THE FUTURE IMPACT OF THE INTERNET ON HIGHER EDUCATION The Internet significantly affects African economies at different levels and in numerous different impact areas. In particular the Internet impacts firms in various sectors, individuals and governments. It also has some observable general macro-economic effects. At the firm level, the restructuring of business models in association with use of the Internet has led to improved efficiencies. The impact of the Internet can also be seen in the rapid growth of new firms founding their businesses on the Internet. The Internet’s enhanced communication capabilities are affecting nearly all sectors of the economy in ways that may be as subtle as making previously hard-to-find data available online or as profound as transforming an entire market such as is occurring with music, video, software, books and news. The Internet is reshaping the way individuals live. It brings benefits of higher consumer welfare (through a larger variety of digital goods and services, lower prices, improved information gathering, more distribution channels and so forth). In addition, individuals benefit from a more efficient labour market and, on a broader level, from positive impacts on the environment and in education. Internet services have experienced exponential growth in Africa, thanks to the significant investments made in building backbone infrastructure and the roll-out of 3G networks. This has allowed millions of Africans to connect to the internet for the first time. The continent was now in a better position in terms of international bandwidth, as capacity had been added faster than peak demand had grown. 16% of the continent’s 1-billion people are online, but the take-up is rising rapidly as mobile networks are built and as the cost of internet-capable devices continues to fall. More than 720-million Africans have cellphones, about 167-million already use the internet and 52-million are on Facebook. Its impact in Africa to date has been much smaller, but is likely to accelerate in the coming decade and could have a transformative effect on the continent’s development. Governments have placed internet-driven economic growth firmly on the agenda, with several countries pursuing ambitious plans to expand broadband access. In Nigeria, most experts believe that the data center as we know today will undergo major changes over the next decade. Brainstorm Associates will play a crucial role in data centers, while the way in which data centers are powered going to change altogether since the emergence of wireless technologies, smart products and complete software solutions, also commonly known as the Internet of Things is set to play a central role in intensifying the volume of data that is being collected. Brainstorm Associates recommends a good preparation for this growth by creating a position responsible for developing new digital business opportunities, create teams that include changes in the digital landscape, and establish investment models in line with the development of new technologies and skills. One of the solutions put forward by BLA, Nigeria is the ability to place data in transit, like video streams that do not need to be stored permanently. For Nigerian governments, Internet development enables better communication with citizens, industry and other organisations. The Internet has also helped governments run more efficiently via improved information sharing, increased transparency and the automation of various resource-intensive services. The impacts of the Internet on the individual, firm and government level can be also observed at the aggregated, macroeconomic scale. Existing empirical studies, including ongoing BLA, Nigeria Projects, suggest a positive link between increasing Internet adoption and use and economic growth. Even though the aggregated effects are still preliminary, the relationship between Internet development and economic growth, as well as microeconomic evidence, suggest that governments should continue to pursue policies that help promote Internet connectivity and encourage the take-up of services. Today the question about the nature and magnitude of the relationship between the development of the Internet and economic performance is particularly relevant. Policymakers are designing new legal rules involving Internet intermediaries, debating new regulations in this area, and considering new investments in network development; to develop rules, regulations and policy, policymakers need to understand the role of the Internet in the economic processes at both micro- and macro-economic levels. To understand better the areas and magnitude of the economic impact of the Internet, the African countries have developed a research program that examines these issues. Since Internet began as an important tool for improving communication but has transformed into a ubiquitous technology supporting all sectors across the economy. In fact, the Internet is now widely considered a fundamental infrastructure in African countries, in much of the same way as electricity, water and transportation networks. It can now be considered as having the characteristics of a general purpose technology. Because of the universal, transformational character of the Internet, its economic impact can be observed in numerous different areas, at various levels. Today the Internet affects the everyday activities of individuals, firms, and governments in many ways. In addition, the Internet also tends to produce broader, economy-wide effects. The ongoing Project informs policymakers about ways in which the Internet impacts economies, and about the levels and areas of impact. It is designed to structure and to assess the economic impact areas of the Internet at the individual-, firm-, and government-levels, as well as at the