The Impact of Information Technology on Education in the
21st Century
© 2001--Loretta F. Kasper, Ph.D.
What
will education, especially higher education, be like in the 21st century? How
will information technology impact the delivery of instruction in the next
millennium?
The
student population in higher education is changing. The dynamic state of
technological development has made perpetual (or lifelong) learning a
necessity. For this reason, more and more adults are returning to school to
learn new skills or expand the skills they already have. This, according to John Chambers of CISCO Systems, will make "education the next big
killer application over the Internet" (Friedman, 1999). Rodney L. Everhart, President of SCI Education Solutions and former
President of LEXIS-NEXIS Information Services, agrees. He predicts that within
the next 10 years, "the number of learning hours will double due to the
growing number of adult learners" (Morrison, 1999).
According
to a recent article in The New York Times, the increasing number of
adults returning to school is the result of "demands on companies, in an
intensely competitive global economy, to keep improving productivity."
Everhart believes that this dramatic increase in the student population may
force most educational institutions to deliver at least half of all instruction
online. Offering traditional on-campus courses to a burgeoning student
population would require doubling the number of campuses, classrooms, and
professors. This would lead to excessive costs and a critical shortage of
instructional personnel. Further Chambers insists that properly designed and implemented
online courses "provide faster learning, at lower costs, with more
accountability, thereby enabling both companies and schools to keep up with
[rapid] changes in the global economy." Both Everhart and Chambers agree
that educational institutions cannot ignore the move to online instruction if
they hope to attract and keep students in the future.
However,
in contrast to Chambers and Everhart, who both champion a widespread adoption
of online course formats, Greg Bothun, a professor of Physics at the University
of Oregon, disagrees (Bothun, 1999). He cautions that
educational institutions must resist the temptation to "become more entrepreneurial
in their approach to education;" they must not succumb to issues of
cost and gain. Bothun advises that in our zeal to adopt new online methods of
instruction, we must remember that information and knowledge are not the
same thing. Although Bothun agrees that the use of information technology in
instruction does provide the context for inquiry-based and collaborative
learning, he states that IT is only a tool. How we use IT in instruction
will determine whether the result is improved learning that actively engages students
in knowledge construction and builds the skills critical for their success in
both academic and workforce environments, or a "course-in-the-box"
approach whose primary goal is to deliver course material to large
information-oriented classes.
Meeting
the needs of a changing student population will require not only greater
flexibility in the delivery format, but also greater attention to the design of
courses. In particular the design of web-based courses must adhere to sound pedagogical
principles. Issues such as sustainable content management, sound
pedagogical strategies, and learner support should be foremost in the mind of
designers of online courses. It is important to remember that information and
knowledge are not the same thing. Although made possible by the hypermedia
capabilities of the Internet, the use of more bandwidth intensive media does
not necessarily promote a high level of instructional efficacy. Rather, strong,
relevant content that is text-based appears to promote the highest instructional
efficacy.
Media
is useful in so far as it helps to enhance understanding of material, clarify
concepts studied, and consolidate knowledge. Designers of web-based courses
must remember that fancy media--complex graphics and animation--are no substitute
for solid, concise content. Information technologies must be used that engage
the learner with the media, and this engagement must occur in terms of stated
learning objectives. Media should be used that allow the learner to interact
with or self-discover underlying principles, models, and causal relationships
that exist in the subject area under study.
Everhart
predicts that in the future all classrooms will have multimedia delivery access
available to allow students and instructors access to the Internet. This access
will make it possible for the virtual and physical classrooms to mesh to create
an alternative course format of "connected learning" that will
combine the best of both worlds. The changing modes of instructional delivery
will demand that courses be designed to provide for greater student-student and
student-teacher interactivity. As more and more courses move from the
physical F2F classroom to the "connected" or virtual classroom,
students will need to assume more responsibility for their own learning. They
will need to become independent learners, able to think and figure things out
for themselves.
Information
technologies make it possible to tailor the content and delivery of
instruction to the needs of individual students. The result is that individual
differences in learning styles and preferences can be better accommodated. In
the future, students will be able to choose the instructional format
appropriate to their level of knowledge. They will have the option of taking
F2F, mixed, or online courses based upon their level of knowledge in a given
subject area. The traditional 12-15 week semester will likely become a thing of
the past as colleges adjust their schedules to better fit those of a changing
student population.
