Higher Education and the American Dream by Marvin Lazerson

Higher Education and the American Dream by Marvin Lazerson

Author:Marvin Lazerson [Lazerson Marvin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: American education, American Dream, higher education, vocational education, academic disciplines, research imperatives, managerial imperatives, research management, reform, vocationalism
ISBN: 9786155211911
Publisher: Central European University Press
Published: 2016-08-17T09:08:53+00:00


4.6 Managing information and communications technology

It is hard to think of a development that has received more attention, is suffused with so much promise, seems always to be on the edge of leading the revolution, invariably costs more than anticipated, and never seems to do quite what its proponents say it will do, other than information technology. It is absolutely necessary to the future of higher education, it opens up horizons on an almost daily basis that were unimaginable just a short while ago, including the capacity to reach millions of people around the globe and to make the vague conception of life-long learning a concrete reality. Information technology has changed libraries, redefined research, made borderless education possible.

It has provided opportunities for administrative, managerial, and financial services to become more effective. And, yet with all the changes and the possibilities, most colleges and universities look pretty much the same, and information technology seems to function more or less as colorful lecture and class notes posted on a screen and as a way of managing registration, grading patterns, and the countless other forms of data required in higher education. In short, information and communications technology are most often used to do what higher education has always done.

Many of the possibilities and challenges of the new technologies go beyond a simple assertion of managerial responsibilities. For example, it is now increasingly clear that the capacity to pay the financial costs needed to create first class services is unequally distributed. Rich institutions can provide quality services; poor ones are barely able to provide basic computing services. To the extent that quality of information technology will have a substantial effect on people’s lives, financially stressed institutions are under serving their students, and may have minimal opportunity to change that. While the resources can be managed to use money more efficiently and effectively, managers cannot by themselves create the resources necessary for high quality technology. That lies in the realm of public policies committed to diminishing levels of financial inequality. Managers can, however, apply what funds are available in focused ways dedicated to learning rather than the all too often tendency to put administrative concerns at the top of the technology agenda.

This need for focus is much more fundamental than most people, especially the modern prophets of expansive use of information and communications technology, are willing to admit. In the rush to join the crowd, almost everything gets put on the table. Student services require more and better technological applications, research requires instant investments, fiscal planning and financial accountability demand substantial resources, teaching cannot be done without totally wired classrooms and laboratories, instant communication is the heartbeat of every institution and organization, and just about every individual needs new hardware and software— students, staff, faculty. In the highly competitive world of higher education, everything is needed immediately and all at once. Indeed, in the frenzy it often seems as if the soul of the university or college is its technological resources. The result is what one would predict: high expectations and disappointing realities.



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