----

##  Digital Dilemma: Issues of Access, Cost, and Quality in                         Media-Enhanced and Distance Education. ERIC Digest.                          

Public discourse on the pedagogical uses of information technology              runs the gamut from of views from utopian to apocalyptic.  A number             of tacit alliances and formal partnerships between and among various            ideologues have been forged with the objective of making shared                 views more credible to policymakers and institutional planners.  Two            ideologies in particular both political constructs have received                much attention.  The first, restructuralism, calls for radically                restructuring postsecondary institutions from the ground up to                  respond effectively to social, demographic, and economic changes in             society.  The second, incrementalism, seeks evolutionary change as              it preserves cherished principles of academic freedom, tenure, and              faculty oversight.  Both restructuralists and incrementalists share             the conviction that institutions face "a triple challenge" of                   outcomes, accessibility, and costs (Ehrmann, 1995, p. 24). Although             methods designed to achieve these ends will vary according to                   several factors, a foundation of common understanding based on                  research findings should center the debate and provide the basis for            an acceptable resolution. WHAT BARRIERS TO HIGHER EDUCATION MUST              BE REMOVED TO MAKE ITS

DIGITALIZED RESOURCES MORE UNIVERSALLY                ACCEPTABLE?Leveraging technology to accommodate unprecedented               growth and changing demographics requires overcoming a number of                daunting obstacles to universal access.  For colleges and                       universities, universal access operates on two levels: Intranet and             Internet.  Universal Intranet access refers to the ability of                   administrators, faculty, staff, and students to access campus                   networks for communication, instruction, research, scholarship,                 public service, and business processes and procedures.  Major                   problems associated with universal intranet access include (1) the              inconsistent quality of off-campus dial-in networking services, (2)             the shortcomings of campus computer labs, particularly  as a                    critical safety net for on campus students without computer access,             and (3) the escalating costs of supporting an array of on-  and                 off-campus software options and hardware configurations (Graves,                1997). Higher education providers will be hard-pressed to achieve               the important goal of universal Intranet access without an                      unfaltering commitment to strategic and fiscal planning. 
Universal            Internet access refers to the ability of society at large to access             the digitalized resources inside and outside the higher education               community. Currently a persisting "digital divide' exists among                 various income levels, demographic groups and geographic                        areas (Department of Commerce, 1999; Gladieux and Swail, 1999).                 Although Americans have increasingly embraced digital technologies,             a number of specific roadblocks along the information highway must              be averted.  Specific barriers include age, income, race and                    ethnicity, gender, previous education, geography, household type,               physical disabilities, and learning disabilities. Continued                     disengagement from the new information and communication                        technologies based on these factors will have profound societal                 consequences from which no one will be exempt.  The solutions will              be costly and complicated, but the alternative will be                          catastrophic. WHAT ISSUES OF COST AND AFFORDABILITY MUST BE                   ADDRESSED TO

ENSURE UNIVERSAL ACCESS?Achieving the economies             of scale made theoretically possible by technologically mediated                instruction requires attention to a host of important issues: (1)               institutional mission must be reviewed at the same time that a new              vision  of learning emerges, (2) intra- and inter-institutional                 collaboration must increase to ensure program articulation, delivery            system integration, reduced duplication, maximization of limited                resources, and preservation of under enrolled course offerings, (3)             the cost of technology is often confused with its purchase price,               but true costs are often staggeringly high as much as ten times the             purchase price, when all expenditures are factored in, (4) assigning            the actual cost to such intangibles as faculty course development               requires new sets of economic tools, and (5) the adoption of student            technology fees and computer requirements are often not well                    conceived or integrated into the strategic plan for campus                      computing (Ringle, 1997). HOW WILL AMERICAN HIGHER EDUCATION'S                REPUTATION FOR QUALITY AND

