[yvonne]

I don't know that we were ever interested in Manziel or that he was interested in us.

Many reputable schools, including Stanford, are experimenting with online courses. Some are even looking at massive open online courses. I'm taking my second course through Coursera. The first, Gamification, was significantly harder than the second, Introduction to Philosophy. That's because the former included papers and peer evaluations, whereas the second requires only tests.

So taking online courses isn't in and of itself a negative thing. The problem happens if he is taking courses that aren't up to the same university level of information and sufficient rigor. Also, if he chose to cheat, it would be much easier. Someone else could much more easily complete assignments and tests than if he were in a classroom in which people recognized him.

Going forward, the big issue with online courses won't be rigor, however. It will be whether online courses can sufficiently replicate the university experience in a remote environment. I can't imagine that will happen anytime soon.

[yvonne]

I don't know that we were ever interested in Manziel or that he was interested in us.

Many reputable schools, including Stanford, are experimenting with online courses. Some are even looking at massive open online courses. I'm taking my second course through Coursera. The first, Gamification, was significantly harder than the second, Introduction to Philosophy. That's because the former included papers and peer evaluations, whereas the second requires only tests.

So taking online courses isn't in and of itself a negative thing. The problem happens if he is taking courses that aren't up to the same university level of information and sufficient rigor. Also, if he chose to cheat, it would be much easier. Someone else could much more easily complete assignments and tests than if he were in a classroom in which people recognized him.

Going forward, the big issue with online courses won't be rigor, however. It will be whether online courses can sufficiently replicate the university experience in a remote environment. I can't imagine that will happen anytime soon.