On-line higher education

A fine Forbes column illustrates some of the issues with moving higher education on-line.

Most notably, it is important to distinguish between putting standard lectures on line as a way to allow students to review them (or miss them) at times that work for them and creating really good lectures that are designed to replace many traditional lectures. The latter should, of course, receive a lot more in the way of time and effort in their construction, and should feature scholars who are both experts on the material being covered and good at lecturing. Think the Great Courses.

There is lots of technological and organizational change ahead, but I think the author is correct that it is still early days.