How to Survive a New Educational Era.

A number of authors foretell the dawning of a new era in higher education, an era involving a technological and structural redefining of the environment, a reshaping of the nature of institutions and of the market, and a transformation in the nature of the role of faculty. Underpinning many of these views is the present and potential impact of the Internet, particularly the World Wide Web and the resulting opportunities for new approaches to delivering and managing the educational process. These opportunities are already evident. While the establishment and successful operation of virtual universities might still appear to many to be in the realms of science fiction, there are already some fledgling examples in existence. The presence of virtual modules and degree courses is a reality, along with a growth in the extent of the integration of Internet technology within existing courses. This paper concentrates on the World Wide Web as a basis for these forecasts of a new educational era. It describes how the web is currently used in education focusing, where appropriate, upon its use in accounting and finance education. It presents views on educational use of the technology, pointers to a range of web-related developments and indications of the wealth of support available on the Internet for integrating World Wide Web into the curriculum. Wherever appropriate, the focus switches from general educational issues to specific accounting and finance ones.