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Von Hügel Institute University of Cambridge

The Commoditization of Higher Education & the E-Learning Revolution

Von Hügel Institute for Critical Catholic Inquiry

10th Cambridge International Conference on Open & Distance Education

Ian Walcott | University of the West Indies

ABSTRACT: For the purposes of this paper, higher education will be defined as post-secondary school education or tertiary education. This is very important because as we witness the globalization of education, then it becomes imperative to define levels and standards, for what may be considered secondary in one country may very well be tertiary in another.

In addition, we will make a distinction between academic, professional and vocational types of training and education. Though most universities in the USA and indeed Britain have long seized the opportunity to widen their scope by providing professional training through their ‘extra-mural’ departments, the university at large is still seen as a seat of academia. Professional and vocational training has been taken up by other educational institutions or training providers. What is more important is that since the grand explosion of the Internet, there is now looming on the horizon, the further commoditization of higher education.

Indeed we say further commoditization since the process has long started with most institutions using similar systems, organizational structures and operational procedures. This was fueled by international exchange programs and the need for mutual recognition of certification. This paper posits the idea that in coming years, we will witness rapid commoditization of higher education as we move towards electronic learning (e-learning). This will occur for the following reasons:

1. Technology has an in-built tendency to move toward commoditization as it advances and confronts competition. Example of this can be seen with the computer, the photo copier and the camera where digitization led to rapid commoditization. Another example is in the software industry where even though there may be a few dominant players, all new comers tend to make their products follow similar user-friendly interfaces as those of the dominant player.

2. The above examples have linked commoditization to standardization and this is a natural corollary of the process. In other words, e-learning platforms will soon become very standardized as the e-learner comes to expect graphical interfaces that are user-friendly, common and intuitive. Indeed this is the standard set by Microsoft products and e-learning providers will have to follow suit since most of their e-learners are already using the intuitive Microsoft product line for most of their every needs.

3. The Dot-com industry has also taught us that the early bird catches the worm and just as Amazon.com has become the leading online bookstore of choice due to its early arrival, we can almost predict that a similar phenomenon will occur with e-learning providers.

4. As the e-learning industry consolidates and dominant players emerge, there will be further commoditization as colleges, universities and other providers of higher education start to outsource their e-learning, as an alternative option to expensive in-house research, development and deployment.

The paper is broken down into three sections. Firstly we will examine what is commoditization and why it occurs. Secondly, we will look at the driving factors behind e-learning and finally, we examine the opportunities and threats of commoditization as well as recommendations for the e-learner and others committed to lifelong learning.

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