Very true. Another point that often gets ignored by those who think online education will replace standard lectures and discussions is the fact that a decent l

Very true. Another point that often gets ignored by those who think online education will replace standard lectures and discussions is the fact that a decent lecturer can get a lot of feedback just by watching the non-verbal responses to the progress of the lecture. It is not hard to notice when everyone is bored, when most of the class has that universal puzzled look that lets the prof know that she needs to go back and re-explain the last point, etc. None of this comes through the real-time virtual channel and until this problem is solved the online course will be a pale substitute for the real thing.