Imagine a group of education advocates working back in 1998. Imagine them campaigning against faculty assigning students to read webpages for class because there’s a cost associated with connecting to the internet from home. Now cast your mind forward to 2024 and imagine those same people still lobbying against using the internet in education – campaigning against online courses and online degree programs, emailing announcements to students, providing access to recorded lectures, or distributing a syllabus via the LMS. Lobbying against online class registration, online degree planning tools, filling out the FAFSA online, etc. All because connecting to the internet costs money. And making this argument in the name of equity. How relevant would a “no internet” higher education strategy be in today’s world? More importantly, how equitable would it be?
Generative AI will revolutionize the world to at least the same degree as the internet, probably much more so.
