Page 10 - journal19-3

collaboration to occur during and immediately afer the eruption competition that continues today. Te rise of Japan as an
of Krakatoa in 1883. Te processes of research, discovery, and electronics powerhouse in the 1980s, as well as the technological
the dissemination of new knowledge were forever altered by the emergence of nations such as South Korea, India, and China
sheer ability to communicate in a new way, foreshadowing the during the past decade has challenged U.S. dominance. Te
efect that the Internet would have many decades hence. essence of these recurring competitions centers upon the depth,
In a very profound way, each of these three events, and their breadth, and superiority of national workforces.
cumulative impact, signifcantly redefned what higher education Any strategic defciency in a key labor force is now referred to
was meant to produce, but still, not the method by which the as a “Skills Gap”. Global competition for talent supremacy has
product was produced. Te rise of the research-based institution, been a driving causal factor for the ongoing series of educational
as well as the broadening of many other traditionally designed reforms in the U.S., beginning with “New Math”, an educational
universities, changed the underlying assumptions of what subject reform movement in response to Sputnik in the 1960s, to
matter universities were to teach and who their audiences were. today’s “Common Core”, an educational reform movement to
Less than 100 years later, a global confict, World War II, standardize student learning, achievement, and college readiness
accelerated this infection dramatically. Te world political across all 50 states, along with various and associated measures
climate called for breakthroughs in science and technology to of educational quality, access, and efectiveness.
aid the war eforts. Massive projects such as the beginnings of Te Civil Rights Act of 1964 laid the groundwork for further
sophisticated computational capabilities and the Manhattan societal transformation, a role that American universities were
Project relied heavily on new, sophisticated computational tools unprepared to address. In a way similar to the GI Bill, this
and models and the university-based human resources capable legislation opened the door for entry of another large population
of using them. Tis dramatically changed the notion of what that previously had limited or no access to higher education.
universities could contribute. Tey could deliver something more Te ramifcations of this act reverberate still today with legal
than just intellectual superiority as a measure of international challenges to Afrmative Action. Yet while this dramatic change
status. Tey were needed to develop technologic superiority. in mission still did not change the mode of instruction, it did set

Te afermath of the war quickly saw the enactment of the the stage for an eventual challenge to the system decades later, by
Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, the GI Bill. Put into linking signifcantly large populations to advances in computing
place primarily to reward the tens of thousands of returning and telecommunications.
warriors by providing them a means to reintegrate into our Due to rapidly changing cultural norms of communication
nation, the GI Bill profoundly altered access to higher education and social interaction that rely on exponentially developing
for the masses. Again, the mission of higher education was information technologies and the geometric explosion in
challenged to address a much broader and complex range of new knowledge and instantaneous access to it, a shake-up is
societal needs and expectations. underway. Tink for a moment of the print media business in
Also in the 1940s, the frst transistor was invented. Little the mid 1990s. If you are old enough to recall Turbo Gopher,
did anyone, particularly those in higher education, foresee followed by Mosaic, you might appreciate the “Dead Man
the transformative efect that this device would have on the Walking” status of the newspaper industry at that time. It took
advancement of research and on becoming the very means by more than a decade to play out and few, if any, appreciated its
which the model of higher education is being challenged today. signifcance at the beginning. As browsers began to redefne the
Coupled with the follow-on innovations of ARPANET in 1969 news-gathering and dissemination business model, newspapers
and the frst cell phone invented by Motorola in 1973, we are now began to die. Te same can be said for higher education’s product
reaping the disruptive and transformational fallout in the forms of delivery model, although it is only recently that this phenomenon
new modalities of learning driven by the marketplace and cultural is beginning to take root.
changes in the ways that we communicate and acquire knowledge. Traditions do not die without a fght. We see this most vividly
In the late 1950s the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. Te in the debate over Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
Space Race that followed foreshadowed a much broader global Technology cannot replace face-to-face instruction, the

Due to rapidly changing cultural norms of communication and

social interaction that rely on exponentially developing information
technologies and the geometric explosion in new knowledge and
instantaneous access to it, a shake-up is underway.

References Campbell-Kelly, M. (2009, September). Te Origin of Computing.
Scientifc American.
Addis, C. (2003). Jeferson’s Vision for Education, 1760-1845. New York,
NY: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc. Christensen, C. M., Horn, M. B. (2103, November 1). Innovation
Anderson, J., Boyles, J. (2102, July). Te Future of Higher Education. Imperative: Change Everything Online Education as an Agent of
Pew Research Center. Washington, D.C. Transformation. New York Times.
Burke, J. (2007). Connections. Simon & Shuster. Copeland, B. J. (ed.) (2006). Colossus: Te Secrets of Bletchley Park’s
Codebreaking Computers. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

8 LEADERSHIP Vol. 19.3 Winter 2014

Client: The Chair Academy Job: CHAIRAcademy_Journal_19.3
Final size: 8.5” x 11” Colors: CMYK Bleeds: Yes
Created by: Goldfsh Creative • 602.349.2220 • laura@goldfshcreative.net