EFFECTIVENESS BE ASSURED AND                      MAINTAINED IN THE NEW TECHNOLOGICALLY

MEDIATED                               ENVIRONMENTS?Pedagogical issues in today's networked digital                culture involve content, design, assessment, and support.  Content              problems arise from the web's nonhierarchical structure and its                 increased commercialization (Burbles & Callister, 1998).  The main              design challenge facing faculty who move traditional courses to the             Web or to interactive television is exploiting multimedia                       capabilities.  Furthermore, such alternative forms of assessment for            example, authentic assessment and portfolio assessment may prove to             be more appropriate for students in technologically mediated                    environments. Finally, to assist faculty with integrating technology            into instruction, institutions must commit to the provision of                  access to technology resources for faculty training, course design,             and development; standardized configurations to ensure continuity               between instructional paradigms and efficient technical support                 services; and appropriate consideration to the teaching function in             tenure and promotion decisions. WHAT CONCLUSIONS AND                          RECOMMENDATIONS CAN BE DRAWN?In the current polarized political             environment, quick, easy solutions to the challenge of making higher            education more accessible, more affordable, and more effective are              unlikely, although research findings do permit a number of specific             conclusions: 
1.  Successful efforts to transform American colleges            and universities are very likely to occur quite differently from                institutional to institution, based on institutional mandate,                   mission, and vision.  Given increasing numbers of adult and                     nontraditional students, it is likely that the majority of                      institutions will undergo some form of significant                              transformation. 
2.  Although in many respects colleges and                    universities are businesses, in crucial respects they are not. 
3.             The historic commitment to core values in traditional undergraduate             education has wavered, and the same vacillation threatens to                    undermine general education requirements in electronically delivered            certificate and degree programs. 
4.  Lack of internet access                  results in information poverty for several classes of individuals               and creates a new class of postsecondary institution. 
5.  Distance            education is unlikely to effect institutional cost savings over the             short or middle term. 
6.  Existing evidence on the effectiveness              of media-enhanced  and distance education is generally inadequate               because of experimental design flaws. 
7.  Containing the costs of             academic and administrative computing today requires a campuswide               rather than departmental-level perspective. 
The following seven               recommendations address the pressing issues of access, cost, and                quality: 
1.  Prepare to lobby more aggressively for state and                 federal policy reform of higher education issues. 
2.  Develop a               reward system that places a high value on teaching and the                      innovative uses of technology, even though the two will be mutually             exclusive in most cases. 
3.  Promote universal Intranet access to             campus networks by standardizing hardware and software                          configurations. 
4.  Promote universal access to the National                  information Infrastructure as a vital social utility. 
5.  Affirm              the social nature of learning. 
6.  Require of all students the                generic skills of mediacy and numeracy. 
7.  Preserve the quality              and core values that undergird and distinguish higher education from            corporate training, even as the institutions work to untangle the               knotty issues of productivity, efficiency, and                                  effectiveness. REFERENCESBurbles, Nicholas, and T. Callister.             1998. "Paying the Piper: The Educational Cost of the                            Commercialization of the Internet." Electronic Journal of Sociology             3 (3): 1-12. 
Department of Commerce. 1999. Falling Through the                Net: Defining the Digital Divide. Washington, DC: National                      Telecommunications and Information                                              Administration. [http://www.ntia.gov/ntiahome/fttn99.html] 
Ehrmann,           Stephen C. 1995. "Asking the Right Questions: What Does Research Us             About Technology and Higher Learning?" Change March/April:                      20-27. 
Gladieux, Lawrence E. and Scott Swail. 1999. The Virtual               University & Educational Opportunity Issues of Equity and Access for            the Next Generation. Washington, DC: The College                                Board. [http://collegeboard.org/policy/html/virtual.html] 
Graves,             William H. 1997. "A Framework for Universal Intranet Access."                   Cause/Effect 20 (2): 48-52. 
Ringle, Martin D. 1997. "Forecasting              Financial Priorities for Technology." Cause/ Effect                             21 (1):18-23. 
----- 
The mission of the ERIC system is to improve            American education by increasing and facilitating the use of                    educational research and information to effect good practice in the             activities of learning, teaching, educational decision making, and              research, wherever and whenever these activities take place. 
This             publication was partially prepared with funding from the Office of              Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education,             under contract no. RR-93-00-0036. The opinions expressed here do not            necessarily reflect the positions or policies of OERI or the                    department.  Permission is granted to copy and distribute this                  ERIC-HE Digest.                                                              **Title:** Digital Dilemma: Issues of Access, Cost, and Quality in                         Media-Enhanced and Distance Education. ERIC Digest.                          **Note:** For the full report, see HE 033 136. Prepared in cooperation with               Jossey-Bass Publishers.                                                      **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Target Audience:** Practitioners, Teachers                                                      **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education, One Dupont Circle, Suite                630, Washington, DC 20036-1183. Tel: 800-956-7739 (Toll Free).               **Descriptors:** Access to Information, Costs,  Distance Education,  Educational                 Technology, Higher Education,  Information Technology                        **Identifiers:** ERIC Digests                                                                 
###
[Return to ERIC Digest Search Page]