Each issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education contains news of the movement of higher education onto the web. Governor's University in the far west, NYU in the east, and the University of Phoenix everywhere are three of many examples of what is the beginning of an almost certain avalanche of Internet-based courses for most institutions of higher education. Reactions to this trend vary widely.
Administrators see new ways to increase the student-professor ratio and conserve resources.
Some parents and students see the possibility for cheap courses and increased flexibility. Technological change has been shaped in the past by concerted efforts and surely there is time yet to make this process work for us instead of against us. Faculty need to get out in front of technological change and play a much greater role in defining how it will affect our working lives rather than reacting to administrative initiatives. For this to happen, much of what we have come to accept as necessary to higher education needs to be rethought and much of what we take for granted as part of our responsibilities needs to be reworked. Most of the existing online courses make the mistaken assumption that the main impact of the web is to create a more efficient delivery vehicle for the course.