It is common for observers and bloggers (including myself) in educational technology to proclaim that the current educational practice is, in some way, ‘broken’. It is seen as not delivering deep learning, or failing to meet the needs of students, and of potentially becoming irrelevant to a new generation of digital learners. Before exploring the potential impact and benefits of a digital, networked, open approach, it is worth taking time to place these claims within some context and to give a sober assessment of much of the rhetoric that surrounds technology and education.

Conclusion
The evidence for radical and imminent revolution in higher education may not be as strong as I once liked to believe, but we shouldn’t ignore the fact that there are also some very significant trends which are founded on data and research and not just on anecdote and rhetoric. These suggest very strongly that the engagement with new technologies is a core practice for higher education.
And more significantly, these trends indicate that we have a richer environment in which to explore changes in teaching and learning practice. We have a convergence of a base level of technological competence, an expectation of the use of ICTs in education, a range of easy to use tools and models from other sectors to investigate. So while the absolute necessity for radical change is overstated, there are unprecedented opportunities for the use of technology in education. And as educators we shouldn’t need to wait until the case has been proven for each one to try it because, as the saying goes, it doesn’t take a whole day to recognise sunshine.

Having reviewed the evidence the claims for a perfect storm seem to be exaggerated, but there is a gathering of significant trends which higher education should seek to address. Undoubtedly the proclamations of the imminent demise of higher education are overblown; even if higher education did nothing, it would not see the rapid change in its practice that we have seen in other sectors. Rather we should see the response to these trends as having two main arguments:

1. Maintaining relevance - whilst the strong claims for the loss of relevance of higher education are not justified, there are some significant factors above, and just as higher education responds to any significant cultural change, so should it respond to these.
2. Opportunities - rather than portraying the digital culture as an impending threat to higher education, the only option being to adapt or die, it is more fruitful to perceive it as an unprecedented series of opportunities. The manner in which we have conducted scholarship has often been restricted by physical factors, and the removal of many of these should liberate both how and what we do as scholars.