[jayasena]

"The most positive things I've heard those faculty say are that online classes can be adequate for some intro-level classes"

Do you think there is any chance that professors have a vested interest in this matter? There is plenty of information available about the benefits of on-line classes. But, you are not going to hear much from those whose livelihood is threatened by it.

What Roberton3 said matches very closely with conversations I've had with well-established engineering faculty at Stanford and elsewhere. And I don't think they feel threatened by the online trend. These are people who would actually benefit from not having to spend time and energy teaching introductory classes*. Time and effort they could spend on their research, writing more grant proposals, mentoring the students in their research groups etc. Pretty much all of the metrics they care about would stand to benefit from not having to teach introductory classes (or most undergraduate-level classes, for that matter).

* Many of them do view introductory classes as a crucial element that lays the foundation for the entire higher education experience, and often spend large amounts of time preparing and teaching such courses.

[jayasena]

"The most positive things I've heard those faculty say are that online classes can be adequate for some intro-level classes"

Do you think there is any chance that professors have a vested interest in this matter? There is plenty of information available about the benefits of on-line classes. But, you are not going to hear much from those whose livelihood is threatened by it.

What Roberton3 said matches very closely with conversations I've had with well-established engineering faculty at Stanford and elsewhere. And I don't think they feel threatened by the online trend. These are people who would actually benefit from not having to spend time and energy teaching introductory classes*. Time and effort they could spend on their research, writing more grant proposals, mentoring the students in their research groups etc. Pretty much all of the metrics they care about would stand to benefit from not having to teach introductory classes (or most undergraduate-level classes, for that matter).

* Many of them do view introductory classes as a crucial element that lays the foundation for the entire higher education experience, and often spend large amounts of time preparing and teaching such courses.