Changing Traditional Universities into Universities of the New Millenium *

Changing u.fiiversities into viltU;~ universities of the new millennium represents a methodological challenge. Traditional universities are conservative institutions not used to s~ch radical change. Successful change thus presupposes a prof~und understanding of both the traditional and the virtual university culture, and an appropriate method for implementing change must then be selected. ~ or~er to fully understand the challenges we shall meet in the change process, I shall In this pa~r first ':lnaly.se the differences between traditional university culture and the new VIrtual UnIversIty culture. The analysis will comprise the characteristics of distance education. Next, two interconnected challenges will be discussed in more detail, .i.e.. the ne~ role of the university teacher and the change from traditional tranSmISSIVe t aching models to collaborative, experiential and situated learning models in virtual distance education. Finally, I shall discuss the concept of structured concrete experimentation as an appropriate method for changing universities of today and gradually transfonning them into genuine learning organisations of the next century.