The Online Education Controversy and the Future of the University

The neo-liberal reform of the university has had a huge impact on higher education and promises still more changes in the future. Many of these changes have had a negative impact on academic careers, values, and the educational experience. Educational technology plays an important role in the defense of neo-liberal reform, less through actual accomplishment than as a rhetorical justification for supposed progress. This paper outlines the main claims and consequences of this rhetorical strategy and its actual effects on the university to date.