College 2.0

The concept of College 2.0 offers a wealth of discussion. Let's begin with Web 2.0. Many universities are now offering complete on-line courses for free. More and more course content is going on-line which leads us to ask what will become of colleges and universities in the future? The price of one year of school at many private universities tops $50K ! I recently had a student in my office who told me she was able to enter the university with AP credits and since being here has taken 6 classes per semester. This is allowing her to graduate a half a semester early which will save her about $25K. She also told me her sister who graduated now is saddled with a $70K student loan and is pay $500 per month for the next 30 years to repay the loan ! Each year tuition increases anywhere from 2% - 4% but where does it stop. Tutition cannot continue to rise unchecked. Higher education appears to be one of the few industries where little seems to have been be done to curtail costs with cost increases passed along to the student in higher tuition rates. The basic format fo higher education essentially has not changed in hundreds of years. And left to their own this format would continue for hundreds more. What is driving a change is an ever increasing mobile consumer base desiring customized everything, including education. Universities are being forced to deliver what the consumer wants, imagin that. They are being forced to "make what sells" as opposed to "sell what they make". This later strategy has been the premis of most universities and the same one that resulted in the near demise of the US auto industry. As universities adopt to a demanding consumer base for customized, on-line education this raises the question, should on-line students pay the same price as a main campus student? These on-line students are not using facilities, not using space. It also asks what will the future campus look like? It also raises the question of what will the future classroom and campus resemble? The future classrom is likley to be a virtual classroom that requires a studio with cameras, perhaps a Smart Board and that's about it. What of the faculty? Can the future professor work solely as a contractor to be hired by a university by the course? Likewise, could a univeristy contract with the best faculty to deliver on-line courses, much like sports teams sign free agents? I beleive there is an interesting future in higher education that has yet to be defined.