The Crossroads between Lifelong Learning and Information Technology A Challenge Facing Leading Universities1

Universities Won't Survive Source: An Interview with Peter Drucker, Forbes Magazine, March 10, 1997, pp. 126–127. “Thirty years from now, the big university campuses will be relics. Universities won’ t survive … Do you realize that the cost of higher education has risen as fast as the cost of health care?… Such totally uncontrollable expenditures, without any visible improvement in either the content or the quality of education, means that the system is rapidly becoming untenable. Higher education is in deep crisis… Already we are beginning to deliver more lectures and classes off-campus via satellite or two-way video at a fraction of the cost. The college won't survive as a residential institution. …. Or Will They? Technology-Mediated Learning and Distance Learning (TML/TMDL), and particularly asynchronous learning through the Internet, are becoming major vehicles for fulfilling the needs of Lifelong Learning (LLL). A hybrid model of studies using technological means is leading to the development of a new pedagogy of learning and teaching. Various new models of higher education are evolving in North America and around the globe, in response to LLL needs and to the new opportunities that are becoming available through the integration of learning technologies. These models are described and discussed in this paper, for the benefit of those who are interested in or are partners to higher education, and in particular the policy makers. Traditional universities can adopt some of these models, while other models may call for the creation of new types of institutions of higher education. Most institutions will find that a joint effort is necessary for reaching the critical mass required for providing their educational system and their faculty with a generalizable, scalable and sustainable TML solution. Creating such coalitions will turn out to be a challenge in and of itself.