Re-organizing Universities for the Information Age

From the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, Vol. 8, No. 3 (2007), this article contrasts the current paced, cohort-based educational model with the possibilities of more autonomous and self-directed or independent study form of distance education. According to the author, trends in online learning increasing the emphasis on digitised instructional material can perpetuate of reconstruct the traditional academy. He suggests that two-way communication among learners and instructors replicates an assumed need for "[t]he centrality of human-to-human interaction in current online learning theory like social constructivism... even when it is clear that this may not even be the preferred learning mode for adult learners given a choice between self-pacing and group interaction. To be efficacious, a particular educational theory needs to not only consider pedagogical benefits, but also balance these against learner preferences and perhaps most importantly for the future, relative cost. Replicating paced, cohort-based learning in the virtual environment means that industrialized forms of distance education predicated on independent learning are still largely ignored or disparaged, even though these are scalable and more cost effective."

As stated here: "Historically, independent study represents a distinct break with classroom-based academic tradition because it is text-based rather than orally based. It is technically mediated and must be carefully planned and structured. Methods of presenting and acquiring knowledge differ from traditional universities. Learners must organize their learning independently, taking over some of the roles of the instructor. They must be more critically reflective in their learning, as there is little or no external intervention, even with the advent of what Peters describes as 'network-based distance education' - learning that provides access to digital media and the Internet, and allows new forms of learning through searching, evaluating, managing, and retrieving material.... A likely consequence of the increased emphasis on digitized media will be to increase learner demand for autonomy, particularly self-pacing – that is the ability to proceed through a course of studies without reference to a pre-determined schedule or other learners. Despite hopes that social interaction incorporating more characteristics of face-to-face instruction will be facilitated in the ‘post-industrial’ adult distance education era, facilitating significant learner-to-learner interaction requires cohorts of students to move through a course of studies at the same pace. As a result, requirements of social interaction conflict with learner autonomy."

The document reviews the central aspects of university educational theory and practice, casting them as perpetuating pre-industrial 0rganisations. It suggests faculty resistance to "the industrialization of higher education." However, capacity constraints and financial constraints, among a confluence of factors "puts increasing pressure on university systems worldwide to change.... Population growth, increased economic activity, and growing demand for white-collar workers will create an unequalled demand for higher education." Data show that only 10 countries can provide higher education for a third of their student-aged population, and there are over three billion adolescents and adults worldwide who are under-literate, illiterate, or in need of retraining. "Spreading connectivity allied with the massive creation of open-source educational resources may soon allow economies of scale and the attendant radical reduction in costs necessary for higher education to serve the four billion people at the bottom of the world's economic pyramid."

The author cites a need for university re-organisation to replicate two key attributes in the virtual learning environment: flexibility for students and value creation for the institution, primarily in the form of reduced costs and enhanced services. The document emphasises that universities may "disaggregate student cohorts in favour of individualized learning and still provide focused group interaction for specific purposes within a self-paced learning experience." By incorporating an independent study model of some sort, “economies of scale can be realized, costs can be reduced, the overall quality of the learning experience can be maintained, and more learner autonomy can be facilitated. Most importantly, technologically-enabled, industrialized, yet responsive organizational structures can be established to meet the future demand for university education."

This idea of self-paced, technology-based learning as a simpler, more convenient, or less expensive product is analysed through the "disruptive business model" that suggests: "innovation also gradually pulls customers away from existing firms, starting with those who are most easily satisfied. The disruptive business model succeeds because the higher volumes of customers that are created by innovative, less costly approaches allow reasonable returns to be earned at lower prices by new firms.... In this particular example, innovation permits the same level of resources to be allocated more efficiently to serve a larger number of students, or allows tuition to be reduced."

For university restructuring in line with this model: "A necessary component of this view is the removal of traditional constraints of learning - time and place. Concomitantly, new learning technologies adopted by appropriately reorganized institutions should be used to create significantly new approaches to the process and management of higher education, and not merely augment the classroom-based, faculty-centred model of most university education."