I'm honestly surprised so many people in this thread are sceptical or even resistant of the idea of education being transformed by the web, because I have been

I'm honestly surprised so many people in this thread are sceptical or even resistant of the idea of education being transformed by the web, because I have been thinking about it for a while and I honestly think it could be a huge boon to society. No, Universities aren't going to be completely replaced anytime soon, particularly at the top-end and at the higher levels of education. However, I do honestly think online education is the future, and I honestly think online adult learning can provide a multitude of benefits over a traditional University education. For one, it provides greater access for many people who otherwise wouldn't have access to a university by reducing hte barriers to entry - whether due to circumstance, expense, or otherwise. This will foster the idea of lifelong learning, where rather than a person going to University for four years gaining a degree, a sufficiently motivated person, would be able to take a high-quality University-level education in a variety of subjects over several years for an extremely low cost while working full-time. It would also allow people to tailor their learning to help progress in their particular job or area of expertise which currently isn't possible. This could come in a variety of guises - whether people in the IT sector learning more about programming and networking, or those in doing programming taking courses on related areas like statistics, electronic engineering or even business. This would create a group of people with a much broader range of skills that are less likely to overlap, and that would be good for the workforce. A more solid curriculum would mean more consistently high quality courses taught by experts and good teachers, as well as enabling more dedicated high-quality materials to be made around a particular series of lectures which could be used for many years. This means that people taking courses would no longer be at the mercy of a poor lecturer, a poor course structure, or a dedicated poorly-written expensive book. It may also drive standards up as people have access to materials from good Universities rather than having to rely on worse local institutions.