Internet as Teenager In Higher Education: Rapid Growth, Transformation, Uncertain but Bright Future

This is a personal reflection on the impact of Internet technologies on higher education around the world over the last 13 years. It chronicles my observations of differences between perceptions and realities, of enthusiasm and disappointment, and the changes that have taken place in learning, teaching, and the structure of higher education during this period. Based on the work of others, this reflection also includes a prediction of the near term introduction of new instructional technologies and draws implications for higher education from these predictions and this history. I conclude with an assertion that the Internet has already transformed higher education and that we can expect more rapid changes in the near future, changes that will alter not only learning, but the consciousness of all learners.