Unraveling the Virtual University

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Abstract:

This chapter critically explores the vision of a university “without walls” has dominated these last years the discussions in academia and industry alike. In examining the efforts of a distributed virtual university to foster collaboration among the various participating actors through the establishment of a common technological infrastructure, we found that technological coupling is not enough in itself. In particular, the analysis showed that there are a number of defining factors namely, (1) task characteristics, (2) communication interface, and (3) frames that must be aligned for any effort to create a distributed virtual university to be successful. To this end, we examine in depth each of these defining factors and discuss the assumptions that lead universities to rely on technology to foster collaboration. We conclude by discussing the implications of the vision for a “virtual” university for both academic research and practice.