This prediction is a prediction of dramatic change. Tools and systems for support of teaching and learning processes will become part of the critical mission infrastructure on higher education campuses, and they will be tightly integrated with current back office administrative systems. Today's Web course management tools will evolve into full-fledged systems for the management of teaching and learning, paving the way for the unbundling of the design, development, and delivery components of teaching. These software systems will bring the first major modernization of the work associated with the management and delivery of teaching and learning. The administrative part of the higher education institutional infrastructure of the future is well underway.
Many institutions recruit, admit, and screen students from afar.
Students can register, pay bills, check on grades, and receive course and programmatic consulting, all online. Comprehensive campus services available online will continue their rapid evolution. Lines on campus are being replaced by queues on the phone or on the Web. Library resources and other learning content resources are being accessed online from students' homes and from wherever students are. Student consulting and faculty office hours are being replaced by asynchronous e-mail, synchronous chat, telephone, and video conferencing.