Why Not Reengineer Traditional Higher Education?

Just as the agricultural era gave way to an industrial society at the turn of the 20th century, an information society is now emerging as we move into the 21st century (Bell, 1993; Naisbitt, 1988; Toffler, 1980). With this shift in the means of production come drastic changes to every segment of society—including higher education (Rowley, Lujan, and Dolence, 1998). New delivery systems that increase the effectiveness of learning at a distance, new organizations such as virtual universities, and other models of teaching and learning are forcing higher education to change the way they do business (Mangan, 1998; Oblinger, 1997; Selingo, 1998). Compared with that of the past 100 years, the rate of change occurring in society is unprecedented. There have been unparalleled increases in global competition, in customer expectations, and in new technology. These factors contribute to a lasting sense of crisis. Can traditional organizations in higher education respond to the changing environment by using the same approaches business has? The traditional universities and colleges can be characterized as having: a residential student body; a recognized geographic service area from which the majority of student are drawn (a local community, a region, a state, or a nation); full-time faculty members who organize curricula and degrees, teach in face-to-face settings, engage in scholarship, often conduct public service, and share in institutional governance; a central library and physical plant; nonprofit financial status; and evaluation strategies of organizational effectiveness based upon measurement of inputs to instruction, such as funding, library holdings, facilities, faculty/student ratios, faculty qualifications, and student qualifications (Hanna, 1998, p. 69). However, technology is allowing non-traditional organizations to meet the curricular challenges many students are presenting (Whinston, 1994), including the need to develop learning materials that can be easily updated and configured for the particular needs of students, as well as the possibility of learning at any time and at any place. At the same time, the mode of industrial production within our society is being replaced with models that rely on the rapid growth in technology, an increase in the accessibility of information, a more critically aware population, and a shift from the production of goods to a service economy (Merron, 1995). These factors are causing significant change in education as well.

Fostering a Technology Cultural Change

Many people in higher education wonder where the rapid changes in information technology are going to take them. Many more fear that the ongoing information technology explosion may eventually leave them behind. Due to entrenched mindsets and bureaucracy in higher education, fostering a technology cultural change requires paradigm shifts in all areas of administration, teaching, and research. A fundamental paradigm shift must happen in four areas before a technology cultural change can be set on a forward path. This chapter focuses on four essential components of a paradigm shift in technology and higher education at the University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC). This case describes how a paradigm shift model can help to promote a long-term technology cultural change in a higher education institution. The model consists of technology commitment, technology philosophy, investment priority, and development focus. It has been used at UMC to bring about a reengineering of the entire institution to support a ubiquitous laptop environment throughout the curriculum and campus. The model has helped UMC achieve an overwhelming success in utilizing laptop computing and other technology to enhance learning.

The Harvey Project

The rise of the Internet has started a knowledge revolution whose extent can only be guessed at. The last revolution of this magnitude, brought on by the printing press, led to the proliferation of books and the rise of the modern university system. If universities are to survive the latest knowledge revolution, they must adapt with unaccustomed speed and learn how to use the Internet for more effective teaching. Most universities adopt a limited approach to building on-line courses. However, many studies have found that merely transplanting materials to the Web does not significantly improve learning (Russell, 1999). In fact, handouts, slides, and viewgraphs that have been “repurposed” for the Web are sometimes derisively referred to as “shovelware” (Fraser, 1999). So while moving existing materials to the Web may increase their accessibility, it will not necessarily improve their effectiveness. The Internet’s real value as a medium and teaching platform is that it makes possible rich, interactive content such as simulations, animations, and 3-D models. These learning objects, or rich content, can significantly enhance learning, especially in the sciences, and can be just as useful inside the classroom as outside. The difficulty is how to create this enhanced content, since the task demands a broad range of technical skills and enormous effort. Besides faculty domain experts and experienced teachers, rich content development typically requires illustrators, Web designers, programmers, instructional designers, testers, and Webmasters. The only way faculty and institutions can meet this challenge is to embrace collaboration more broadly and seriously than they have in the past. One approach is the multi-institutional consortium. Another solution is a collaboration of faculty to build rich content in their discipline. This chapter chronicles an example of the latter sort: a bottom-up, cross-institutional project. For such a grass roots collaboration to succeed, it must recruit many faculty pioneering the use of the Internet in their teaching, as well as artists and technical professionals. It must offer collaborators an incentive to participate, and it must attract not only volunteers, but also institutional and agency funding as well. Finally, as a pioneering project, it must create standards and develop paradigms as it goes. This case study describes a work-in-progress to solve these issues.

