Page 312 - Crisis in Higher Education

282 • Crisis in Higher Education

2. CAE: The use of software to assist engineers in analyzing compo-
nents and designing them for safety, endurance, and reliability.
Among other things, CAE can perform stress analysis, consider
thermal and fluid flows, and simulate processes for forging and
casting parts. 4
3. CAM: The use of software to control machine tools that can produce
component parts. CAM is usually linked to CAD/CAE systems so
the component’s designs can be seamlessly and digitally passed to
the machine tools that make the parts. 5

CAD/CAE/CAM systems have their roots in the 1960s, and they have
5
been used extensively to design and produce manufactured parts for more
than three decades. More recently, computer-based medical simulation is
allowing physician to create 3D replicas of the heart, even the entire body,
which can be used to train physicians and other healthcare professionals.
It can also be used to diagnose problems, consider treatment alternatives,
and assist in creating treatment plans. 6,7
Readers may be thinking what do CAD/CAE/CAM and 3D medical
simulation have to do with higher education? The answer is not much. But
it illustrates the fact that higher education is woefully behind other orga-
nizations and industries in applying computer and information technolo-
gies. If society can design and implement ways for computers to model
component parts from design all the way though manufacturing and to
replicate the human body in 3D, why has higher education been so slow at
digitizing its learning tools?
Manufacturers are forced to respond because they operate in highly
competitive global markets, so they must invest in the latest technologies
to enhance product performance, improve quality, and keep costs as low
as possible. If they do not, competitors take their business. Healthcare
has pursued and adopted new technologies that have direct and posi-
tive impacts on healing. Higher education has not adopted technology to
improve quality and lower costs for the following reasons:

1. Higher education in the United States is generally regarded as the
best in the world. This creates complacency, which stifles innovation.
2. Demand for higher education has grown substantially so most uni-
versities, especially larger ones, have enjoyed significant growth.
3. State and local governments subsidize tuition for public two- and four-
year institutions, which represent about 70% of total enrollment in the