Colloquium Archive
Paul LeBlanc
Name: Paul LeBlanc, Springfield College, Houghton Mifflin Corporation
Presentation Title: "Sittin' in the Engine or Sleepin' in the Caboose: Technology, Faculty, TAs, and the 'Re-Engineering' of Higher Education"
Date: October 5, 1995
Abstract
In his talk, Professor LeBlanc takes a broad economic look at the effect of technology on higher education, especially faculty, as we enter a period of dramatic change or "re-engineering," to call up a term with which we are not all comfortable. At the heart of that change is a real threat to faculty and TA work (and life), as administrators and others heed the call to increase productivity and reduce costs. Our profession is following a well established track observed in other professions grappling with "enabling technologies," and it suggests that we need to look more critically at how technology enters our classrooms and against what standards of success we will be held in the coming years. The presentation offers three recommendations for addressing the place and role of the profession within the institution and the culture at large.