It doesn't make it fairer - studies have shown that overwhelmingly those already privileged take online courses (no, individual examples to the contrary don't c

It doesn't make it fairer - studies have shown that overwhelmingly those already privileged take online courses (no, individual examples to the contrary don't count - this is about numbers, statistics, not the edges of the distribution). Especially for the better courses you should really already have had quite an education. And you need time and fast Internet access. But it certainly makes it more accessible! Myself for example, as a CS degree holder and IT consultant, over the last few years I received quite an education in anatomy, physiology, statistics (focus on medicine, biology and public health), chemistry, org. chemistry, medicinal chemistry (drug development), neuroscience, etc. Several hundreds of hours of lectures. Plus lots of others like history of architecture, "first nights" from Harvard (classical music, several courses), equine care, equine nutrition, Apacher Spark (Berkeley courses), and a lot more. There is no way on earth I could have learned much esp. about the medical subjects any other way. You have to be really, really dedicated to try to put the pieces together just from random sites Google gives you - that's more for when you already are deep(er) into a subject and need something specific. You can of course, but since I have a life effort/benefit analysis would prevent one from doing so.