I’d throw in that online education needs to be more varied. Right now, an online class is actually more difficult to keep up with (they tend to stack more work on students because you aren’t in class, forgetting that much of the in-class time is spent listening and taking notes.) Also, the major universities often have non-traditional Bachelor’s Degrees available but they require a significant proportion of advanced-level classes(40-45 semester credits) which take EVEN MORE time and if you’re working will take you forever to complete.
What should be happening is that the same requirements that one faces for a traditional degree program should be available ONLINE exclusively, or perhaps with monitored exams or the like.
And there is no discount for these classes, either, which also makes little sense.
There definitely needs to be a ‘revolution’ in education and our expectations regarding university-level education.
The problem with online education today is that it is run by the same incompetents who run the brick & mortar educational institutions.
The professors are the same as those who teach in front of live classes, so they structure the programs in much the same way they structure their normal classes.
A significant break will take place in a few years where online education gets designed for those online by those online. That is when the university system will start to break down.
The high costs of a bachelors degree versus the low costs of an online bachelors degree will destroy a liberal bastion forever.
It is coming.
One problem is that knowledge is not public domain, though most people think it is. College professors write books, and want royalties from their sales, and it acts as a disincentive for them to give away what they want to sell. This is why many prohibit video recordings in their classrooms.
However, that being said, I have long advocated the creation of several versions of an entire elementary and secondary multimedia curriculum, as part of an integrated computer service that would teach, review, evaluate and motivate students in multiple subjects simultaneously.
That is, while students are watching an interactive multimedia block on history, it is being given in two languages, and they are increasing vocabulary with new words, practicing their sentence structure and grammar, etc. And they are getting new information, being reviewed on previous information, being tested and retested, and at their individual, not class, pace. They are even encouraged to make intranet digressions, if a subject catches their eye, and they want to learn more, or if they are just “on a roll” with a subject. Extra emphasis can be given for “slumps” as well.
As such, their current point of study is never lost, they never have to relearn subjects they know, they never miss out or skip subjects they haven’t learned, and their entire program can be transferred between computers and even schools without any loss of continuity.
Just by dint of not wasting their time, their curriculum can be doubled or tripled.