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The major thing holding back higher education from massive disruption is the monopoly on credentialing due to the accreditation process. When students can sit i

The major thing holding back higher education from massive disruption is the monopoly on credentialing due to the accreditation process. When students can sit in their living rooms and learn from the best professors in the world and receive college credit for a fraction of the cost, that changes everything. Brick-and-mortar institutions will likely fight this and fight it hard because it threatens their existing models. After all, the most "profitable" classes at universities are general ed courses where hundreds of students are jammed into lecture halls. They're also the classes most ripe for disruption because the user experience is often poor (as Clayton Christensen once said about large lecture classes "Anything past the fifth row is already 'distance education'.").

ekianjo 14y ago
Totally agree with the poor experience you state. I went through college and I was appalled how much you paid for it and how inferior the teaching methods were versus the best things I had seen in High School or other places. On top of that, while most teachers were all credited researchers in their fields, they had no idea whatsoever what it takes to pass knowledge to their students (for most of them). This was really utterly disappointing and I am now a believer that online education can do better and without the "noise" of the classroom (where there are always a number of distractions).
meritt 14y ago
When degree mills like University of Phoenix have been granted accreditation, who actually still cares about accreditation? It's utterly meaningless.
- xiaoma 14y ago
  Immigration officials in China "really cared" about me presenting a degree from an accredited school when processing my work visa. Despite the fact that I was at a tech start-up (SmarTots) doing work completely unrelated B.A., the degree and school were important to them.
  - seanmcdirmid 14y ago
    For me, they didn't even want the legal certified transcripts, just a copy of my actual ceremonial PhD paper that you post in your office! Quite crazy, I could have bought something to pass in for a 100 kuai if I didn't happen to have it with me.
- jsnk 14y ago
  Have you actually gone through any program from University of Phoenix? I am not trying to be sarcastic or anything. I am genuinely curious of the quality of education institutions like UP provides. Is it so bad that it's not even worth paying for? Although, I could say the same about some courses I took in my school ...
- Wingman4l7 14y ago
  Having accreditation is one thing, but an employer recognizing it as legitimate is another thing entirely. Also, AFAIK, such for-profit schools probably haven't been actually granted accreditation -- they probably have purchased it through the sneaky loophole of buying a regionally accredited school: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:For-profit_education#For-profits_.22purchasing.22_regional_accreditation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:For-profit_education#For-p...
malandrew 14y ago
Assuming attendance drops dramatically at some point in the next 10 years and universities are left with a lot of excess "brick & mortar" real estate. How is this real estate likely to be re-used/re-purporsed? It's a very unique infrastructure built for a use case that was expected to stick around forever. Now if that doesn't happen, then what is next for all that infrastructure?
kevinyien 14y ago
Incredibly, some accredited universities have already taken the leap into offering college credit from truly online courses. These types of partnerships are astonishing, and hopefully just a glimpse of where we are headed in education. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/education/colorado-state-to-offer-credits-for-online-class.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/education/colorado-state-t...

ekianjo 14y ago

Totally agree with the poor experience you state. I went through college and I was appalled how much you paid for it and how inferior the teaching methods were versus the best things I had seen in High School or other places. On top of that, while most teachers were all credited researchers in their fields, they had no idea whatsoever what it takes to pass knowledge to their students (for most of them). This was really utterly disappointing and I am now a believer that online education can do better and without the "noise" of the classroom (where there are always a number of distractions).

meritt 14y ago

When degree mills like University of Phoenix have been granted accreditation, who actually still cares about accreditation? It's utterly meaningless.

xiaoma 14y ago
Immigration officials in China "really cared" about me presenting a degree from an accredited school when processing my work visa. Despite the fact that I was at a tech start-up (SmarTots) doing work completely unrelated B.A., the degree and school were important to them.
- seanmcdirmid 14y ago
  For me, they didn't even want the legal certified transcripts, just a copy of my actual ceremonial PhD paper that you post in your office! Quite crazy, I could have bought something to pass in for a 100 kuai if I didn't happen to have it with me.
jsnk 14y ago
Have you actually gone through any program from University of Phoenix? I am not trying to be sarcastic or anything. I am genuinely curious of the quality of education institutions like UP provides. Is it so bad that it's not even worth paying for? Although, I could say the same about some courses I took in my school ...
Wingman4l7 14y ago
Having accreditation is one thing, but an employer recognizing it as legitimate is another thing entirely. Also, AFAIK, such for-profit schools probably haven't been actually granted accreditation -- they probably have purchased it through the sneaky loophole of buying a regionally accredited school: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:For-profit_education#For-profits_.22purchasing.22_regional_accreditation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:For-profit_education#For-p...

malandrew 14y ago

Assuming attendance drops dramatically at some point in the next 10 years and universities are left with a lot of excess "brick & mortar" real estate. How is this real estate likely to be re-used/re-purporsed? It's a very unique infrastructure built for a use case that was expected to stick around forever. Now if that doesn't happen, then what is next for all that infrastructure?

kevinyien 14y ago

Incredibly, some accredited universities have already taken the leap into offering college credit from truly online courses. These types of partnerships are astonishing, and hopefully just a glimpse of where we are headed in education. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/education/colorado-state-to-offer-credits-for-online-class.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/07/education/colorado-state-t...