Information Technology and ChE Education: Evolution or Revolution?

Abstract

The societal transformation from the Industrial Age to the Information Age is having a profound impact on both industry and academia.  Universities have moved to networked environments that permit faculty, staff, and students to have access to the World Wide Web any time and anywhere.  In the future, faculty will use information technology to enhance the quality of education, with an increased focus on the learning process.  They will share courses over the Internet, write electronic books, and perhaps even form a virtual ChE department using courses from multiple departments.  Seers predict that information technology will have a global impact comparable to that on the printing press in the 15th century.  Whether or not this change will be evolutionary or revolutionary may become moot, since it will affect all institutions, not just higher education.