Honors in the Electronic Age

No blessing comes unmixed, and this is certainly the case with the plethora of opportunities that the new electronic world presents to higher education and to honors programs. For some this electronic revolution threatens to undermine established values and traditional academic practices, while for others it represents unprecedented ease and access to information with even greater benefits on the horizon. Both sides are right, if not completely right. Electronic innovations have certainly disrupted the academy, but new means of research and communication have enhanced academic life significantly and will continue to do so. The trick, obviously, is using these new tools to greatest effect and simultaneously avoiding the dangers that they bring with them. As this brief essay argues, what will, indeed does, distinguish honors in the electronic age has less to do with this new world per se than with the way honors students and faculty use its tools