Investing In Educational Technologies: The Challenge Of Reconciling Institutional Strategies, Faculty Goals, And Student Expectations

The Higher Education in the Digital Age Project (HEDA) is concerned with the policy implications of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for higher education. This paper specifically analyzes some of the ways in which 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 a brief review of activities taking place throughout the US, and discusses some of the pressures that US research universities must face as they plan for the future. Challenges include the financing of ICTs, the pace of technological change, academic culture, student expectations and backgrounds, demands of public stakeholders, and the emergence of new competitive markets. This paper arose out of discussions we have held under the umbrella of the HEDA Project. Those discussions, which included a meeting in October 2001, are referenced throughout.