1998/01/05 by David F. Noble · 1 voice · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Engineering · Computer Science · #Online and Blended Learning #Experimental Learning in Engineering #Online Learning and Analytics
paper · doi:10.5210/fm.v3i1.569
openalex publication_date 1998/01/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/25
In recent years changes in universities, especially in North America, show that we have entered a new era in higher education, one which is rapidly drawing the halls of academe into the age of automation. Automation - the distribution of digitized course material online, without the participation of professors who develop such material - is often justified as an inevitable part of the new "knowledge-based" society. It is assumed to improve learning and increase wider access. In practice, however, such automation is often coercive in nature - being forced upon professors as well as students - with commercial interests in mind. This paper argues that the trend towards automation of higher education as implemented in North American universities today is a battle between students and professors on one side, and university administrations and companies with "educational products" to sell on the other. It is not a progressive trend towards a new era at all, but a regressive trend, towards the rather old era of mass-production, standardization and purely commercial interests.