Higher Education In The Digital Age

This volume consists of a series of seventeen essays examining the future of higher education, especially as impacted by the rapid advance and pervasive presence of digital resources. There can be little disagreement that information, communication and instructional technologies are already having a significant impact on schools and colleges, and what is occurring today will have a profound influence not only on educational structures in the future, but also on teaching and learning processes. As a consequence, all stakeholders in the educational enterprise will be affected. The 26 authors and co-authors represented within, all of whom are recognized scholars and practitioners in the field of distance education, attempt here to pose relevant questions and provide thoughtful, and sometimes provocative, responses. These contributors write from diverse perspectives, representing several countries and continents, as well as varied organizational and cultural settings, offering both micro and macro views on the topics they address.

Academic management and administrative processes rely heavily on technology in business offices, virtual laboratories, digital libraries, and the like. Technology also has an impact upon teaching, freeing classrooms from constraints of time and space. Yet many university leaders are hesitant to set technology as a priority. This book is designed to address the subject from a perspective appropriate to leaders. An important concept covered here is that the new advances in information technology drive a significant restructuring of our social institutions, which will provide access to knowledge and education that was formerly restricted to the privileged. The generation raised with this technology demands new approaches to teaching and learning-this poses a unique challenge to traditional faculty members. The authors of this book believe "It is our collective challenge as scholars, educators, and academic leaders to develop a strategic framework capable of understanding and shaping the impact that this extraordinary technology will have on our institutions." They believe that academic institutions will change in form and character, and that such changes will affect the mission, function, and possibly even the concept of the university. The role of leadership is to both see over the horizon and adapt leadership styles to an environment of constant change. Leadership must formulate a clear and consistent institutional vision.

How online learning could help control the exploding cost of higher education Two of the most visible and important trends in higher education today are its exploding costs and the rapid expansion of online learning. Could the growth in online courses slow the rising cost of college and help solve the crisis of affordability? In this short and incisive book, William G. Bowen, one of the foremost experts on the intersection of education and economics, explains why, despite his earlier skepticism, he now believes technology has the potential to help rein in costs without negatively affecting student learning. As a former president of Princeton University, an economist, and author of many books on education, including the acclaimed bestseller The Shape of the River, Bowen speaks with unique expertise on the subject. Surveying the dizzying array of new technology-based teaching and learning initiatives, including the highly publicized emergence of "massive open online courses" (MOOCs), Bowen argues that such technologies could transform traditional higher education—allowing it at last to curb rising costs by increasing productivity, while preserving quality and protecting core values. But the challenges, which are organizational and philosophical as much as technological, are daunting. They include providing hard evidence of whether online education is cost-effective in various settings, rethinking the governance and decision-making structures of higher education, and developing customizable technological platforms. Yet, Bowen remains optimistic that the potential payoff is great. Based on the 2012 Tanner Lectures on Human Values, delivered at Stanford University, the book includes responses from Stanford president John Hennessy, Harvard University psychologist Howard Gardner, Columbia University literature professor Andrew Delbanco, and Coursera cofounder Daphne Koller.

The European higher education sector is moving online, but to what extent? Are the digital disruptions seen in other sectors of relevance for both academics and management in higher education? How far are we from fully seizing the opportunities that an online transition could offer? This insightful book presents a broad perspective on existing academic practices, and discusses how and where the move online has been successful, and the lessons that can be learned.

The book publishing industry is going through a period of profound and turbulent change brought about in part by the digital revolution. What is the role of the book in an age preoccupied with computers and the internet? How has the book publishing industry been transformed by the economic and technological upheavals of recent years, and how is it likely to change in the future? This is the first major study of the book publishing industry in Britain and the United States for more than two decades. Thompson focuses on academic and higher education publishing and analyses the evolution of these sectors from 1980 to the present. He shows that each sector is characterized by its own distinctive ‘logic’ or dynamic of change, and that by reconstructing this logic we can understand the problems, challenges and opportunities faced by publishing firms today. He also shows that the digital revolution has had, and continues to have, a profound impact on the book publishing business, although the real impact of this revolution has little to do with the ebook scenarios imagined by many commentators. Books in the Digital Age will become a standard work on the publishing industry at the beginning of the 21st century. It will be of great interest to students taking courses in the sociology of culture, media and cultural studies, and publishing. It will also be of great value to professionals in the publishing industry, educators and policy makers, and to anyone interested in books and their future.

This book advances a critical political economy approach to EdTech and analyses the economic, political and ideological structures and social power relations that shape the EdTech industries and drive EdTech’s development and diffusion. Particular attention is paid to the integration of EdTech with some of the most contentious developments of our time, including platformization and data-veillance, the automation of work and labor, and globalization-imperialism. By using a political economy of communication approach, this book will be of value to anyone interested in the current transformations of capitalism, the State, higher education and online learning in the digital age.

Competition to provide education is tense, attributed to the ease to access and process information. Technological development has also landed a terrible blow to the employment situation, which forces higher education institutions to review what and how their students learn. Yet, the desire to retain and grow the number of students and gain commercially can sometimes cloud judgment of educational leaders. They need to know that poorly made decisions hurt the businesses and students. In this book, Sam Choon-Yin explores how technological development has the potential to transform higher education. However, the same technology also has the potential to disrupt the education sector. The author provides a critical outlook on the prevailing practices of the higher education institutions. By drawing our attention to the various challenges, the author shows how teaching and learning can be effectively carried out in the digital age to serve the needs of students and hiring companies, and ultimately the institutions of higher learning. Understanding the issues and challenges means better design of and delivery of the curriculum. At a deeper level, the book raises a complex question of “what makes an education institution different” as they aim to define themselves by fulfilling students’ desire. Understanding these issues forms the basis of power for higher education institutions to remain competitive and relevant in the age of digitization.