University President Fired for Not Introducing New Technologies

                                      
     Digital technologies change education as universities evolve to produce training to prepare communication workers for the sweeping changes within society.  From the days of the movable print press to the present day cell phone that fits inside a pocket, new technologies are changing expectations for graduates.  The popularity of online colleges grows; expectation is that the transmission of knowledge does not have to be from a college campus.  Digital technologies are evolving information centric industries like the news media, magazines, journals, encyclopedias, music, motion pictures, and television.  The Internet creates technological luxuries like cloud-based computing, digital textbooks, mobile connectivity, and high-quality streaming video that have made a vast amount of information readily available (Anderson, Boyles, & Raine, 2012).  Educator must re-examine modern universities to make sure that they are offering training to prepare communication workers for the training needed to become a vital member of the workforce of a networked global society. 

     The rise in tuition cost is an important spark igniting this debate.  A recent uproar at University of Virginia governing body, the Board of Visitors, results in the firing of the college President Teresa Sullivan for not introducing technological changes quick enough (Anderson, Boyles, & Raine, 2012).  The school’s faculty, student, and alumni appealed to the Board of Visitor; consequently, the board decided to give her job back.  However, within a week of her return, the school announced that it was joining Coursera.  Coursera is a privately held but offers universities an opportunity to connect with resources from universities like Duke, John Hopkins, Princeton, Stanford and the University of Pennsylvania so that they can offer research and online courses at no additional charge for students (Anderson, Boyles, & Raine, 2012). 

     Some colleges are even offering hybrid-learning environments that employ new technologies and offline instruction.  Pew Research predicts that there is a 60 percent chance that in 2020, higher education will be very different that it is today because technology is rapidly changing expectations of society and the demand of the training expected for the workforce (Anderson, Boyles, & Raine, 2012).  Graduation requirements will be about the same; however, tomorrow’s university will included teleconferencing distance learning, individualized training and just-in-time learning approaches with hybrid classes being a readily available option.

Reference

Anderson, J., Boyles, J., & Raine, L. (2012, July 27). The Future of Higher Education. Retrieved from Pew Research Center: http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/07/27/the-future-of-higher-education/