Wired Tower: Perspectives on the Impact of the Internet on Higher Education, The

In April 2001, 350 educational leaders and academics

gathered in Washington, DC to discuss the Internet’s

impact on higher education. As a summit of sorts, speakers

from academe, business, and government grappled with the

fundamental nature of e-learning—the adoption of and

reliance on the Internet for teaching and learning.

Organized around a theme of transformation versus evolu-

tion, speakers such as Columbia University Teacher’s

College President Arthur Levine, VerticalNet Chairman

Mark Walsh, researcher and technology luminary Carol

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Preface

Twigg, author and New York University professor Neil

Postman, and others presented compelling perspectives on

the topic.

This book draws on the talks given at the meeting, tack-

ling this question: Is the impact of e-learning on higher edu-

cation transformative or simply evolutionary? The genesis

of The Wired Tower—the post e-learning Ivory Tower—lay

in the desire to package the wonderfully diverse, yet inter-

related perspectives that the various authors shared in their

presentations. At a time of change, it attempts to elevate the

microquestions of e-learning often tackled in classroom-

based anecdotes, to a macrolevel of industry history, struc-

ture, and change. The topics are mostly distinct—from

international issues to Wall Street—yet the arguments made

are all critical to shaping a view of the Internet’s impact on

academe.

Through my work as chairman of Blackboard Inc., I

have long argued that the promise of the Internet is one that

will likely sustain the traditional campus model, rather than

transform it into something foreign or new. To be sure, over

time small ideas, such as the delivery of courses to alumni

online, may turn into big ideas such as a “warranty” on

knowledge where tuition provides not only the initial period

of degree study, but also an ongoing return—via the Web—

to the campus for additional coursework throughout life.

Indeed, if the dot-com world is truly a guide, near-term evo-

lutionary changes, developed over time, will lead to a

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The Wired Tower

fundamentally transformed way of delivering and support-

ing the instructional process in higher education.

As you move from chapter to chapter, the contributors

to this book demonstrate firsthand that a compelling argu-

ment can be made on both sides of the debate. Despite its

image as an enterprise slow to change, if you look back in

history, higher education has indeed experienced periods of

great change and flux, albeit few and far between. Over

time, more facilities, more research, more specialization,

more students, more remedial courses, bigger budgets, and

different recruitment strategies have all changed the face of

higher education; small changes at first, but dramatic ones

by the end.

Looking back at the 350 years since Harvard’s founding,

at least three momentous developments stand out: passage

of the GI Bill, which brought unprecedented access to high-

er education; establishment of land-grant colleges, which

provided a vast new network of research and development

institutions that helped transform the American economy

in the post-Civil War era; and the founding of Johns Hopkins

University, which was to serve as a model for large science-

oriented institutions. Most recently, the creation and explo-

sion of community colleges in the post-World War II period,

and the growth of affirmative action policies with the pas-

sage of the Higher Education Act of 1965, have also fostered

dramatic change.

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Preface

The Perspectives in Context

To help structure the compilation, I open the book with

a short chapter developed to frame the debate and intro-

duce several of the key themes that emerge throughout.

Starting with a discussion of the many prognostications

made of late about the dire impact that e-learning will have

on higher education, Chapter 1, “Transformation Through

Evolution,” reflects on the track record of similar predic-

tions in the e-commerce world and identifies four key

drivers for e-learning that are core to the future of higher

education.

In Chapter 2, “Higher Education: A Revolution

Externally, Evolution Internally,” Columbia University

Teacher’s College President Arthur Levine identifies key

forces shaping the higher education landscape today and

applies them to the historic mission of universities. Levine

provides a compelling blueprint of what needs to be pre-

served and what will surely be changed, as technology

increasingly has a transformative and invigorating impact

on higher learning.

Next, in Chapter 3, “The Business of Education,” Wall

Street equity analyst Greg Cappelli paints a comprehensive

picture of the current state of higher education and the key

e-learning trends within. He illustrates the size of the

postsecondary market in the U.S., the composition of

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The Wired Tower