Today's technologies: Faculty adoption factors and effects on higher education

This chapter provides commentary on the broad-based effects that current instructional technologies have had on higher education instruction. Adoption and utilization of instructional technologies have done more than simply supplement teaching and learning; they have altered the environment in multiple ways. The unintended consequences of these technologies have changed and may continue to change the interaction among faculty, students, and learning materials. Some of the factors that have contributed to certain technologies becoming popular in today's higher education teaching environment will also be discussed. Awareness of these factors and unintended consequences will help practitioners plan for the emergence of newer technologies and better understand their potential impacts on higher education.