Our world has changed dramatically in the last 20 years. In 1997 the internet was still in its infancy with only around 119 million users. Distance education – a concept that began in Sweden during the mid-19th century – was only beginning to transition from analog to digital delivery. Today, we live in a much different world where the Internet has not only radically transformed the way colleges and universities teach, but has greatly expanded access to education around the globe. At Blackboard, we are proud to be a part of this journey.

Today we released Future Forward: The Next Twenty Years of Higher Education, a series of interviews with American higher education leaders. We asked this group of leaders to reflect on the last 20 years of higher education as well as consider what the next 20 years might hold. Forecasting the future is always a difficult affair, especially in this age of rapidly changing technology. Across the interviews, however, we heard several themes emerge time and again.