College 2.0

There is no denying that the rapid advancement of communication technologies - led by the world wide web - is irreversibly altering the world, and higher education with it.

We are all struggling to adapt - to know how to harness the power of these technologies to better do what we do. But I think there is a deeper message - that WHAT we do as an institution of higher learning is going to change as dramatically as HOW we do it.

Just as astronomers learn about the structure of our galaxy by observing other galaxies, so to we can learn how higher ed may be transformed by looking at how other information business models (and higher ed IS an information business model) have been and are being transformed.

I began this investigation innocently enough - as Assistant Professor of Internet Technologies at Edison Community College in Piqua, Ohio, I was keeping up with changes in my field, and found an excellent discussion of the Web 2.0 by noted technology writer Tim O'Reilly.

In reading O'Reilly's comparison of Web 1.0 with Web 2.0, it struck me the number of parallels that can be anticipated in higher ed. In this blog, I'll explore some of those parallels and invite discussion and comment.

--Brad

posted by Brad Reed @ 10:55 AM