RESTRUCTURING OF AUSTRALIAN HIGHER-EDUCATION - INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYIN GEOGRAPHY TEACHING AND LEARNING

Australian higher education has experienced substantial change since t he early 1980s, with a transition to mass higher education, closer ali gnment to national political objectives, increasing Federal Government control, a growing emphasis on 'quality' and 'value for money', and o rganisational restructuring with manifestations ranging from the creat ion of the Unified National System to the merger or closure of individ ual departments. At the same time, evolving conceptions of learning an d new patterns of demand, with growing emphasis on lifelong learning a nd flexible access to education, pose new challenges for educators. No w, the policies of the new Federal Coalition Government are likely to engender further change, with growing differentiation of universities a probable outcome. information technology has so far played a relativ ely peripheral role in teaching and learning in higher education, but important changes there, including rapid shifts in the relationship be tween cost and computing power, and the explosive emergence of the Wor ld Wide Web, are now providing the basis on which information technolo gy can become increasingly central to teaching and learning. Higher ed ucation is close to the limits of incremental adjustment to pressures for change and it seems likely that it will experience major restructu ring, with its eventual reconstruction around the capabilities of info rmation technology. Geography has already been much affected by restru cturing pressures, including above-average growth in teaching loads an d threats to its disciplinary identity because of internal reorganisat ion of many universities. Despite a tradition of innovative, high-qual ity teaching, geography has not generally been a leader in the develop ment and application of information technology. Nevertheless, a case s tudy of an experimental use of the World Wide Web provides an example of directions that teaching and learning in the discipline might take.