The world is a constantly changing. In recent years, the powerful social, cultural, and economic changes have led many to predict the end of higher education, as it is known. With the invention of the “information superhighway,” knowledge can now be diffused over millions of computer networks around the globe and is often no longer delivered by the traditional gatekeepers¾ teachers. Recently, a book that should be deemed one of the most important pieces of current literature on education was published. The short book, entitled The Digital Revolution and the Coming of the Postmodern University, by Carl Raschke, can be described as a sneak peek into the future of higher education that is rapidly approaching.

  Some would probably say, “What in the world does that mean?” Actually it is pretty simple. Before there was an Internet, there were teachers, scholars, libraries, and conventional learning communities. Traditionally, there was one teacher instructing a classroom full of students, whereby knowledge was disseminated on a basis of grade level. The higher the grade, the more knowledge you were entitled to learn. Teachers only taught their classes what they were supposed to learn in order to pass to the next level. This is why the term “gatekeeper” was used earlier. With the invention of the Internet, knowledge is now accessible with the click of a mouse. Not just specific knowledge that one needs to pass the proficiency, but anything and everything. A child does not have to wait until high school to find out about how to dissect a frog. He or she could simply run a search for whatever they were looking for and literally retrieve millions of pages on the topic. The Internet is merely a database of information and knowledge, making the research process by far much easier for humans to retrieve a multitude of subject matter with lightning speed.

  This third knowledge revolution has been ignited by the growth of online computing, but it extends much further beyond just using the Internet. “A digital culture by nature promotes a constant experimentation and exploratory activity”(Raschke, 2003, p.41). The network of images, texts, and hyperlinks that we call the Internet, only activates this movement. As with the first two revolutions there was great change to follow. It will be the same with the third knowledge revolution; change will be soon to follow.

  As Raschke (2003) expresses, the most common phrase that accurately describes what has gone on in higher education for many years is the “production of knowledge.” With professors conducting research, getting published, and receiving tenure, they are more or less independent producers of knowledge. Someone doing his or her own research will refer to the work of another professor, and use it as a reference. This has been the process for conducting research for many years. With the third knowledge revolution someone does not necessarily have to use the research of a professor or scholar, in order to do research. The opportunity to gain knowledge elsewhere besides the classroom interrupts the traditional educational cycle of scholarship. He or she could gain knowledge from the homepage of someone that has studied the field, but has no degrees. Then there would be a case of scholarly versus “outside sources,” or intellectual trash, as many scholars would call it. The resources one may find online are threatening the very prestige that higher education instructors possess. The traditional educational system that is known so well happens to be slowly crumbling. The question is why? The third knowledge revolution has so many aspects to it that the answer cannot be pinpointed in one direction.

  Another aspect of the third knowledge revolution that Raschke refers to is “space.” When thinking of space and education, it is easy to recollect about buildings, classrooms, and hallways that one might have traveled through. These very aspects of education and space are shifting (Raschke, 2003). Education is now accessible anywhere. The Internet has removed the traditional boundaries of time and space. Distance education is now available everywhere, especially for higher education students. “Distance education has provoked the educational system make a shift from receptive learning to active learning, which in turn promotes the use of computers inside the classroom” (Raschke, 2003, p. 28). This is only an extension of the digital culture of current times. Raschke (2003) describes how these changes in the educational infrastructure, the new learning processes of humans, and the current digital culture has broken the threshold of a “postmodern condition.” This condition can characterized by the readily flow of information and data and the decentralization of information and knowledge sources on a macro level. Raschke (2003) further asserts how this culture has developed what would be called a “global” or “hyper university.” Many academic institutions are recognized by their locations around the globe. With the advent of digital culture and distance education, these recognized locations are increasingly becoming more unrecognized. Universities and many of their classrooms now exist in hyperspace, a consumer-driven intellectual space whereby the rules of regular space are defied.

  The global university is ultimately where higher education is headed. According to Raschke (2003), higher education has already arrived. “The global university is both the natural and inevitable outgrowth of the digital culture where the dissemination of knowledge ensues directly from the interconnectivity and convergence of multiple information processes” (Raschke, (2003), p. 97). The university infrastructure is drastically changing. No longer does one have to physically be sitting in a classroom to be in class. With the help of the Internet and distance education, the boundaries of time and space have been altered. Large-scale information around the globe is readily available and rests at the fingertips of every person online. The way human beings learn, do research, and attain knowledge has been distorted as a result of the digital revolution. This revolution is not only apparent in higher education, but in almost every aspect of daily life. Everything is digital these days. Everyone has cell phones, two-way message senders, and palm pilots.

  Higher education just happens to be one of the last infrastructures to succumb to the digitization of the world. There exists a very strong tradition in education that is almost archaic in a sense. Things are just the way they are. Higher education will always be just that. The total digitization of universities and higher education will undoubtedly take time. Currently, higher education rests at the cusp of change, but more is certain to come.

  This book is recommended to those who are interested in the future of higher education. In addition, this book is also recommended to those who are interested in studying the effects of the Information Age and the current digital culture. The Digital Revolution and the Coming of the Postmodern University is a good read with lots of valuable insight for teachers, students, and administrators. Carl A. Raschke is a professor of Religious Studies at the University of Denver. He is an internationally known and often quoted analyst of contemporary affairs and culture. He has published widely on subjects of postmodernism and higher education reform.