The knowledge society is upon us.
Globalization is a reality.
The demand for higher education is exploding. To achieve that consensus, we need a genuine understanding of the context in which we function. In clarifying that context for NLII participants, keynote speaker Douglas E. Van Houweling, dean for Academic Outreach and vice provost for Information Technology at the University of Michigan, described the emerging duality shaping higher education's view of itself. We are simultaneously in competition with one another and very much needing to collaborate. According to Van Houweling, one of the most important developments in education is the broad awareness of and increasing connectivity to the Internet and the World Wide Web.