Now is the Time to Circle the Wagons: Combining the Quality, Reform, and Technology Movements for Higher Education.

Overview & Synopsis

This paper explores the question of how quality is defined within the context of higher education in the context of the recent movements of education reform, technology in education, and quality management of education. It concludes that, to maximize the potential and strengths of each of these movements, they should be combined as a unified force. The basic assumptions about teaching, learning and assessment are discussed first. This section notes that many views of education reform are based on traditional behaviorist assumptions, but that real education reform must challenge assumptions about the nature of learning and how students learn. A discussion of the integration of technology into education argues that higher education must take the initiative in this area. If technologies are viewed as tools and communication devices, they can certainly be used to support education reform. A review of Total Quality Management (TQM) suggests that in education this approach leads to a shift from teaching and testing to continuous learning and improvement based on customer satisfaction, constancy of purpose, continuous improvement, and technique. The paper closes with a proposal for integrating these three movements demonstrating how together they can improve the quality of higher education. (Contains 32 references.) (JB)