Digital Technologies in Higher Education: Current Challenges and Future Prospects

1. a The Open University of Israel Digital Technologies in Higher Education:Current Challenges and Future Prospects Sarah Guri-Rosenblit International Forum, e-Learning Russia,MESI University, Moscow, 3 June 2010

2. Higher Education:Influencing Trends • Widening of access • Budget cuts by governments • Growing diversity of higher education institutions • Globalization • Emergence of the digital technologies a

3. Widening of Access • Start of the 20th century - 1 million students • 1960s - about 7 million students • 2010 – about 150 million students a

4. Peter Drucker's Prediction: “Thirty years from now the big university campuses will be relics. Universities won’t survive. It is as large a change as when we first got the printed book”. Drucker, P. (1998). The future has already happened, Futurist, 32 (8), p. 16. a

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6. Digital Technologies: Confusing Terminology • E-learning • Web-enhanced learning • ICT • Telematics environments • Computer-mediated communication • Virtual classrooms • …….. a

7. Distance Education and E-learning:Notthe Same Thing • Most applications of e-learning take place in campus-based universities • Most distance education is not carried on by the digital technologies a

8. Impact of the New Technologies • Networks of research communities • Administration • Library restructuring • Teaching/learning - ??? a

9. Some Erroneous Assumptions • Space and time as barriers to overcome • Urge to broaden access • Self-evident advantages of the technologies • Natural study inclinations of students • Making profits • Imparting information vs. constructing knowledge a

10. Reluctance of Academic Facultyto Use a Web-enhanced Teaching • Time consumption • Lack of incentives • Lack of technological literacy • Distributed teaching responsibility • Lack of appropriate support systems • Burnout a

11. Navigating between Contrasting Trends • Globalization vs. national needs • Broadening of access vs. marketization • Competition vs. collaboration • Intellectual property vs. intellectual philanthropy (OER – Open Educational Resources) a

12. Sir Arthhur Clarke's Observation: “When it comes to technology, most people overestimate it in the short term and underestimate it in the long term”. Clarke, A. (1999). 2001 – A Cyber Odyssey: Arthur Clarke’s optimistic guide to surviving the information age, Himalmag, 12 (11). a

13. Challenges & Trends • Bridging over the digital divide • Finding the golden triangle of utilizing the technologies and reaching a balance between costs-access-quality • Moving from national higher education systems to global/glocal networks a

14. Globalization “Humboldt’s university with its emphasis on research was one of the transformative institutions of the 19th century, the emerging global university is set to be one of the transformative institutions of the current era”. Economist, September 8th, 2005 a

15. Challenges & Trends (continued) • Establishing efficient national and international quality assurance mechanisms • Utilizing the potential of the Open Educational Resources (OER) • Changing roles of academic faculty • Changing the fabric of potential student clienteles • Gradual change of academic environments a

16. Potential Student Clienteles • Local-national-international? • Young-old? • Only for academic degrees or also for professional training or for recreation/life long learning purposes? a

17. Gradual Change of Academic Environments • Moving to a blended mode of learning/teaching • Collaborative degrees between several institutions within national jurisdictions and beyond • Broader and wider integration of advanced technologies a

18. Thanks for your attention! a