The timing is probably more important than the actual technology used. People's attitudes towards education have changed dramatically in the past few years, in

The timing is probably more important than the actual technology used. People's attitudes towards education have changed dramatically in the past few years, in my opinion. It wasn't long ago that Google bragged that they would only hire the best students from top universities. Now they have hired people just because they have successfully completed a Udacity course, have college dropouts amongst their ranks, you name it. That is a pretty dramatic shift in such a short time, and they're not the only company to follow in those footsteps. It is not that mail-order education was impossible years ago, but nobody would have taken it seriously. There was a strong leaning that a college degree from a traditional school was the only way to make it. Without that, you were going to flipping burgers at McDonalds. I think people are now ready for new ways of learning and it just happens that the web is now a great way to distribute that education.