Altruism is dead! - The Perfect Storm: BYOD + CLOUD meet MOOCs

Abstract

Storm clouds are gathering on the horizon! A revolution is under way and will reverberate within the HE community for the rest of this decade and may reshape Universities! So what is this revolution? What we are supporting is transformational change to academic processes but for us there may be a complete reengineering of the supporting business processes.
The arrival of portable, permanently internet-connected devices demand new paradigms of engagement between institutions, students and staff. Since the mid-80s, Universities have been improving access to IT-based systems and services to support education and administration. We have been obsessed initially by access ratios (student to PC seats) and then by networks and latterly by Wi-Fi provision. Initially, we were defeated by the seemingly fixed price ($1000) of the hardware and life-time costs. Now a SMART phone/tablet revolution, supported by pervasive 3G/4G networking and affordable contracts, has brought transformation!