Australian Universities’ Review - The opposite of choice - New technologies and new markets in Australian education

Oct 15, 2026

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Explores how shifting educational technologies and market pressures are reshaping teaching in Australian universities, from lecture-based routines toward designs driven by uncertain assumptions about student expectations. Argues that universities face continuing pressure to adapt because international competition and digital media enable flexible, nonlinear learning. Highlights a debate over who drives demand for off-campus learning technologies and how uneven ICT skills across student backgrounds affect implementation. Emphasizes considering government-created educational markets and school sector changes when planning university technology strategies.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

The opposite of choice

Teaching methods and market-driven change in higher education

Flexible learning and the West Report proposals

The student perspective and ICT skills distribution

Linking university technology strategy with schooling system change

A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W The opposite of choice New technologies and new markets in Australian education JULIAN THOMAS , DENISE MEREDYTH , LEDA BLACKWOOD Once upon a time in the Wes. . .1 Most Australian university teachers can see why the lecture, lab and seminar may sometimes be ineffective ways of teaching an increasingly dispersed and busybody of students. Most are willing to subject themselves to advice on teaching technique, even from progressivist teaching evangelists. Once, it could be claimed that the disciplines were inseparable from traditional routinesand drills that made scholars and formed habits useful in other walks of life, even if these were hard to explain to outsiders. That argument seems to have been lost. Rationales for lectures, examinations and the teacher’s pastoral authority and scholarly example now seem exotic and ‘disempowering’. As universities expand their centres of higher education research on the ‘teachinglearning process’, using them as agents of change in promotion and tenure rounds, academics have to draw up lesson plans, evaluate their effectiveness and confess in their diaries. University teaching is edging towards teacher training, secondary schools and TAFE, connecting up to local education environments while trying to edge into more lucrative markets and international learning networks. Educational design becomes a process of guessing what the new student-as-client expects from the educational product. These trends are likely to continue if the West Report (1997) proposals for expanding online teaching and flexible learning are implemented. The Report uses three arguments to promote flexible learning: the needs of international economic competition and skill-building; choice and flexibility for the ‘active learner’; and improvements in access and equity across the education 1. Much of this work has benefited from the contributions made by colleagues in the process of a large continuing research project on IT skills in Australian schools. We have drawn on references and suggestions from Patricia Wise, Peter Taylor, Glenice Watson, LiisaVon Hellens, Glen Russell, Neil Russell and Anita Greenhill. We are also grateful to Rhoda Reyes and Sam Bandidt for research assistance. However, none of these colleagues are responsible for the arguments developed and put here. system. Universities will go under unless they adapt their teaching to the demands of an international student market reared on the new multimedia technologies. Institutions must adapt to the ways in which students now learn, since they are used to the flexibility, nonlinearity and choice offered by digital media. In this issue, Yoni Ryan questions the assumption that the demand for flexible, off-campus learning technologies is coming from students. She also questions the West Report’s assumptions about school leavers’ expectations of high-tech teaching, suggesting that many may not be as adept with the new technologies as has been assumed, especially those coming from state and private parochial schools. Despite the homogenising influence of generic distance education models, she notes, universities face the challenge of accommodating students with a wide range of backgrounds, skills and expectations. Many have had little exposure to the new technologies in their classrooms and only some—from wellresourced homes—are the adept experimenters imagined by the flexible learning enthusiasts. This may change as schools implement information technology policies and as home consumption of multimedia increases. For now, higher education institutions can expect to have to offer many students intensive training in information technology, before they can become the discriminating consuming agents for whom the new learning resources are being developed. The question is, how widely distributed are the skills and the resources? Do higher education institutions know what to expect in the local mar

FAQs

Why does the article say traditional teaching rationales are becoming “disempowering”?

It argues that as universities expand higher-education research into the teaching-learning process, academics are pushed into planning, evaluation, and documentation roles, making older lecture, assessment, and authority-based rationales seem less effective or legitimate.

What three arguments does the West Report use to promote flexible learning?

It promotes flexible learning based on (1) international economic competition and skill-building, (2) choice and flexibility for the active learner, and (3) improved access and equity in education.

How does the article challenge assumptions about flexible off-campus learning demand?

It questions whether students are the primary source of demand and suggests many school leavers may not be as adept with high-tech teaching as assumed, given uneven exposure to new technologies and the homogenizing effect of generic distance education models.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Blitz