The
technologies that will play a role in the classrooms of the future are many and
varied. The Internet will not replace "traditional media," i.e.,
television, radio, film, and print. Rather Internet technologies will enhance
and expand information gathered through other media. Moreover, in the future we
will likely see the integration of each of these media in new and more powerful
applications. Everhart predicts that as Internet 2 becomes more widely
available, its greater bandwidth will facilitate videoconferencing and reduce
its costs. However, he believes that since technologies like real time
videoconferencing require instructors and students to be in a specific place at
a specific time, they do not provide the flexibility that many students will
demand.
For
this reason, asynchronous technologies will likely form the backbone of
many connected and virtual classrooms. Tools that allow for extended threaded
discussion will be used more extensively to promote a high level of
student-student and student-teacher interactivity. Collaborative learning,
promoting the principles of constructivist theory will likely predominate in
the higher education classroom of the future. Students will work together to
construct knowledge. As the power of the Internet as an informational (re)source
becomes more widely available, students will use its vast information databases
to acquire and expand knowledge. In the process, students will develop skills
critical to lifelong learning--they will become knowledge gatherers, knowledge
receivers, and knowledge transmitters.
Because
effective use of the Internet as a source of information requires strong
critical literacy skills, instructors in all disciplines will need to
incorporate activities that target these skills. In this way, students will learn
how to determine the validity and reliability of information they find on the
Internet. Developing strong critical literacy skills will also help students
evaluate information received through other media.
Reading
hypertext, for example, helps students develop critical literacy and
critical thinking skills. Internet hypertext has already made print a more
valuable informational source. Hyperlinks provide students with immediate
access to a variety of primary sources of information. Access to primary sources
means that students do not need to rely on someone else's interpretation of the
information. Having access to that information in its original form enables
students to form their own interpretations and draw their own conclusions. As
students read hypertext and follow each new link, they are taken to new and
different texts. These texts may provide them with additional information and
even more links to other new primary sources of information. While it is true
that students need to be careful not to drown in this sea of information, it is
also true that the variety of information available on the Internet exposes
them to a multitude of perspectives, which they may then interpret and evaluate
from their own point of view.
The
Internet also offers an instructional environment in which assessment may be
easily integrated into the learning process. Interactive "quizzes"
can be designed that provide students' immediate feedback on the progress of
their learning while they are engaged in the very process of that learning.
Through Internet technology, the feedback generated by students' response
choices can be designed to provide insight into not only how much the learner
knows, but also the way in which s/he is conceptualizing the material. This
makes assessment a much more powerful tool that can be used to improve, not
just to evaluate the progress of learning.
Finally,
to assure that Internet technology is used to its best educational advantage,
teachers must be trained in the most effective ways to use it. They must learn
how to transfer their courses to an online environment, in the process
remaining faithful to sound pedagogy and well thought out curricular goals. To
do this teachers must be trained to use information technology. They must learn
how to design activities for a web-based environment. They should learn how to
construct educationally useful web pages. They should learn how to use
hypermedia to promote educational goals. Like their students, the teachers of
the 21st century will need to become lifelong learners to keep up with
developing technology and its expanding uses in instruction.
References
Bothun, G. (1999). Cyberprof: The university
in the next millennium. Educom Review, 34(5). [Online]. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/html/erm9954.html [Retrieved from the World Wide Web
on November 1, 1999].
Friedman,
T. L. (17 November
1999). Next, it's E-ducation. New York Times (Op-Ed). [Online]. http://www.nytimes.com/library/opinion/friedman/111799frie.html [Retrieved from the World Wide Web
on November 17, 1999].
Morrison,
J. L. (1999).
Higher education in 2010: An interview with Rodney L. Everhart. Technology
Source, (November/December). [Online]. http://horizon.unc.edu/TS/vision/1999-11.asp [Retrieved from the World Wide Web on November 2, 1999].
Comprehension Questions
Directions: Based on what you have read in the
article, write an answer to each of the following questions. Be sure to use your own words in your
answers.
Research recent developments in online or distance education. Search the Internet to find information on colleges and the online courses they offer. Choose 2 different online courses and evaluate them, comparing and contrasting how well you think they fit the goals described in this article.