The Future of the University in the Age of the Internet : An Australian Perspective
This year I completed my MHEd thesis (early) to complete the degree in this field. The following is the abstract and link to the study.
Abstract
One component of the broad sweep of educational history is the qualitative changes in information and communication technologies, in which each new development both building on top of its previous and extending its scope. The development of networked information and communication technologies in contemporary times, "the Internet", potentially provides a new mode of communication whose limiting factors include capacities of the physical systems and the allocation of economic resources. This macrological inquiry suggests that these foundational matters have been largely overlooked when considering educational technology and as a result four research themes are raised; (i) the identification of the demographic importance and trends of higher education., (ii) the economics of higher education, particularly the notion of cost-disease in service sectors and positive externalities, (iii) the engineering restrictions and licensing restrictions to software applications, and (iv) user-experiences of existing educational software. A prescriptive conclusion raises policy matters concerning the need for more extensive public funding, the adoption of open-source licensing for applications and educational content, and the use of client-server models rather than the trend toward cloud-based software architecture.