Readings on the Brave New
Dot.Com World of Higher Education
updated 13 March 2001

Congressman Worries Aloud: Is Online Education Any Good,
by Dan Carnevale
(Chronicle of Higher Education, 10 May 2000)
"Rep. Nick Smith, a Republican from Michigan, said during a hearing that students who take courses online don't interact as much as their peers in traditional courses, and that they may walk away with knowledge but not with an understanding of how to think for themselves."

Digital Diploma Mills: The Automation of Higher Education,
by David Noble
(First Monday, 1998)
"In recent years changes in universities, especially in North America, show that we have entered a new era in higher education, one which is rapidly drawing the halls of academe into the age of automation. Automation - the distribution of digitized course material online, without the participation of professors who develop such material - is often justified as an inevitable part of the new 'knowledge-based' society. It is assumed to improve learning and increase wider access. In practice, however, such automation is often coercive in nature - being forced upon professors as well as students - with commercial interests in mind. This paper argues that the trend towards automation of higher education as implemented in North American universities today is a battle between students and professors on one side, and university administrations and companies with 'educational products' to sell on the other. It is not a progressive trend towards a new era at all, but a regressive trend, towards the rather old era of mass-production, standardization and purely commercial interests."

Digital Diplomas
by Eyal Press & Jennifer Washburn
(Mother Jones, Jan.-Feb. 2001)
"Many educators fear that universities are rushing to cash in on the online craze before they learn much about it. While using the Internet to transfer information is easy enough, little is known about the actual quality of the online education experience; it's unclear, for example, how students will fare as face-to-face conversations with professors and peers, and the personal and professional relationships often forged on campus, are replaced by virtual communication. Far from democratizing education, many critics argue, online learning could facilitate the rise of a two-tiered educational system-prestigious campus-based diplomas for the children of elites, mass-marketed online degrees for those less fortunate."

Digital Learning: Why Tomorrow's Schools
Must Learn to Let Go of the Past
by Thomas G. Layton
(electronic-school.com, September 2000)
"The big mistake in planning for the school of the future is starting where we are today and imagining how to move forward. With that approach, we necessarily drag along a great deal of excess baggage. Instead, we should begin with where we want to be, where we think we will be, and work back through all the steps necessary to get to that point."

Higher Education Facing the Challenges of the Information Age,
by Gavriel Salomon
(2 Feb. 2000)

Higher Education in an Era of Digital Competition,
by Donald E. Hanna
(JALN, March 1998)
"Growing demand among learners for improved accessibility and convenience, lower costs, and direct application of content to work settings is radically changing the environment for higher education in the United States and globally. In this rapidly changing environment, which is increasingly based within the context of a global, knowledge-based economy, traditional universities are attempting to adapt purposes, structures, and programs, and new organizations are emerging in response. Organizational changes and new developments are being fueled by accelerating advances in digital communications and learning technologies that are sweeping the world. Growing demand for learning combined with these technical advances is in fact a critical pressure point for challenging the dominant assumptions and characteristics of existing traditionally organized universities in the 21^st century. This combination of demand, costs, application of content and new technologies is opening the door to emerging competitors and new organizations that will compete directly with traditional universities and with each other for students and learners."

Internet Generation and Adult Learners Will Create Major
Challenges for Higher Education Institutions in the 21st Century,
by Bizhan Nasseh
(Ball State University, December 1998)
"In the networked world and cybereducation, higher education institutions not only will lose geographic monopoly, but also will have to deal with vigorous local, national, and global competition. The on-campus technology-assisted and technology-based education must be a major part of the strategic direction of higher education institutions. In addition to on-campus schedules, asynchronous educational programs should be a very high priority for educational institutions. The student body will continue to grow into two different groups. The first group is a student body less than 25 years old, who comes directly from high school to college for undergraduate and -- in some cases -- graduate education. The second group is learners who are 25 years old and over. They come back or start college to earn degrees, learn new skills, or upgrade current skills. These two groups coexist in the current formal education system with different needs, styles, characteristics, expectations, and experiences. Knowledge about these two groups can help higher education institutions in the development of effective educational programs. The following sections explain these two groups' characteristics and expectations from higher education institutions."

The Online Education Bubble,
by Joshua Green
(The American Prospect, 23 Oct. 2000)
"In principle online education is a natural extension of distance learning and continuing education--services that have been the traditional mission of nonprofit community institutions offering upward mobility to working-class students. But as entrepreneurs and national brands flock to online education, it is precisely these institutions that are at risk of being squeezed out. Computer-mediated distance learning is a complement and not a simple substitute for a human teacher, especially for students who need extra help."

Online Higher Education Notebook,
by Ray Schroeder
(University of Illinois at Springfield, Feb. 2001)
"a constantly evolving meta-site of web resources on online higher education"