Lesson 6 Article Review
By Alejandro Flores II

Share a relevant piece of research and evaluation finding about educational technology utilization.

The Virtual Campus: Technology and Reform in Higher Education

Summary
The author begins this article by describing a "virtual campus". Namely, a virtual campus is considered to be the electronic teaching, learning, and research environment created by the convergence of new information and instructional technologies. He then begins to describe what the implications are for teaching in the virtual arena. He states that there is a paradigm shift from professor-oriented to student-centered teaching. This paradigm shift creates a lot of other extraneous variables that are derived from the transformation of becoming a virtual campus. The first challenge is creating a conducive learning environment for students and employing new technologies to address any differences that may occur. Furthermore, the faculty shifts from traditional to a new role and has new classroom responsibilities. The author does caution that this will not happen overnight and must be supported by professional development in order to be successful.

One of the areas that will demonstrate a drastic reform is learning in the traditional classroom as compared to virtual modes. In the virtual classroom, technology supports collaborative learning, heterogeneous groupings, problem-solving and higher order thinking skills. These are educational processes that a lecture format cannot facilitate. Traditional classrooms continue to employ a lecture format as the dominant methodological tool.

Quality and accountability are also factors that will require reform. Some academic institutions have required adopting the principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) by their private funding sources. TQM is based on three simple ideas: defining quality in terms of customer needs, bettering work performance, and improving administration. Notwithstanding, in the academic sphere, TQM faces stiff faculty resistance because TQM is seen as another management fad from the evil business empire. This is however, an organizational reform that is likely to come through faculty initiatives rather than external pressures.

The author further states that college boards will have to monitor and actively participate in public policy development that encumber educational technology funds. They must also stay informed of the ever-changing regulations that are being handed down by the state and federal legislative bodies. Second, higher education boards must establish a telecommunications policy and develop a strategic plan for its implementation. Third, boards must become the caretakers of their funding resources by identifying instructional needs and utilizing technological solutions to meet them.

Findings and Recommendations

• A paradigm shift can occur only in institutions committed to comprehensive reform.

• Attempts to change the classroom focus from a lecture format to collaborative learning are likely to fail without a substantial commitment to professional development.

• Higher education will continue to be market driven, requiring redoubled efforts to define academic productivity.

• New constituencies appear to be well served by a variety of distance learning venues.

• The TQM movement has made impressive inroads in higher education administration; however, very little penetration has occurred where it most matters=on the academic side of the institution.

• Even as instructional use of technology rises, institutional support for applications development has been dilatory.

• The historic commitment to core values in traditional undergraduate education has wavered; the same vacillation threatens to undermine general education requirements in electronically delivered certificate and degree programs.