Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T11:10:39.402Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Information Age University?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2015

Lynn L. Reinschmiedt
Lynn L. Reinschmiedt*
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

As a preface to my comments today, I challenge you to consider the following questions. Do the information age technological changes now taking place have the potential to disrupt, or even destroy, the university as we know it? Do these changes have the potential to force restructuring of the land-grant system? My comments today will address these questions. In doing so, however, I will not address problems facing the land-grant system or the agricultural economics profession per se, other than those we face as a part of the overall system of higher education. Others are doing that or have addressed those more unique problems elsewhere. A major National Research Council (NRC) initiative is now examining the relevancy of the land-grant system in the context of today's society; the W. K. Kellogg Foundation has funded an initiative to facilitate positive change within the land-grant system (Warner); and Eidman, in his 1995 American Agricultural Economics Association presidential address, summarized key concerns and issues facing the agricultural economics profession and how we are responding to them. I contend that overlaying the NRC and Eidman concerns is a series of fundamental changes taking place that has the potential to drastically modify the higher education model as we presently know and understand it.

Type
Presidential Address
Information
Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , July 1996 , pp. 1 - 11
Copyright
Copyright © Southern Agricultural Economics Association 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alpert, D. “Rethinking the Challenges Facing the American Research University.” Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, May 1993.Google Scholar
Beilock, R. P., Polopolus, L.C., and Correal, M.. “Ranking of Agricultural Economics Departments by Citations” Amer. J. Agr. Econ. 68(August 1986):595–604.Google Scholar
Blumenstyk, G. “Campuses in Cyberspace.” Chron. Higher Education (15 December 1995):A19, A21.Google Scholar
Blumenstyk, G. “Faculty Group Calls for Caution and Curbs on Distance Education.” Chron. Higher Education (26 January 1996): A20.Google Scholar
Brand, M. “The Wise Use of Technology.” Educational Record 76,4(Fall 1995):38–45.Google Scholar
Brimelow, P. “Are Universities Necessary” Forbes 151(26 April 1993):170–71.Google Scholar
Broder, J.M. “Empiricism and the Art of Teaching.” J. Agr. and Appi Econ. 26,1(July 1994):1–18.Google Scholar
“Campuses Challenged by On-Line University” Washington Technology 10(11 January 1996): 27 pars. Online. Available HTTP: http:search.dc.enews.com/cgi-bin/taos_doc.pl?unix+1+enews+6670+query+education+and+technology.html. 26 January 1996.Google Scholar
Danforth, W. H. “Universities Are Our Responsibilities” Science 269(22 September 1995): 1651.Google Scholar
DeLoughry, T. J. “Making Connections.” Chron. Higher Education (8 December 1995): A21.Google Scholar
DeLoughry, T. J. “Reaching a ‘Critical Mass.’” Chron. Higher Education (26 January 1996): A17.Google Scholar
Dreifus, C. “Present Shock.” New York Times Magazine (11 June 1995):46–50.Google Scholar
Drucker, P. F. “The Age of Social Transformation.” Atlantic Monthly (November 1994):53–80.Google Scholar
Dyson, E., Gilder, G., Keyworth, J., and Toffler, A.. “A Magna Carta for the Knowledge Age.” New Perspectives Quart. 11 (Fall 1994): 130 pars. Online. Available HTTP: http://www.enews.com/magazines/npq/archive/1994/029194.10.html. 7 September 1995.Google Scholar
Eidman, V. “The Continuing Search for Relevance in Agricultural Economics.” Presidential address, American Agricultural Economics Association annual meetings, Indianapolis IN, 7 August 1995.Google Scholar
