Fifth generation distance education

Article


Taylor, James C.. 2001. "Fifth generation distance education." Instructional Science and Technology. 4 (1), pp. 1-14.
Article Title

Fifth generation distance education

Article CategoryArticle
Authors
AuthorTaylor, James C.
Journal TitleInstructional Science and Technology
Journal Citation4 (1), pp. 1-14
Number of Pages14
Year2001
Place of PublicationToowoomba, Australia
Web Address (URL)http://www.usq.edu.au/e-jist/
Abstract

Over the past twenty years, the transformation of a relatively simple computer network used by a few researchers into a global Internet, involving hundreds
of millions of people and generating a new economic order, took government, business and education, by surprise. Given the well-established tendency for people to underestimate the extent and rate of technological change, it seems
reasonable to suggest that the extent to which the Internet created economic and social upheaval in the past ten years is likely to pale into insignificance by comparison with the changes occurring in the next decade. The next few
years will encompass the significant impact of broadband, wireless, smart cars, smart fridges, streaming media, voice recognition and the inevitable growth of new Internet applications. In the present context, change is the only
constant!
How might institutions of higher education respond to such a dynamic external environment? The need for institutions to not only do things differently, but to do different things was encapsulated by Dolence and Norris (1995), who
argued that to survive the transition from the Industrial to the Information Age, organisations would need to change from rigid, formula driven entities to organisations that were 'fast, flexible and fluid'- adjectives not typically used to describe the salient features of universities! Given the predilection of educational institutions in general, and universities in particular, to either wait
and see and do nothing for the moment, or to add something new to an already overcrowded program of activities, it could well be that institutions of higher education could become a threatened species. This is a somewhat surprising consideration, since universities are overflowing with clever, innovative students and staff, yet as organizations, universities are often considered to be primarily moribund. The traditional inertia of long established institutions is reflected in the well-known cliche, 'Trying to change a university is like trying to move a graveyard – it is extremely complex, and
you don’t get much internal support!'
If the Internet is changing everything, will the Internet also have the power to change universities? Maybe, maybe not. Organizations don't change automatically. Organizational development requires proactive human
intervention. It sometimes benefits from the implementation of explicit change management strategies. As Katz and Oblinger (2000) highlighted when reviewing the potential impact of e-business on higher education, 'The dominant issues facing the leaders of today's colleges and universities are what aspects to change and how fast
can they be changed?' (p.xvi). Further, as Schlender (2000) recently pointed out, the Internet has already 'reached a stage that isn't so much about vision and proprietary innovation as about execution and competition' (p. 90).
This emphasis on execution and competition is a particular challenge to the typically slowly evolving institutions of higher education, which need to find the means to 'e-volve' rather more rapidly in the Internet Age. Indeed, many
universities are still struggling to come to terms with the imminent challenges posed by competition for online students through the emergence of the global lifelong learning economy. Universities with a significant role in distance education, however, are different: they have always been, and will always be, in the vanguard of innovation and institutional change.

Keywordsdistance education; higher education; educational technology; change management
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020390201. Education policy
390405. Educational technology and computing
390403. Educational administration, management and leadership
Public Notes

File reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher/author.

Byline AffiliationsDeputy Vice-Chancellor's Office (Global Learning Services)
Permalink -

https://research.usq.edu.au/item/9x75x/fifth-generation-distance-education

Download files


Accepted Version
Taylor.pdf
File access level: Anyone

  • 8667
    total views
  • 6431
    total downloads
  • 95
    views this month
  • 77
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Future challenges in delivering Agromet outputs to farmers
Stone, Roger and Taylor, James C.. 2009. "Future challenges in delivering Agromet outputs to farmers." 2009 International Workshop on the Content, Communication and Use of Weather and Climate Products and Services to Sustainable Agriculture (WMO 2009). Toowoomba, Australia 18 - 20 May 2009 Geneva, Switzerland.
USQOnline, Australia
Taylor, James C.. 2006. "USQOnline, Australia." D'Antoni, Susan (ed.) The virtual university: models and messages: lessons from case studies. Paris, France. IIEP/UNESCO. pp. 235-280
Work in progress: a novel method of creating an academic content repository
Phythian, Mark, Taylor, Jim, Reushle, Shirley, Harris, Glenn, Kist, Alexander A. and Ayers, Ron. 2009. "Work in progress: a novel method of creating an academic content repository." Budny, Dan (ed.) 39th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE 2009): Imagining and Engineering Future CSET Education. San Antonio, United States 18 - 21 Oct 2009 Piscataway, NJ. United States. https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2009.5350874
Interactive videodiscs and student control of learning
Pemberton, P. F., Taylor, J. C. and Toleman, M.. 1985. "Interactive videodiscs and student control of learning." 3rd Annual Computer-Assisted Learning in Tertiary Education Conference (CALITE 1985). Melbourne, Australia Dec 1985
Priority areas for research in open and distance education in the 21st century
Taylor, J. C., Postle, G., Reushle, S. and McDonald, J.. 2000. "Priority areas for research in open and distance education in the 21st century." Indian Journal of Open Learning. 9 (1), pp. 99-104.
Open courseware futures: creating a parallel universe
Taylor, James C.. 2007. "Open courseware futures: creating a parallel universe." Australasian Journal of Educational Technology. 10 (1), pp. 1-9.
5th generation distance education: a potentially powerful development tool
Taylor, J. V.. 2005. "5th generation distance education: a potentially powerful development tool." GDLN 2005: East Asia and Pacific Association of Development Learning Centers. Hanoi, Vietnam 11 - 13 Jul 2005
Support students via 5th generation distance education technologies
Taylor, Jim. 2006. "Support students via 5th generation distance education technologies." Toowoomba, Australia.
Teaching and learning online: the workers, the lurkers and the shirkers
Taylor, James C.. 2002. "Teaching and learning online: the workers, the lurkers and the shirkers." CRIDALA 2002: 2nd Conference on Research in Distance and Adult Learning in Asia. Hong Kong, China 05 - 07 Jun 2002 Beijing, China.
A dual model of distance education: the University of Southern Queensland
Taylor, James C.. 1997. "A dual model of distance education: the University of Southern Queensland." Open Praxis. 2, pp. 9-13.