by Boston Globe Editorial
Just as the advent of the Internet has transformed the media landscape, it’s likely that future students will see a substantial amount of online instruction as an acceptable part of a college education. Future employers are bound to follow suit. Many big-name research universities believe that online courses create opportunities to extend their reach; MIT and Harvard, for example, are leading an initiative called edX, whose offerings have attracted thousands of enrollees. For less renowned universities, the potential disruption is greater, as students are drawn to cheaper online alternatives. The rush is already on: Last week, the Chronicle of Higher Education noted a move by a group of public universities, mainly in the South and West, to issue credits for students who take open online courses.
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