The Impact of Information Technology on Roles and Role Processes in Small Groups

In both corporate and academic organizations, collaborative work is frequently accomplished and managed in small work groups. These can take either the form of formal work groups or ad hoc task groups. The formal work group has relatively permanent membership, ongoing tasks, and routinized reporting relationships within the organization. Over time, skills and information of group members become more group-specific and norms more implicit. There is less communication on how to work together and more on the work itself (Finholt, Sproull, and Kiesler, 1990). Some types of work are, however, best performed in ad hoc or quickly formed task groups. According to Finholt, Sproull, and Kiesler (1990), such groups are convened for a particular purpose, consist of members who otherwise would not work together, and disband after completing their assigned task. These task groups permit an organization to respond rapidly to changes in the environment and to non-routine problems by calling on expertise regardless of where it resides in the organization. In higher education, a particular form of ad hoc task group is familiar to many instructors—the student project team. Such teams are commonly formed to allow students to tackle projects that are too big to handle individually, to allow students to teach and learn from one another, and to create opportunities for practicing the intricate dynamics of collaborative work. Given the benefits claimed for ad hoc task groups, it is presumed to be a good thing for students to gain hands-on experience in their function.

Higher Education Culture and the Diffusion of Technology in Classroom Instruction

The diffusion of an innovation takes, on an average, 25 years in an educational setting. Many factors contribute to this slow acceptance rate. Rogers’ (1995) theory on the diffusion of innovation and the influence of culture on such diffusion is used to shed light on the causes for this slow diffusion. While not a full explanation of this slow rate of change, this case study shows that the academic culture, within which faculty function, has a strong influence on the diffusion of the use of technology in classroom instruction. This case study provides a point of reference for further study of diffusion of technology in classroom instruction. This case focuses on a Research I institution in the Midwest that has made a number of commitments to the integration of technology into the curriculum and has channeled many resources into this campaign. While the institution has invested large sums of money in the development of the infrastructure, the rate at which faculty have adopted the use of technology in their teaching has remained low. In order to determine the perceptions of faculty and develop some framework for understanding why the infusion of technology into classroom instruction was so low, faculty members on the campus were interviewed, focus groups were conducted, and meetings between faculty and administrators concerning technology issues were observed. Because additional issues exist with distance education, the scope of this case study research was limited to on-campus classroom instruction and support.

Implementing Relational Database Systems

Traditionally, administrative computing has been the main, or often only, unit in a campus developing and maintaining the basic operating systems of an institution (McKinney et al., 1987). Information resources have been confined to an infrastructure, such as a mainframe computer or minicomputers, which processes registration, financial aid, and other services (Van Dusen, 1997). The advent of increasingly sophisticated software and hardware tools has challenged the centralization of the control and manipulation of information resources. Crow and Rariden (1993) describe an ideal information resource management model as follows: Powerful software tools are available that can essentially eliminate the technical expertise necessary to process either university-wide data or off-campus research databases. … Students, faculty, and administrators will be able to ask and answer their own data-related questions from their desks without the assistance or intervention of a computer center’s staff (p. 467). To date, no institution has achieved this ideal (Van Dusen, 1997). However, colleges and universities are making progress toward it. This chapter describes the experiences of two institutions, University of Redlands and Cabrillo College, as they implement similar relational database systems. It describes the effects of the implementation process on the institutional administrative cultures, and the implications for information resource management.