aggregate, macroeconomic level. It begins with a short discussion of possible methods of quantitative assessment of both: the Internet and its economic impact. Indeed, in order to assess its economic impacts, one should first discuss the ways of measuring the Internet, which is challenging because the Internet itself is rapidly changing. To date, the focus has been on measuring the availability and adoption of Internet access: initially offered through dial-up and currently through broadband connections. However, as Brainstorm Associates noted previously, as the Internet evolves to become basic infrastructure and adoption saturates, the Internet economy will become increasingly indistinguishable from the overall economy. What will matter is how different firms, workers, or consumers utilise the Internet and then measurement becomes inherently more difficult. The growth of the self-service economy and the changing role of consumers as producers of media content, participants in product design, promotion, and transaction processing illustrate this phenomenon. Separating consumption from production when the boundary between firm and customer blurs requires ever-more detailed information about the specific activities being undertaken. Increasingly detailed business and labour surveys will be needed to track how the Internet is being used to accomplish the varied tasks that go into business production. Initially, we may focus on the time spent using the Internet in different business functions (e.g., research and development, supply chain management, retailing, or general and administrative tasks) or worker activities (e.g. web browsing, word processing, or communications). The need for precise quantification is particularly visible at the macroeconomic level because is it vital for a robust quantitative analysis. For single cases, at the individual, firm- or government-levels, qualitative analyses are often sufficient. Indeed the illustrative examples of the impact of the Internet at these levels could be sufficient to demonstrate its narrow impact in a given firm or given case. An aggregation of individual cases should be supported with some quantitative analysis that in turn should use a single, quantitative proxy for the Internet use. As IT experts and stakeholders responded to BLA, Nigeria Prospect increased by 79% as they agreed with a scenario that articulated modest change by the end of the decade: BLA, Nigeria now echo that in 2020, higher education will not be much different from the way it is today. While people will be accessing more resources in classrooms through the use of large screens, teleconferencing, and personal wireless smart devices, most universities will mostly require in-person, on-campus attendance of students most of the time at courses featuring a lot of traditional lectures. Most universities assessment of learning and their requirements for graduation will be about the same as they are now. Also 60% Graduate Nigerians agreed with a scenario outlining more change: By 2020, higher education will be quite different from the way it is today. There will be mass adoption of teleconferencing and distance learning to leverage expert resources. Significant numbers of learning activities will move to individualized, just-in-time learning approaches. There will be a transition to hybrid classes that combine online learning components with less-frequent on-campus, in-person class meetings. Most universities assessment of learning will take into account more individually-oriented outcomes and capacities that are relevant to subject mastery. Requirements for graduation will be significantly shifted to customized outcomes. Brainstorm Associates Respondents with the ongoing Project 2014 were asked to select the one statement of the two scenarios above with which they mostly agreed; the question was framed this way in order to encourage survey participants to share spirited and deeply considered written elaborations about the potential future of higher education. While 38% agreed with the statement that education will be transformed between now and the end of the decade, a significant number of the survey participants said the true outcome will encompass portions of both scenarios. Just 3%of survey takers did not respond. For billions of people around the world, the Internet has become an essential component of their everyday social and business lives. And though they seldom give it a moment’s thought, the search engines that help them navigate through the plethora of pages, images, video clips, and audio recordings found on the World Wide Web have also become essential. Search technology—shortened simply to “search” in the IT world and referred to as such in the rest of this report—is only two decades old, but it is a cornerstone of the Internet economy. As Brainstorm Associates Leadership in Community Development Project 2014 continue to unlock Research Learning and Consulting Services with its Values; BLA, Nigeria Most Research Report to date has looked at and quantified only three ways in which search creates value: by saving time, increasing price transparency, and raising awareness. Brainstorm Leadership Academy, Nigeria Research Education suggests this underestimates value creation from research, because there are additional sources of value. Some of these can be estimated in financial terms. Others cannot, either because they are difficult to measure or because they create value to society that may not have direct financial worth. For example, it is hard to gauge the value of search, financial or otherwise, to students in developing economies who find course materials made available online by world-class universities. In all, Brainstorm Associates identified sources of Research Learning and consulting Services value: 1. .. Better Matching: Research helps customers, individuals, and organizations find information that is more relevant to their needs. 