Education in 2020 will be much different from the current education, and most differences must be caused by the development of computer technology.   Computer-based education is being developed very rapidly and will bring a lot of changes to the education in twenty years.  In the near future, the reduced costs from the development of technology will allow much more people to have his/her own personal computer and to use the Internet.   It will be the basic assumption to bring the three changes that I will talk about; the course model, the boundary of students, and the life-long learning.   In addition, the change of the role of university results from three changes will be mentioned briefly.

1. The course model will be changed.

The development of electronic network technologies will change the traditional face-to-face apprenticeship to the teleapprenticeship using telecommunications.   It can give to learners several advantages: time, place, cost, etc.. in educational area.   Therefore, the way of class will be more active, coordinative and project oriented.   For example, most class will prefer to SatEx course model: a hybrid course model, using telecommunications combined with face-to-face meetings.   While most of the course interaction is conducted via the Iternet, there are four full day face-to-face meetings held on Saturdays in the semester (Levin & Waugh, 1998).

2. The boundary of students will be blurred.

The development of computer-based education will increase more on-line class in the university.   It can provide opportunities for students unable to meet the scheduling requirements of real-time classes (Manning & Oakley, 1997).   Therefore, learning will be provided at anytime and anywhere.   Students who cannot direct access to a campus will get a degree via on-line courses.   For instance, UI-Online provides several on-line courses, thus students who live in another state or another country get a Master of Library Science degree from the Urbana-Champaign campus’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science.   This distant- education service will make it possible to continue study, regardless of student’s age, job, where to live, etc..

3. The life-long learning will be capable.

This teleapprenticeship class and distant- education service will make it possible to get the advanced degree and continuing education.    Also, more developed educational softwares and CD-ROMs will provide sources for life-long learning.   Therefore, teachers or workers who want to get an advanced degree and elders who want to learn continually will be able to learn via the developed information technology at anytime and anywhere, thus university will be neighborhood learning center.

Considering three changes that I mentioned above, the role of university will be changed in 2020.   Geographical distance and class schedule are becoming meaningless in education.   The students of a class do not have to be at the same place at the same time.  However, the university will have its own function and value.  Therefore, I strongly agree with Casper (the President of Stanford University,1995).   In addition, I envision that the role of university as a physical place to get education, professional trainings and credentials will be decreased.   Instead, university will focus on the social integration, providing a rite of passage, and peer interaction.

Levin & Waugh, "Teaching Teleapprenticeships: Electronic network-based educational frameworks for improving teacher education", Interactive Learning Environments Journal, 6(1-2), 39-58, 1998.

Stukel, J.J, "Letter from James J. Stukel, President", University of Illinois, August, 1998.

Manning & Oakley, " UI-OnLine: The Realization of the 21st Century Land-Grant University", ALN Magazine Volume 1, Issue 1, March, 1997.

Casper, G, "Come the Millennium, Where the University?", Address to the annual meeting of the American Educational              Research Association.San Francisco, California, April 1995.