The Changing Learning Environment
While tertiary education has become a necessity for employment, Wang and Schrager in the article "it's the end of the university as we know it" published on September 2017 by Quartz, believe that technology is changing the learning environment, however, slower than it should. Wang and Schrager highlight that universities' buildings such as libraries and lecture halls have become less vital with the increased digitalization of learning. In comparison to the 1975 university environment, the article agrees that operations have remained the same yet the rate of innovation has decreased with universities falling short of ideas of individualizing education to reach more people and at an affordable cost.
The Future of Tertiary Education in the Cloud
According to Wang and Schrager, the future of tertiary education in the cloud despite the resistance from university staff and lecturers citing the inevitable loss of jobs. However, several institutions such as Texas A & M are slowly embracing the digital transformation ending the "traditional university model". Moreover, there is a gradual increase of online learning platforms such as Coursera, and digitization of textbooks, floating coding boot camps as well as the successful launch and operations of online tools such as google docs, and Microsoft's adaptive learning software. Nonetheless, Wang and Schrager cite that the digitization of education will affect interpersonal skills such as human connection and emotional identification.
Predicting the Future of Education
Contextually, this article predicts the future of education. it integrates the use of technology as a way of solving the already existing socio-economic inequality in the accessibility of college education. While the old university model was introduced at a time when only 1% of the population had access to college education and only the elite and wealthy had the opportunity, times are changing and technology now has the potential of reaching the larger population in a specialized, custom-tailored and individualized way (Wang and Schrager). In this case, the local, national and international community can access the same level of education regardless of their economic status. Analyzing the pros and cons of the digitized university education, technology has the potential of bridging the class inequality existing in university education as well as reaching a bigger population, therefore the article proves a point that should be widely embraced by more higher learning institutions.
Article Response
To persuade their audience, Wang and Schrager successfully used the logos, pathos, and ethos. The article was successful in passing the message. For instance, he quotes Larry Summers who claims that "not enough people are innovating enough in higher education". Summer further describes that nothing much in operations has changed since 1975 despite the changing population demands. To make their argument valid, the authors use Ethos by portraying Summer as an experienced scholar who was the president of Harvard for five years hence proving the credibility of the argument (Wang and Schrager). Moreover, the article also highlights James Soto Antony's views on the sluggish digitization of learning among institutions. Antony, who is the director of the higher-education program at Harvard's graduate school of education also validates the authors argument through ethos. By quoting such individuals the authors reveal social hierarchies in preference to the argument at hand.
Eliciting Emotions and Belief Systems
The author also used pathos by eliciting emotions of the audience in relation to the necessity for a digitized education system. For instance, the authors mention that "it is untenable for universities to continue existing as sanctums for small group of elites students," (Wang and Schrager). This evokes the readers' emotions and belief system that tertiary education is not only a preserve for the elites but should be equitably be accessible to everyone. Moreover, the authors mention the affordability of online learning as opposed to the old campus experience. Nonetheless, the authors give an exception of premium interaction with scholars which can be available to the rich elites who feel the need of the traditional learning (Wang and Schrager). the effective use of pathos reduces the audiences' judgment as well as increasing the effectiveness of the argument's delivery. However, his is the least successful technique used. The authors do not sustain the evoked emotion since the cons evidenced and which can only be evaded by the rich elites.
Logical Persuasion and Examples
Finally, the articles' logical persuasion/logos is based on examples from real situations and statistics. For instance, to ascertain the idea that university libraries have become less useful, Wang and Schrager highlight the actions of the University of Chicago of moving most of the physical collections underground and replacing the materials with online catalogs and books. Additionally, Wang and Schrager identify that the University of Texas at San Antonio opened study spaces without much of the physical collection of books to embrace the current digital change. The authors also present other successful online platform examples such as Coursera that have successfully inculcated the digital and distance learning. moreover, the authors have used statistics such as only 50% of university respondents believed that the transformation would occur by 2025 despite most people believing in technology as the future. This is the most powerful rhetorical device used by the authors. Wang and Schrager give both natural and artificial proof of the need to embrace technology as the future of college education. The article gives examples of already running and successful digital programs as well as highlighting the potential of technology in the near future.
Concluding the Future of University Education
In conclusion, the current university education system utilized less of the previously hailed structures such as libraries and lecture halls. With the internet already being used as a source of knowledge, incorporating online university classes would enhance equality universally with internet access being the only major requirement. While most universities might be skeptical of implementing these changes, the end of traditional university models is fast approaching.
Reference
Wang, Amy X., and Allison Schrager. "It's The End Of The University As We Know It". Quartz, 2017, https://qz.com/1070119/the-future-of-the-university-is-in-the-air-and-in-the-cloud/. Accessed 8 Oct 2018.
