>, I can't help feeling that someone who, for example, learns how to program using a Lynda.com online course, is missing out on a lot of things (e.g. the underl

>, I can't help feeling that someone who, for example, learns how to program using a Lynda.com online course, is missing out on a lot of things (e.g. the underlying principles of computer science) that are taught as part of a full academic course of study I think you're misinterpreting the article. You're looking backwards at lynda.com, Khan Academy, etc and biased by their current incarnation of not having comprehensive CS foundation topics. Instead, the article is looking forward and speculating that trends may be changing. One has to look at those online education alternatives as something that may gain relevance (and possibly prestige too). The journalist was using # of masters degrees as one possible indicator of this changing trend. (It's too early to tell and the journalist may be overstating the evidence.) For example, when Harvard was started in 1600s, it was primarily a school to train ministers and clergymen. If someone said in 1675, "trends may be changing, and new schools like Harvard might teach the next generation of lawyers and businessmen", a colonial person that looked at the world as only a static snapshot would have been skeptical. He'd insist that a young man must apprentice at some workshop to learn business skills. Harvard is that weird place that makes you study the Bible in Latin forwards and backwards. But indeed, Harvard did "change" and ~200 years later, they added a law school and ~300 years later, they added a business school. Now, "Harvard Law School" and "Harvard Business School" have overtaken "Harvard Divinity School" in terms of mindshare. We can't predict what will happen with Lynda.com and others but I'm sure they won't take 200 years to figure out how to expand their scope in hopes of making themselves more relevant. Time will tell how society responds. Is Khan Academy, Lynda.com, etc the "Harvard of the 1600s"? If not, what's stopping it?