Traditional institutions are now up against fresh competition from virtual universities as the world gets more digital. Higher education is now more widely available thanks to these online universities that provide online courses and degrees. In this paper, I will give an overview of the virtual university scene, look at the development of online…

This book proposes a philosophical exploration of the educational role that media plays in university study practices, with a focus on the practices of lecturing and academic writing. Are the media employed in university study practices mere accessories, or rather constitutive of these practices? While this seems to be a purely theoretical…

Knowledge work has become a major component of value creation, especially in industrialized countries. Processing knowledge in virtual ways becomes increasingly possible with emerging technological innovations. This leads to the important question, how to transmit elusive tacit knowledge in a virtual setting. Education at universities benefits…

Higher education today is no longer what it once was. Once upon a time, students only had the option to attend classes in person. The first shift from this format happened when students began taking classes through correspondence, where materials were physically mailed out. Later, as technology increased, a new format led to students being able to…

Distance education across all levels of education is growing at a rapid rate. As institutions and governments attempt to guide distance education, working definitions and their meanings conflict. Perhaps this is in part because administrators and practitioners are working from definitions that are decades-old. This paper suggests new definitions…

The University of Central Florida (UCF) was established in 1963. It is a young, hungry, energetic, and innovative university with a total enrollment of more than 66,000 students and a fully online segment that is growing. UCF positions itself to provide opportunities to people who might not otherwise have access to earn a high-quality college…

The history of American higher education has long been dominated by a battle of sustaining innovation. This paper highlights five diverse institutions that are tackling a broad range of problems in their efforts to innovate and sustain: (1) Arizona State University's open-access Global Freshman Academy creates a new pathway into the institution,…

There have been many drastic changes in higher education in recent years. State funding has decreased, leaving schools responsible for their own revenue growth and for balancing their budgets. Colleges and universities are closing departments and are no longer offering majors that are producing few or no graduates. Small colleges are closing, and…

Virtual mobility initiatives are one of the most flexible, versatile and inclusive approaches in the provision of international experience opportunities. Given that in most universities only a small fraction of students can benefit from forms of academic mobility that involve travelling abroad, Internet-based intercultural interactions prove to be…

The demand for online courses and programs continues to rise as more learners are looking for flexible learning options to meet their needs. Despite declining levels seen in overall enrollment, distance education enrollments are steadily growing (Seaman, Allen, & Seaman, 2018). Along with this demand and increase, however, comes a concern of…

Western Governors University Texas (WGU Texas), where the author is chancellor, is not an easy institution to describe. It just does not fit the profile of most traditional universities, even the newer for-profit and online ones. It brings the work of a national, online, nonprofit university into a state, and it embraces a competency-based…

In late December, a set of articles and essays in "The New York Times" focused on the public library as a place, and on the changing meaning of that place with the rise of electronic books and the demise of brick-and-mortar bookstores like Borders. As librarians "struggle with the task of redefining their roles and responsibilities in a digital…

An entrepreneurial librarian takes the embedded librarian concept one step further at a completely on-line university and markets the virtual library to students, faculty and administration rather than wait for customers to come to the library. York and Vance (2009) make the observation that "one obstacle to marketing an embedded librarian…

Only a generation ago, universities like Northeastern and Boston University had campuses strategically sprinkled throughout eastern Massachusetts. Lesley University offered graduate education programs across the U.S. BU had a contract with the U.S. Army to deliver master's programs on military bases throughout Europe. Mega-high-tech companies,…

This article presents an interview with Paul Avon, the former executive director of the Canadian Virtual College Consortium. Avon has spent over fifteen years in the distance learning (DL) field managing the production and delivery of online learning at TVOntario, Humber College, the Sri Lankan National Online Distance Education Service, and the…