Chapter 6: Visions for a Virtual University

Vision for a Virtual University
pp. 217-220

Historically, innovations in communications technology have fueled significant cultural and intellectual change, as well as contributed to social upheavals. At each point, the products of these technologies or the technologies themselves--whether printed books or radio broadcasts or now Web pages--have led directly to an intellectual revolution. The Internet only heightens and highlights the problem that whoever owns information is in a position of power. As teachers, we have a duty to be cautious about technology. In our own century, we have the discoveries of atomic energy and radio as examples of technologies that were used for sinister ends. The atom bomb is a cautionary tale about the seductive power of technological innovation. Radio in the hands of the Nazis was a powerful demonstration of the power of communications technology as a propaganda tool. Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister, explained that while the press was an "exponent of the liberal spirit, the product and instrument of the French revolution," radio was "essentially authoritarian" and, therefore, a suitable "spiritual weapon of the totalitarian state."48 As the critics of distance learning warn, the danger of the Internet for us as teachers is not the technology itself, but the cooptation and commercialization of our profession.

We live in a complex time educationally. The challenge of the incorporating new technology into our teaching practice is not limited to the effects of this technology on our craft. We are also witnessing a change in the nature of education itself. Technology has brought some of this change. Margaret Mead observed in Culture and Commitment that there were three cultural systems that could be defined in terms of who was learning from whom. In post-figurative cultures, or what we would think of as the traditional educational model, children learned from their parents. In co-figurative cultures, children and parents learned from their peers. In pre-figurative cultures, parents learned from their children. We are now entering a pre-figurative phase, "when a father can go up to his son and ask how does this computer work."49

Coupled with this expanding definition is a change in the way information is presented and preserved. While the traditional university revolves around the building that houses its library, the virtual university will revolve around building electronic information resources--which are electronic libraries, but also new ways of shaping information and distributing it. Not just the physical structures, but also the actual concepts and foundations are changing as we move into this electronic sphere. Libraries traditionally have focused on collecting books in one place and universities on facilitating research. However, more and more material is being digitized and is going directly to the Internet. For example, in physics and chemistry more and more documents are available only in online form. In addition, materials that previously were published in only one medium (print, video or sound recordings) are now being combined as multimedia on the Web. This means that some content on the Web that now incorporates animations, video and sound cannot be "printed out." The trend toward fuller multimedia Web sites means that in time this medium will escape the two-dimensional realm and linear representation.

Critics of distance learning aside, whereas before students went to the university, now the universities must prepare to come to the students. It should be noted that the exclusivity of American universities (implied in the separation of "town and gown") is not universal, nor is the model of the American and English university practical everywhere. In other countries, places of higher learning are more intertwined with the life of the communities in which they are located. It may well be that these universities will make the transition to the Web more easily. David Lodge's academic novel Nice Work (1988) takes as its major theme the separation of the university and the local community. Early in Nice Work, Lodge writes the following description of the British university: "With its massive architecture and landscaped grounds, guarded at every entrance by a watchful security staff, the University seems . . . rather like a small city-state, an academic Vatican."50 However, toward the end of the novel, Lodge writes the following vision of a different kind of university:

Universities are the cathedrals of the modern age. They shouldn't have to justify their existence by utilitarian criteria. The trouble is, ordinary people don't understand what they're about, and the universities don't really bother to explain themselves to the community. . . . It seemed that the university was an ideal type of human community, where work and play, culture and nature were in perfect harmony, where . . . people were free to pursue excellence and self-fulfillment, each according to her own rhythm and inclination.51

However, even beyond a greater involvement in community life, virtual universities can reach into areas around the world where setting up and maintaining places of higher learning is financially restrictive. (In the debate on distance learning, it is easy to forget that extension programs in the United States have often served rural communities.) In the West, and particularly in the United States, universities are part of the educational landscape. Thus, we can afford to argue about the evolutionary step that we will take by establishing virtual universities. However, in the third world, the virtual university offers the possibility of a great leap forward. In Africa, where higher education facilities are limited, as well as in geographically isolated communities in the United States, the virtual university can provide a critical source for higher education and help revitalize these communities. The virtual university provides an opportunity for those at the periphery of the academic community to come closer to the center. In many third world countries, higher education is in a crisis because of a "brain drain" of teachers and scholars who have gone to the colleges and universities in the West. The virtual university can help revitalize higher education in these countries.

Lifelong learning is almost a necessity in the United States. No longer restricted to retraining workers or updating skills, the concept of lifelong learning centers on the fact that we are becoming increasingly an information-centered culture. Finishing college is no longer the end of education, but simply enough to get you started. To meet this need, we must now adjust our educational model. This is a convergence of necessity and technology.

The information explosion has greatly increased our understanding of the world about us. However, the growth and exploitation of information rests not only upon the ability of scientists to produce new knowledge, but also upon society's capacity to absorb and use it. . . Research shows that educational technology, when properly applied, can provide an effective means for learning. However, the new intellectual technologies offer new and better ways to expand human capacity, multiply human reasoning, and compensate for human limitations. . . The world of education has changed from an orderly world of disciplines and courses to an infosphere in which communication technologies are increasingly important. . . It is clear that in the future we will see a major restructuring of our social, industrial and educational institutions, and an increased reliance on computers and telecommunications for work and education.52

------------