2. .. Time saved. Research accelerates the process of finding information, which in turn can streamline processes such as decision making and purchasing. 3. .. Raised awareness. Research helps all manner of people and organizations raise awareness about themselves and their offerings, in addition to the value of raised awareness from an advertiser’s perspective that has been the focus of most studies. 4. .. Price transparency. This is similar to “better matching” in that it helps users find the information they need, but here, the focus is on getting the best price. 5. .. Long-tail offerings. These are niche items that relatively few customers might want. With the help of research, consumers can seek out such offerings, which now have greater profit potential for suppliers. 6. .. People matching. This again entails the matching of information but this time focusing on people, be it for social or work purposes. 7. .. Problem solving. Research tools facilitate all manner of problem solving, be it how to build a chair, identify whether the plant your one-year-old has just swallowed is poisonous, or advance scientific research. 8. .. New business models. New companies and business models are springing up to take advantage of research. Without search, many recently developed business models would not exist. Price comparison sites are a case in point. 9. .. Entertainment. Given the quantity of digital music and video available, search creates value by helping to navigate content. For a generation of teenagers who pass on TV to watch videos on YouTube instead, research has also enabled a completely different mode of entertainment. Brainstorm Associates IT Research Experts expect more efficient collaborative environments and new grading schemes; they worry about massive online courses, the shift away from on-campus life. Brainstorm Associates Research experts believe market factors will push universities to expand online courses, create hybrid learning spaces, move toward ‘lifelong learning’ models and different credentialing structures by the year 2020. But they disagree about how these whirlwind forces will influence education, for the better or the worse. Experimentation and innovation are proliferating. Some Higher Institutions are delving into hybrid learning environments, which employ online, and offline instruction and interaction with professors. Others are channeling efforts into advanced teleconferencing and distance learning platforms—with streaming video and asynchronous discussion boards—to heighten engagement online. Even as all this change occurs, there are those who argue that the core concept and method of universities will not radically change. They argue that mostly unfulfilled predictions of significant improvement in the effectiveness and wider distribution of education accompany every major new communication technology. In the early days of their evolution, radio, television, personal computers—and even the telephone—were all predicted to be likely to revolutionize formal education. Nevertheless, the standardized knowledge-transmission model is primarily the same today as it was when students started gathering at the Nigerians Universities. For a millennium, universities have been considered the main societal hub for knowledge and learning. And for a millennium, the basic structures of how universities produce and disseminate knowledge and evaluate students have survived intact through the sweeping societal changes created by technology — the moveable - type printing press, the Industrial Revolution, the telegraph, telephone, radio, television, and computers. Today, though, the business of higher education seems to some as susceptible to tech disruption as other information-centric industries such as the news media, magazines and journals, encyclopedias, music, motion pictures, and television. The transmission of knowledge need no longer be tethered to a college campus. The technical affordances of cloud-based computing, digital textbooks, mobile connectivity, high-quality streaming video, and “just-in-time” information gathering have pushed vast amounts of knowledge to the “placeless” Web. This has sparked a robust re-examination of the modern university’s mission and its role within networked society. One major driver of the debate about the future of the university centers on its beleaguered business model. Students and parents, stretched by rising tuition costs, are increasingly challenging the affordability of a college degree as well as the Degree’s ultimate value as an employment credential. . In addition, Mr. Sunday Reuben Jnr. CEO/Principal Consultant at Brainstorm Leadership Academy, Nigeria said that on a daily basis, both businesses and individuals use technology. Brainstorm Associates cannot deny, technology has become part of our lives, at least every one of us has to use it, either for communication, education, health purposes, job creation, travel or business growth. Lets take a simple look at communication. As humans, it is natural that we communicate. In the past this could be done through letters and postage companies would take a while to deliver your message. But now each of us uses technology to communicate to our friends, business associates, consumers and loved ones. The simplicity of communication has been aided by the invention of mobile phones and internet. These two inventions have changed the way we communicate, which is a good thing in our society and generation as humans…today businesses who have embraced technology have gained a competitive advantage in the market, technology can improve efficiency. Let’s take a simple example of a bakery using technology. If a bakery automates its