs, to mobile phones, to Blackberries – has shrunk the globe in space, in time, and in the effort required to support interactions among people, institutions, and ideas.”

Proposition # 3

Christopher Meyer and Stan Davis, It’s Alive

New communications media render some practices valueless. Such practices become obsolete. New media also foster new practices. More interestingly,In some cases, the introduction of new

media herald a return of practices, long in disuse.

Proposition # 4

Marshall McLuhan

Roving Bands Harvard

Morill Act

ENIAC

GI Bill

Open U

Web

Internet

PC

Higher Education’s Evolutionary Journey

Com Colleges

U of Phoenix

Economic and Educational Epochs

MarketPedagogyTechnology

AgrarianStorehouse of

Knowledge

IndustrialCity of

Intellect

Knowledge

E-University

• Tablets• Paper• Scriptorum

• Classrooms• Lecture Halls• Social Spaces

• Portals• Networks• New Media

• Mastership/Apprenticeship• Experiential

• Scale Seeking• Degree Focus• Sage-on-Stage

• Local• Elites

• Provincial• National• “Foreign”

• Personalized• Just-in-Time• Modular

• Intellectual Elites• Niches• Mass Market

Higher Education Trends, 2002

Focus on Learning Unbundling Faculty Free

Agency $’s Follow Students Educational

Passports for All

New Competition Individualization of

Higher Education Bricks & clicks Degrees Wither in

Importance

Arthur Levine, The Future of Colleges: 9 Inevitable Changes, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 2000

So What’s Ahead?

What’s Ahead?: IT Revolutions

Mainframe Computing

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030

Personal Computing

Physical Connectivity

Logical Connectivity

Embedded Connectivity

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What’s Ahead? Six Future Directions

Nimble and Adaptable

Highly Leveraged and Accountable

Embedded Intelligence

What’s Ahead? Six Future Directions

Always On

Personalized

Secure

What’s Ahead?: Educational Revolutions

300 BC

600 AD

1100 AD

2000 AD

2030 AD

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Storehouse of Knowledge

Roving Bands of Faculty

City of Intellect

Holodeck

Roving Bands/Silicon Grove

Are We Near an Inflection Point?

What Wonderful Possibilities

IT is indeed cutting new channels in our tradition-bound institutions. In some cases, these channels will lead to the emergence of new forms, new methods, and even new institutions.

At the same time, IT may lead us to rediscover the wellsprings of our enduring value, to extend this value to more learners on a global basis and to strengthen and renew the bonds that unite the members of a community of learners.