Higher Education in the Digital Age: A U.S. Perspective on Why Accurate Predictions May Be Difficult

This paper analyzes some of the ways in which Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are being employed as possible solutions to the triad of pressures facing US research universities: (a) holding down costs, (b) providing access to an increasingly diverse demographic, and (c) maintaining quality. It presents the preliminary results of a large research project investigating the economic and pedagogical impacts of technology enhancements in a large lecture course at the University of California, Berkeley. Findings from this study, as well as a review of activities taking place through out the US, show that student expectations and backgrounds, the pace of technological change, financing ICTs, demands of public stakeholders, and the emergence of new competitive markets are among the multiple pressures that US research universities must face as they plan for the future.