Gates, B. (with N. Myhrvold and P. Rinearson). The Road Ahead. New York: Viking Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Helfand, D. “Tenure: Thanks but No Thanks.” Chron. Higher Education (15 December 1995): B1–B2.Google Scholar
Honan, W. H. “Professors Battling Television Technology.” New York Times (4 April 1995): A10.Google Scholar
Kendrick, J. “Distance Education via Television: Some Reflections After Four Years.” J. Agr. and Appi. Econ. 27,1(July 1995):101–03.Google Scholar
Laing, J. R. “Campus Unrest.” Barron's (27 November 1995):25–29.Google Scholar
MacKnight, C. B. “Managing Technological Change in Academe” Cause/Effect 18(Spring 1995): 45 pars. Online. Available Gopher: gopher://cause-gopher.Colorado.EDU:70/ORO-41487- exchange-library/.documents/cem9012.txt. 7 September 1995.Google Scholar
Monson, M. J. “Using Computer Technology to Enhance Agricultural Economics Teaching.” J Agr. and Appi. Econ. 27,1(July 1995):95–100.Google Scholar
Narisetti, R. “Manufacturers Decry a Shortage of Workers While Rejecting Many.” Wall Street Journal (8 September 1995): Al, A4.Google Scholar
National Research Council, Committee on the Future of Land Grant Colleges of Agriculture, Board on Agriculture. Colleges of Agriculture at the Land Grant Universities: A Profile. Washington DC: National Academy Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Noam, E. M. “Electronics and the Dim Future of the University” Science 270(13 October 1995):247–49.Google Scholar
Norris, D. M. “Partnerships Between Universities and Information Technology Vendors” Cause/Effect 13(Spring 1990): 64 pars. Online. Available HTTP: http://cause-gopher.Colorado.EDU:70/ORO-41487-exchange-library/.documents/cem9012.txt. 19 December 1995.Google Scholar
Reinhardt, A. “New Ways to Learn.” Byte (March 1995): 65 pars. Online. Available HTTP: http://www.enews.com.magazines/byte/archive. 7 September 1995.Google Scholar
Schoenberg, T. “Nebraska Regents Seek to Redirect Focus of Research.” Chron. Higher Education (20 October 1995): A37.Google Scholar
Schurle, B., and Comer, D. A.. “Technological Advances in Agricultural Economics Curricula.” J. Agr. and Appi. Econ. 27,1(July 1995):86–94.Google Scholar
Shea, C. “Rankings That Roil Also Gain Influence.” Chron. Higher Education (22 September 1995): A54–A55.Google Scholar
Stucky, M. D. “Plugged In—Online University: College Courses by Computer.” PC Novice (August 1995): 55 pars. Online. Available HTTP: http://www.enews.com/magazines/pc-novice/archive. 7 September 1995.Google Scholar
Toffler, A., and Toffler, H.. Creating a New Civilization: The Politics of the Third Wave. Atlanta: Turner Publishing, Inc., 1995.Google Scholar
Twigg, C. A. “The Changing Definition of Learning.” Educom Review (July/August 1994): 12 pars. Online. Available HTTP: http.V/educom.edu.review/review.94/jul.aug/Twigg_Article. 7 September 1995.Google Scholar
Urban, T. N. “Industrialization of the World's Food System.” Presidential address, International Agribusiness Management Association World Congress IV, Caracas, Venezuela, May 1994.Google Scholar
Warner, T. “Creating a Vision for Land Grant Universities and Their Teaching and Learning Programs.” Presentation at workshop entitled “Teaching and Learning with Cases: Promoting Active Learning in Agricultural, Food, and Natural Resource Education.” Oak Ridge Conference Center, Chasta MN, 6-8 July 1995.Google Scholar
Winship, C., and Ratner, M.. “Power to the Pedagogues.” New York Times (17 September 1995): A15.Google Scholar
Wulf, W. A. “Warning: Information Technology Will Transform the University.” Issues in Science and Technology 11(Summer 1995): 46–52 (38 pars.). Online. Available HTTP: http://[email protected]. 28 November 1995.Google Scholar
Zuboff, S. “The Emperor's New Workplace” Scientific American 273(September 1995):202–04.Google Scholar