Scientia Talk to Focus on Educational Transformation

Scientia Talk to Focus on Educational Transformation

Higher education is in for a radical transformation driven by distance learning and the selection of research teams from a variety of institutions worldwide, according to Frank Huband, an engineering leader who will deliver the next Scientia lecture.

Huband, executive director of the American Society for Engineering Education, will deliver the next Scientia lecture, titled “The Virtual University: Alternatives to Traditional Structures.” The lecture is set for 4 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 18, in the Kyle Morrow Room of Fondren Library. The event is free and open to the public.

Each year, Scientia sponsors a series of colloquia. The topic of the 1999-2000 Scientia colloquia is “Rethinking the University.” Most colloquia consist of a speaker, a panel of discussants who respond to the speaker’s remarks and a period for questions from the audience.

“Since the time of Aristotle, teaching methods, for most educators, have remained unchanged,” Huband said in an abstract about his upcoming lecture. But just as many other aspects of life have been transformed by globalization and technology, higher education, in the next few decades, will face dramatic changes. Higher education will be transformed in that period into an activity that contains major global and technology-driven components.”

Huband foresees changes in both the educational and research activities of the university.

“Distance learning has already begun to make some inroads into the academic world,” he said. “The quality of the best distance-based courses has improved to the point that smaller schools can reasonably purchase distance courses to supplement the offerings they can provide. The long-term impact of such activities will be dramatic, and who the biggest winners will be depends strongly on the outcome of an intellectual property dispute that has already begun between faculty and their institutions.”

Huband said a substantial change is coming in the research arena.

“We are beginning an era where research teams can be selected from multiple institutions worldwide, with no reduction in efficiency compared to the single-institution based teams of the past,” he said. “This will allow smaller institutions, if they are agile, to play a larger role in the research process.”