production line and installs temperature sensors and cooling facilities, it will deliver quality products in time. These temperature censors can be programmed so that they send information to the operator and they find out when the room temperature drops or increases. This saves the operator of the bakery time and risks and he use of automated systems in a bakery will mean that manual labor will be cut down which is a benefit to the business owner. But this will leave many people who would have done this task jobless. Also small bakeries which can’t afford this technology will be left out because deploying these automated temperature censors might be expensive for small businesses. Which means they will not be in position to compete which might also led to the collapse of the business and it will again result into loss of Jobs; showcasing that universities will continue their transition to hybrid classes using online learning components and occasional in-person meetings, while smaller colleges will both adopt online capabilities and technologies to promote access to remote resources while maintaining a focus on in-person, on-campus attendance of seminars and (some) lectures. The length of the learning period (the traditional four-year degree) may change as a result of the focus on combined learning, with integration of more off-site activities with the traditional scholastic setting. I also think that economic factors over the next few years may promote the evolution of educational institutions along the lines of a transition to hybrid learning, while also preventing any mass adoption of just-in-time approaches.” What BLA, Nigeria is focus with most with the ongoing Leadership in community Development Project 2015 is ensuring effectively collaborative education with peer-to-peer learning which will become a bigger reality and will challenge the lecture format and focus on “learning how to learn in building and development communities of learners” already our autonomy will be shifted away from the sole lecturer in tomorrow’s university classrooms, maintains onsite learning that are ideally, were people will learn to educate themselves with teachers acting as mentors and guides; adding that by 2020, universities should re-examine how technology can enhance students’ critical thinking and information acquisition skills, since the educational system is largely broken,” Nigerians are too focused on the result of getting a degree rather than teaching people how to learn: how to digest huge amounts of information, craft a cogent argument in favor of or against a topic, and how to think for oneself. Individuals learn differently, and we are starting to finally have the Information Technology to embrace that instead of catering to the lowest common denominator. Brainstorm Associate Research Learning now is at an early stage of its evolution. For example, researches for video or photographic images still largely depend on text searches by file names or key words, not image searches. Likewise, services that identify scraps of music have not yet found a killer application, and technologies capable of capturing a sign in one language and translating it into another remain rudimentary. All this is work in progress. At the same time, voice recognition has improved dramatically and is already changing the search habits of many mobile users. In addition, search technology is now being grafted onto other consumer electronics devices, and cameras are being used as scanners to read bar codes and in turn consult databases to do on-the-spot price comparisons. Although the future of search remains hard to predict given the pace of change, it seems likely that its value will only grow as we rely on it more and more. Brainstorm Associates Research Learning technology will need to develop to keep pace with what it has helped unleash, namely, a fast-growing volume of online content: one study estimated that the amount of digital information will grow by a factor of 44 from 2015 to 2020.110 Amid the trillions of gigabytes, the task of search technology will be to make sure the search is still quick and the results relevant. With so much more information available, the danger is that we might reach a point where the value of the time it takes to find what we are searching for is higher than the utility of finding it. Conversely, the more powerful search becomes, the more value can be distilled from a mountain of data. Therefore as Brainstorm Associates social pages adheres to the highest of standards and collects high quality articles from around the Web, Citizens Tipster is a model for quality reporting and editing. The site is also a place where other journalists can source story ideas, breaking news and key trends for writing their own articles. According to a 2013 Research study by the BLA, Nigeria, 74 percent of political journalists surf the Web for at least an hour each day, with 36.9 percent spending between one to two hours per day and 30.6 percent spending two to three hours a day. The most frequent use of the time spent was reading news coverage, which over half said they do “very often.” Members of the public receive high quality information, news and analysis helping them to make good decisions on what policies to support, how to spend their money effectively, be more aware of key trends affecting the world, take advantage of spiritual, recreational and cultural opportunities, learn what is occurring with key economic institutions, use health news to their advantage and to spend their leisure time more wisely. People receive the most informative, most accurate, and most intelligent news experience on the Web. Source: Godwin Jonathan Chief Editor at Citizens Tipster
Posted on: Wed, 07 May 2014 16:29:17 +0000
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