Widening Expectation-Resource Gap

Widening Gap - Book

But demand for support services less "respectable"? #vwwt2000 Predctn11


Due to cuts in budget, full-time staff, increasing workloads?

PREDICTION #11 OF 20 from year 2000
Still likely?

11.Widening Expectation-Resource Gap

At most educational institutions, the gap between expectations and resources will continue to widen (with respect to the improvement of teaching and learning with technology). The need for academic support services will continue to grow faster than the supply. The competition from industry to hire technical support professionals will become more intense.

Both learners and teachers will need the services of librarians more frequently and extensively so long as sources of information continue to proliferate. Demand will continue to increase for the services of faculty development professionals, instructional design specialists, and other pedagogical experts (as a consequence of the increasing number of faculty members who want to use new applications of technology in their teaching).

[In year 2000 I didn't anticipate the current recession and its impact on reducing demand for tech support employees. However, I also didn't anticipate the accelerating growth in potentially valuable educational information resources and teaching/learning tools available for free on the Web - available and outside the control or ownership of any college or university. It has become VERY difficult to prevent faculty and students from using resources outside the control - and even outside the awareness or understanding - of the IT staff or other academic support professionals. At the same time, it remains VERY difficult for support staff to avoid requests for help in using those same resources.

"The “Support Service Crisis” is most visible with respect to technology support personnel. Closely related causes have the same effects for librarians, faculty development professionals, instructional design and media specialists, etc. As more faculty and students use the Web, librarians’ advice and assistance are more frequently needed to help navigate this new information resource and evaluate the credibility of the sources. As faculty members shift from personal productivity uses of technology to instructional applications, they more often need the help of those with related professional expertise (instructional design, faculty development, pedagogy). As faculty members become more comfortable with the Web and more conscious of students’ different learning styles (visual, audio, …) many of them begin to explore the educational potential of new media and need the help of experts in their use. " - from Collaboration and Support Service Crisis - TLT-SWG Blog, June, 2011]

- 11th of 20 predictions from "A New Vision Worth Working Toward: Connected Education and Collaborative Change," Steven W. Gilbert, 2000-2006, First version published via AAHESGIT listserv January, 2000; PDF of full article

See also "Necessity is the Mother of Self-Deception" - TLT-SWG Blog, Nov 10, 2010

Image: Photo of "The guided missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG-70) makes her way up the Willamette River enroute to Portland, Ore., for the 97th Annual Rose Festival. In the background is the Fremont Bridge." 10 June 2004
www.news.navy.mil (specifically) alternative source: http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Lake_Erie_Drawbridge.JPG, U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 1st Class Michael Larson (RELEASED), public domain