Several key characteristics of the Internet may have significant impact
on the traditional social customs of higher education:
- Mass Customization: computer
technology makes it feasible both to generate large quantities of information
and to tailor that information to the specific interests of each individual.
The end result is a mass-produced product that is customized to each individual
-- an impossible outcome in the world of traditional industries.
- Multiple Instructional Sources:
The emergence of distance learning programs, for-profit universities,
and noncredit web-based training have increased dramatically the competition
among educational opportunities.
- Consumer-Oriented Services: Colleges have traditionally focused
on the input processes (e.g. courses, majors, ...) instead of the learning
that takes place within each student. To the extent that the Internet
transfers control to individuals, it accelerates this trend toward a learner-centered
approach to higher education. Skidmore's growing concern for "outcomes
assessment" is one acknowledgment of this shift.
Yet, we must remember that education is primarily a social experience.
Otherwise, it would be far more cost effective to master a course's content
simply by purchasing the assigned texts without wasting money on the tuition.
Students value the importance of a close interaction by a professor/scholar
to help guide them through concepts and principles of a discipline.
The Internet can foster the social aspect of higher education through themes
such as the following:
- Factual learning can be highly automated. The portions of each
course that primarily consist of mastering detailed facts about the topic
can be highly automated through computer-based instruction and student-centered
tutorials.
- Broader range of resources. Instructors can choose among a very
diverse range of potential learning activities -- including modules developed
at other competing schools. It is no longer necessary to create everything
locally or rely on a few large publishers.
- Greater attention to critical analysis. The classroom time that
is freed up by the first two points should be devoted to increased faculty/student
interaction focused toward guiding the students toward a deeper understanding
of the course content -- precisely the value-added feature of face-to-face
courses over simply reading a series of books on the topic.
- Escape from the structural boundaries of the classroom. Higher
education has always struggled with the dilemma of fostering lifelong
learning, while trapped in the boundaries of a rigid course and semester
schedule. Many of the interactive courseware tools, such as chat rooms,
mail lists, and intelligent teaching agents, seek to expand learning to
a 7 by 24 experience.
