"...(W)ithin the next 40 years, the majority of brick-and-mortar universities will probably find partnerships with other kinds of services, or close their doors."

Yesterday I read http://townhall.com/columnists/MarvinOlasky/2009/10/02/class_without_ro…] this op-ed at Townhall.com about the future of higher education. He says:

More than 1,000 studies of online learning have been published during the past 13 years. A U.S. Department of Education analysis of them concluded that, on average, “students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction” in the same courses. One reason is that face-to-face is often not face-to-face: Many college students snooze in big lecture halls. In good online courses, though, instructors require every student to answer questions and stay involved.

I didn’t know that many studies had been done about higher education- wow. I think he does make a good point that large classrooms with one lecturing teacher is not face-to-face interaction.

He ends with:

Such articles along with the Department of Education study show that online education has moved from the margins to the center, and that online degrees will soon be thoroughly respectable. The best Christian colleges, the highest-prestige private ones, and the best-funded state universities with good football teams will survive in a bricks-and-mortar way, but online schools will take the place of many mediocre ones.

… Mene mene tekel upharsin: Leftist professors who feel entitled to parade their views and purge their opponents will lose their captive audience. That’s good news for parents and students. That’s opportunity for Christians who teach true ideas and learn to compete boldly in this emerging marketplace.

Do you think online higher education will allow free market forces to work more readily and purge the field?