VOL. 26, No. 1
Not too long ago, a university manager’s job seemed relatively simple. Managers had to solicit support from sponsors and the public administration, attract the best professors and maintain discipline within the student body. Today, they must rise to meet a whole new, and much more complex, challenge: managing information and communications technologies (ICTs). The challenge is real: in North America, 90% of universities and colleges use some sort of learning management system (such as Moodle or Blackboard). Students expect to be able to deal with their alma mater through the Web for their course choices, access to documentation, and all administrative issues. Finally, managers constantly require more powerful management information systems.
Luckily for presidents and rectors, a growing number of researchers and authors have come to their rescue. Among them are Tony Bates and Albert Sangrà, who propose a true “roadmap”, that is not only geared to helping them face the rise of ICTs on campuses, but also addresses the transformation of teaching and learning. Tony Bates is a world-renowned consultant in the field of e-learning and distance education, while Albert Sangrà is the Director of Research and Innovation in Education at the extremely dynamic Open University of Catalonia, in Barcelona. Their work is based on the study of about thirty universities and colleges which belong to very diversified cultural and linguistic environments. No aspect of the problem has escaped their scrutiny: the work encompasses instructional design, teacher training in ICTs, student accessibility, the cost-benefit ratio of integrating ICTs into the campus, etc. The result is an extremely practical guide for anyone who has to manage the rising tide of technology, while trying to avoid the errors of those who grappled with the problem in the past.
Their approach is decidedly practical and didactical. There is even an “executive summary” for those all-too-busy rectors! Following a chapter on the contemporary university and an overview of “new technologies” in education, the work broaches the main subject: the importance of university leadership in the advancement of ICTs, ICT governance, evaluation and quality assurance, allocation of resources and cost-benefit analysis, and, finally, the most common obstacles to technological change.
Along the way, the authors efficiently deal with certain myths. For example, universities must turn to ICTs, not because they must accommodate the preferences of “digital natives” or of the “Y generation”, but because it is the best means by which to prepare students who have increasingly diversified socio-demographic profiles (the return of adults to the campus is a generalized phenomenon) for the society of the 21st century. At a time when governments are reducing their commitments to the financing of post-secondary education, ICTs also allow universities to fulfill their mission while maintaining their budgetary balance.
The work is full of very relevant observations on the integration of ICTs into all aspects of the workings of a university. But the persistent message the authors convey, over and over again, is that universities have erred, until now, by being overly timid and cautious in their use of ICTs. “Too often in the case studies, vision was limited to supporting current administrative processes and classroom teaching methods, rather than using technology to lever radical change directed at new and better learning outcomes, greater flexibility for students, and increased cost efficiencies that are measurable through a formal process of evaluation.” They therefore conclude that it is not surprising that huge technological projects have disillusioned more than one professor, frustrated countless students and left many an administrator penniless.
Bates and Sangrà, however, remain optimistic. They persist in thinking that, thanks to the enlightened leadership of university managers and to a better training of teachers themselves in the use of technologies―training that they would make compulsory if it were up to them!―, universities will finally manage to transform themselves. It is difficult to wholly share their optimism when we consider the diehard conservatism of an institution that dates back to the Middle Ages. As for those rectors who are not discouraged by this observation and who, notwithstanding, wish to promote the use of technologies within their establishment, they would do well to carefully read Bates and Sangrà’s work: which will undoubtedly help them avoid making the mistakes made by others in the past.
Raymond Duchesne is the Director of TÉLUQ at l'Université du Québec à Montréal. E-mail: Duchesduchesne.raymond@teluq.uqam.ca