Addressing the eLearning contradiction

Citation

MacDonald CJ, Stodel E, Thompson TL, Muirhead W & Hinton C (2009) Addressing the eLearning contradiction. In: Rogers P, Berg G, Boettcher J, Howard C, Justice L & Schenk K (eds.) Encyclopedia of distance learning, Volume 1. 2nd ed. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference, pp. 33-39. http://www.igi-global.com/chapter/addressing-learning-contradiction/11732

Abstract
In 1997, Drucker suggested that due to the availability of the Internet for delivering university courses and programs, traditional higher education was in deep crisis. He claimed that university buildings were about to become "hopelessly unsuited and totally unneeded" (Drucker, 1997, p. 127). Yet in spite of this, and the technological advances that support the design, development, and delivery of alternative pedagogical approaches, many universities and university professors have resisted integrating educational technology into their teaching practices. A look at today's university campuses, over a decade after Drucker's prediction that university buildings are "totally unneeded," suggests that the "brick and mortar growth" within universities is thriving. Part of what has prevented the proliferation of e-learning and other educational technologies is resistance on the part of teachers and professors to adopt it.

People

Dr Terrie-Lynn Thompson

Senior Lecturer, Education