The Changing Situation of University in the Digital Age

• Main Authors: Juana M. Sancho Gil, Adriana Ornellas, Judith Arrazola Carballo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Asociación Iberoamericana de Educación Superior y a Distancia (AIESAD) 2018-02-01
• Series: RIED: Revista Iberoamericana de Educación a Distancia
• Subjects: cambio tecnológico, innovación, educación superior, cambio social, condiciones de trabajo.
• Online Access: http://revistas.uned.es/index.php/ried/article/view/20673
• ISSN: 1138-2783; 1390-3306

Extensive and profound political, economic, social and technological changes have taken place over the last forty years, mediated by neoconservative movements and the apparently unstoppable development of digital technology. At the same time, however, fundamental issues such as asymmetric power relations, inequality, poverty and exclusion have not only remained unchanged but are becoming more pronounced, producing, in some respects, movements and trends of reactionary change. From this perspective, in this article we begin by discussing the meaning of changes in the university field, based on contributions from different authors interested in the subject. We continue to analyze the problem considering the effects of the transformations produced by digital technologies on the lives and professional experience of university teachers and researchers. The evidence provided by this research project allows us to situate the impact of the unprecedented proliferation of information and the use of digital resources on the notion of knowledge and on teaching and learning methods, as well as to envisage the challenges to face by university.  The text concludes considering some of the current university challenges and perspectives, based on various international studies and proposals. Our conclusions invite the reader to necessarily question the sense and the role of digital technology, not only in the seemingly inevitable transformation of university, but also in that of society.