The role of technology as change agent

There is no question that technology is having a profound change on teaching and learning. What is the impact and what are its long-range implications?

Media is more than a stimulant for social change, says Luskin. Media is social change. It is transformational in that it changes the method by which learning takes place.

"The confluence of technology, including access to information and the use of technology to reach new markets, is forcing traditional higher education to address student needs," says Kelsall. "Further, the public fiscal crisis is resulting in scrutiny and justification of public investment in education. The confluence of these events: technology, improved access to information, seeking new markets, increased competition and the demand for public justification of education investment are all impacting higher education transition."

Read says increasing globalization and growing competition from China and India are forcing the United Kingdom to strengthen its knowledge base through continued research and the development of creative and high-tech industries. The labor market is also demanding change as a result of the increased outsourcing of manufacturing and services.

Technology has become a true enabler of performance monitoring, says Devine. Contrary to the fear that the increasing use of technology will make learning impersonal, the opposite has occurred. Its application has allowed learning to become more individualized, whether in the classroom or through distance learning. It has largely removed the concept of higher education as place and has made learning a 24x7 and lifelong process.

Are these changes in higher education making the transition to a new learning model more imminent or radical than in the past?

Absolutely, says Allen. "This transition is being brought about by raising expectations of the public at large, their hope for a better future through an education, a belief that cuts across economic, ethnic, and cultural differences. Add a global economy that drives the off-shoring of jobs in a `flat world,' and a new view of learning that sees it as something that takes place over a lifetime rather than in a short period of adulthood. All these factors together have resulted in a need, a demand for education that is unequaled and unfulfilled. Fortunately, the explosion of information and communication technology (ICT) over the past decade changes the equation for scale, cost of delivery, and access to higher education. It provides us an opportunity to meet the need for higher education as never before, if we are clever enough to figure it out quickly."