The Selection and Implementation of a Web Course Tool at the University of Texas at Austin

For the past 10 years, the University of Texas at Austin has pursued the goal of integrating information technology into instruction. Through the Center for Instructional Technologies and its parent organization, Academic Computing and Instructional Technology Services, the University has recently developed a centralized approach to Web course development by selecting and implementing a tool for voluntary use by the faculty. This case study illustrates some of the challenges encountered and the lessons learned in initiating such a plan, given the institutional and personnel constraints of a large, historically decentralized research university. Educators from universities of all sizes realize that technological change has created a new reality for higher education both by intensifying the need for ongoing education and training and by creating tools that have changed the teaching and learning process. This study indicates that a small staff, even without overt institutional support, can have a large impact on this process by choosing an appropriate tool, actively promoting it, and conducting effective training.

The International Negotiation Modules Project

This chapter presents a case study of the International Negotiation Modules Project (INMP). The INMP utilized computer-assisted simulation is a tool to enhance teaching and learning strategies about international negotiations. Simulation in this context was more than merely playing a game or participating in a predefined exercise. Rather, it encompassed the entire class structure and affected all learning modalities. International topics that depicted real-life negotiation issues were incorporated into a simulation that was infused into a wide range of selected community college classes, including English, French Language, Math, and Psychology. The non-conventional pairing of disciplines, the non-traditional use of integrated technology, and the often diverse student bodies enhanced the overall quality of the simulation and the direct learning experience. Moreover, the INMP demonstrated a direct relevance for the use of information technology in community colleges. In total, a cross-section of 30 community college classes participated in the three-year pilot project. They represented both rural and urban areas across California, Hawaii, Maryland, New York, and Texas. This case addresses critical issues such as methods involved in implementing alternative instruction and information technology, effects of its implementation on the faculty and students, and problems associated with Internet technology access.

Risks and Rewards

One of the more often cited objectives found in university and college mission statements is the goal of promoting future good citizenship among students. Indeed, American higher education institutions have been improving society by educating its community leaders since the founding of Harvard in the early seventeenth century. Beyond the direct training of future leaders, college administrators also have recognized the societal need for volunteers to fill gaps that community resources cannot cover. Volunteers enable organizations to thrive beyond their means and their members to receive otherwise unavailable benefits. This case study describes the role of good citizenship that is performed by two technologically proficient faculty (techno-profs) who are approaching crucial career evaluations at Suburban State University (SSU), a public institution in the mid-eastern area of the United States. It explores the conundrum that faced the SSU Dean of the College of Arts and Letters as she speculated about the outcome of the evaluation of these two faculty members as a result of the existing promotion and tenure criteria. The case also considers the impact of the incorporation of technology into the contemporary role of faculty in a situation in which necessary resources are not provided by those who mandate changes in the existing reward structures in higher education. And, finally, this case study illustrates the existing and potential impact of these mandates on the careers of two techno-profs who act as good citizens for their organizations.

Access to Internet-Based Instruction for People with Disabilities

Internet-based instruction promises to make learning accessible to almost everyone, everywhere, at any time. Internet use, however, raises a number of issues. One of them is equitable access. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 requires that those making programs and services available to the public provide the same programs and services to people with disabilities that they provide to people without disabilities. Increased access is commonly given as a key justification for offering educational programs through a distance learning format. For the most part, when this argument is made, proponents are focusing on students unable to participate because of geography. Rarely is the argument made for students unable to participate because of disabilities. Providing access to students with disabilities can be considered from several angles. Making assurances that individuals with disabilities can participate in distance learning courses is an ethical issue (Woodbury, 1998); some say it is just the right thing to do. It can also be seen as a legal issue. The ADA requires that people with disabilities be provided equal access to public programs and services. According to this law, no otherwise qualified individuals with disabilities shall, solely by reason of their disabilities, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination in these programs. When people think of the ADA they often think of elevators in buildings, reserved spaces in parking lots, and lifts on buses. However, the ADA accessibility requirements also apply to educational opportunities, and more specifically, to programs offered on the Internet. As the United States Department of Justice clarifies: Covered entities that use the Internet for communications regarding their programs, goods, or services must be prepared to offer those communications through accessible means as well (ADA, 1997).