Teaching and learning processes have remained relatively stable for a long time. The traditional ones have much in common with handicraft methods: outputs are produced to order using "one-off" methods, usually at a single location; not much capital is required other than human capital and the buildings in which these participants work; the methodology is regarded as mysterious-even the participants themselves cannot describe how and why it works, and the only way to produce the next generation of providers is through apprenticeship; and ideas for outsourcing or reengineering are regarded with suspicion. Although change is occurring in parts of the academy, the traditional view of education holds sway (Zemsky and Massy, 1995). Doing more with less is not necessarily impossible, but it requires significant changes in teaching, learning, and administrative and support processes. Technology provides one avenue for change. It offers no panacea but it does provide some real opportunities.
What can technology contribute to increasing learning productivity? First, technology offers economies of scale: after a (sometimes large) front-end investment, the cost of usage per incremental student is apt to be low. Moreover, very large amounts of information can be accessed at low incremental cost. Second, technology offers mass-customization: it allows faculty to accommodate individual differences in student goals, learning styles, and abilities, while allowing access at any time and from any place. Technology enables students to work at their own pace with continuous assessment, in contrast to the traditional postsecondary education method, which could be described as batch processing with episodic assessment. The areas that can profit most from technology-based strategies are those subjects that have a high volume of students, a standardized curriculum, and over whose content faculty are less possessive.