Lost in Cyberspace?

This article examines the technological modernization of higher education since the mid-1980s with a view toward likely future directions and consequences. Four important questions are addressed: Does instructional computing uniquely add educational value to the learning process? Does CIT exacerbate socioeconomic inequalities? Can on-line education contribute to a revitalized public sphere in cyberspace? Are pressures for commercialization undermining the ethos of higher education? Social scientists should devote more attention to technologically shaped transformations in higher education.