This course offers an overview of the development of American higher education in the 21st Century. It aims to help students   understand the origins of contemporary practices and problems in American higher education. Virtual reality has become common in both training and simulation. Higher education is likely to be one of the first to commonly make of the virtual environment, particularly in the United States. Technology prompts so-called virtual universities and distance learning institutions, which overrules the traditional linear teaching and learning mode. How technology influences American higher education and how instructional media is allied as one of the teaching approaches also forms one of the major issues that is investigated in the course. This course is designed to help students acquire the ability to use academic English fluently and accurately in speaking, listening, reading and writing.
The content of the course will be presented through various ways: presentations by the instructor (on video), online discussions, regular classroom student presentations, and individual and group assignments online.

Major reading themes include: (1) the development of different types of educational institutions and various aspects of higher educational administration; (2) evaluation and taxonomy in American higher education; (3) academic reputation and mission of the Research University; (4) Technology in American Higher Education; (5) instructional technology in American Higher Education; (6) distance learning

Course Materials

1.     Altbach, Philip G, Robert O. Berdahl, and Patricia J. Gumport, eds. American Higher Education in the Twenty-first Century. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.

2.     Kerr, Clark. The Uses of the University. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001.

3.     University of Michigan. (2000). A University for the 21^st Century. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.

4.        Breton, Gilles and Michel Lambert. (2003). Universities and Globalization. Paris: UNESCO.

5.     Oxford, Rebecca L. ed. Tapestry. Singapore: Thomson Learning, 2000.

6.     Introduction to St. Louis University. Video Tape, St. Louis, 1999.

7.      Robert J. Morse and Samuel M. Flanigan. (2004). "America's Best Colleges 2005: How we rank schools"  U.S. News and World Report.

8.     The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. (2001). The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, 2000 ed. Menlo Park, Calif.

9.     Jonnathan, D. H. (2000). Learning with Technology.

   20%  Worksheet assignment (on-line)