A recent Victoria University review of e-learning technologies observes: “If the new VU eLearning Environment is merely a technically superior version of what it replaces, it will have failed … technical support must be complemented by pedagogical support that challenges the taken-for-granted and encourages new pedagogical practices that can take advantage of the technically improved environment”. Academics won’t devour new technologies like kids opening Christmas presents. Why should they? Some will feel threatened. Until recently, universities did very little to train academics how to teach. Some academics will resist having their lectures recorded. Many will regard engagement with new e-learning tools as just another burden they’re not rewarded for undertaking. Some will worry about intellectual property rights in course materials. But Australian higher education is about to be hit by some big structural forces that will turbocharge digital change. The first is the national broadband network. Swinburne University deputy vice-chancellor Shirley Leitch, who is responsible for the university’s e-learning strategy, says the NBN rollout will lead to a “learning explosion”. The second is the shift to a demand-driven higher education system. No one quite knows how this change will unfold, nor indeed how it will be funded. Enrolment numbers are increasing dramatically as universities battle for market share. Overall enrolments have increased by 16 per cent over the past three years. The third challenge is more speculative. I think we’re about to see a new kind of customer in higher education; one who’s less tolerant and more demanding. The students of tomorrow will be born digital: they’ll have known nothing else but the web 2.0 world. They’ll want to be entertained as they learn. They’ll demand instant feedback. They’ll compare learning experiences with digital games and social networking sites.