Technology and the Disruption of Higher Education

Book excerpt: Universities for years have been the bright spot in our educational system. Today, these institutions are under siege from multiple constituencies including students, parents, legislators, government officials and their own faculties. Education has historically been a way for students to improve their lives and fortunes. However, the rising costs of college are a barrier to access for many students, reducing their chances for upward mobility.Is technology the solution, or is it just another costly problem for universities? The purpose of this book is to explore how new technology has the potential to transform higher education. However, this same technology also has the potential to disrupt universities. Much depends on how administrators, faculty and students apply technologically enhanced learning.Technology and the Disruption of Higher Education presents details on MOOCs, blended, flipped and online classes and their role in transforming higher education based on the author's experiences teaching all of these types of courses. These technology-enabled approaches to teaching and learning offer tremendous opportunities to schools, but they also threaten the traditional university. The book identifies some of these threats and opportunities and offers suggested strategies to take advantage of the technology.Is this technology enough to save the university system? While new ways of teaching and learning are exciting, they are only part of the puzzle. Radical change beyond what happens in the classroom is needed if our higher education system is to continue to flourish and some of these ideas are discussed in the last chapter of the book. The book is a call to action for educators to realize that the technology is both transformational and disruptive, and that some universities are going to fail in the next 15 years.