Web-Delivered Education: Shaking the Foundations of the "Establishment"?

Abstract

There is a growing emphasis upon the provision of education through web delivery services that will allow universities and other educational providers to reach out to a global audience. The benefits for the learner include the prospect of flexible systems that provide greater consumer choice in terms of subject, times and patterns of study, and choice of institution. The availability of such a diverse, rich and accessible opportunity for learners, combined with the larger market place would seem to offer established educational institutions many advantages and benefits. This chapter suggests, however, that the growth of such a new and dynamic educational marketplace, populated by a wide range of education providers, will bring with it significant new problems, or rather new incarnations of older problems, that may challenge existence of some current educational providers. These threats are not technical, instead being driven by market related perceptions that may alter provider/student relationships as the web-enabled client-led learning paradigm develops.