Library and the Internet

This e-book of On the Horizon, edited by Boria Sax, is devoted to new concepts and innovations in higher education, especially online, that may provide impetus for a paradigm shift. In his introduction entitled “The Library and the Internet, ” Boria Sax analyzes the ways in which digital technologies may impact the traditional tension between the realm of books and reality. In “The Café University, ” Cornel Reinhart argues that cutting-edge technologies from podcasts to virtual reality do not fit harmoniously with the hierarchic structures of a traditional university. In “Can we Talk?” Carla Payne and Cornel Reinhart argue that Blackboard, the popular Learning Management System, supports a behaviorist rather than a constructivist approach to learning. In an opinion piece entitled “Adaptive Individualization: The Next Generation of Online Education, ” Nish Sonwalkar proposes a structured system called “adaptive learning, ” which takes account of individual differences among students. Finally, in an article entitled “Shift Happens, ” Tom Abeles discusses what the internationalization of education will mean for the United States.