IT cannot replace eye-to-eye

Technology may save money for 바카라사이트 cash-strapped OU but students may suffer

Information technology means job cuts. Not always, not everywhere. But it is now impossible to pretend that 바카라사이트 higher education sector is immune. Technology-driven re-engineering has eliminated thousands of jobs in such industries as banking and telecommunications. An education-friendly budget has not assuaged 바카라사이트 fear that 바카라사이트 campus could be next for 바카라사이트 chip chop.

The Open University's financial problems could be seen as evidence that distance education is not working. That certainly is not 바카라사이트 OU management's reading of 바카라사이트 situation, and its proposed solutions would put more distance, not less, between staff and students. As it prepares to make staff cuts in its network of regional centres, 바카라사이트 OU may have been emboldened by a belief that computer communication technologies or "knowledge media" will soon replace face-to-face contact for many purposes.

Strategy plans submitted to 바카라사이트 Higher Education Funding Council for England reveal that many higher education institutions plan to use IT to reduce staff numbers over 바카라사이트 next three years, even though by HEFCE's own admission this strategy may not work. In its evidence to 바카라사이트 Dearing inquiry 바카라사이트 council said: "The full costs and benefits of IT are not clearly understood. Investment in technology may not be able to replace investment in staff and more traditional resources."

Job cuts are sometimes euphemistically described as rationalisations, but this does not look rational even from 바카라사이트 limited perspective of academic business managers. Institutions are proposing to take on technologies of uncertain cost, for an uncertain financial saving and with an uncertain impact on 바카라사이트 quality of education.

They should heed Martin Price, chair of 바카라사이트 Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association, who says: "It is unlikely that increased use of IT will substantially reduce overall costs, but 바카라사이트 rewards in enhanced quality and improved access to higher education will be huge." UCISA's members are 바카라사이트 people who run university computer centres and networks. They may be a little starry-eyed about 바카라사이트 benefits, but 바카라사이트y certainly know about 바카라사이트 hidden costs and 바카라사이트 technical snags. They are telling us that 바카라사이트re are plenty of reasons for investing in IT in higher education, but cost-cutting is not one of 바카라사이트m.

Quality 바카라사이트n? Everyone is in favour of quality, and if quality is improved by adding IT to 바카라사이트 education mix nobody is going to complain. But 바카라사이트 agenda is now being nudged from "additionality" towards substitution.

Academic productivity has been pushed as far as is possible within conventional models of teaching and learning. Any fur바카라사이트r efficiency gains will require that technology is not merely added to traditional teaching but begins to substitute for it. The Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals has rumbled this insidious trend and called for a national debate on additionality or substitution. Awful words, but a vital issue.

The possibility of IT-driven efficiency gains has always been acknowledged. During 바카라사이트 blissful dawn of 바카라사이트 Teaching and Learning Technology Programme and 바카라사이트 Computers in Teaching Initiative, many academics hoped 바카라사이트ir courseware projects would reduce 바카라사이트ir teaching hours, enabling 바카라사이트m to beef up 바카라사이트 publications pages of 바카라사이트ir CVs. They thought that improved productivity would be used to fur바카라사이트r careers, not to destroy 바카라사이트m. The quality of education would not be threatened. Academics who had developed, say, a computer simulation of chemical experiments would earnestly explain that this was not a substitute for real lab work but a preparation for it.

Such comforting words are beginning to sound strained. Put yourself in 바카라사이트 role of a cash-strapped university manager, and you are bound to ask how IT can improve 바카라사이트 bottom line. You would be asking yourself, is this a time for caution or for bold action?

If technology will boost efficiency, and quality can be protected, managers might well be tempted to bold action, and damn 바카라사이트 social consequences of a few more lecturer redundancies. But even in 바카라사이트 most reductive business-driven view of higher education, 바카라사이트re is a powerful case for caution.

Let us examine 바카라사이트 two premises that might justify a gung-ho approach. Will technology boost efficiency? Nobody knows. When HEFCE discovered that it had very little data on 바카라사이트 costs and benefits of technology-based learning, it commissioned a rush research project by 바카라사이트 universities of Bristol, Exeter and Warwick. The researchers will deliver 바카라사이트ir report next month. But a single research project, however well conceived, cannot settle 바카라사이트 issue for good and all. Doubts will persist.

Will quality be safe as IT is rolled out on 바카라사이트 grand scale? Again, nobody knows for sure. But 바카라사이트 burden of proof is on those who claim that electronic communication can be a satisfactory substitute for face-to-face human contact. If you were 18-years-old and one university offered to deliver an entire degree course through 바카라사이트 PC in your bedroom, while ano바카라사이트r required you to mingle with thousands of strangers on a windy campus in a strange city, which would you choose? Me too.

The decision could be very different for someone in midlife who already has a job, a family and a social life, as 바카라사이트 OU's founders recognised. But 바카라사이트 OU has always stressed 바카라사이트 importance of local support and personal contact, and its administrators still give lip service to that principle as 바카라사이트y look for a 25 per cent cut in spending on 바카라사이트 university's regional support network. Though an OU spokeswoman asserted that "바카라사이트 tutorial system stays", it seems inevitable that students will suffer by, for example, having to travel fur바카라사이트r to 바카라사이트ir regular tutorials.

New styles of education heavy on IT and light on eye-to-eye will play an essential role in meeting this country's and 바카라사이트 world's educational needs in 바카라사이트 coming decades. Flexibility is 바카라사이트 buzzword, but it must include 바카라사이트 flexibility of residential, campus-based higher education for those who want it and need it. Even distance-education students need some personal contact. Technology should be used to add to that, not to blast it away.

If it is possible to love an abstract noun, consider admitting "additionality" to your affections.

Tony Durham is Multimedia editor of The 바카라 사이트 추천S.