Learning is most effective in the real world if the situations of learning are analogous to the situations in which the learning will be used. This analogy can be achieved in many ways, each of which can benefit from technology. Students can do more of their learning in actual workplaces, for example, if they have more robust ongoing communications with their instructors and with other students in similar situations. Computers can be used to simulate workplaces, or to capture the full details of real-world case studies. The wired university can more effectively maintain this duality of engagement and detachment.
Most universities teach many topics.
The university world thus has a matrix structure, with university organizations on one axis and disciplines on the other. The wired university should resist the temptation to overcome geographical and organizational boundaries by collapsing this matrix into discipline-specific units. The matrix structure plays an important role in creating spaces for innovation. Disciplines are always threatened by the hegemony of particular dominant approaches, but minority approaches can colonize a few universities until they grow stronger or are shunned by a new generation of students. The matrix structure will be threatened with collapse, however, if new technology enables faculty to strengthen their disciplinary bonds at the expense of their ties to particular universities.