As always, great insight.
The area of true disruption in education is media consumption and creation.

We are entering a golden age of video content creation. In the last two years I have seen the rise of interactive video, corporate YouTube, and now micro-video. Mary Meeker’s latest presentation on the state of the internet described vertical video as nine times more likely to be consumed than horizontal video. That destroys all conventional wisdom we have on video consumption patterns. The medium is being pushed and experimented with like never before.

Your description of learning done at scale will become a reality when live coaching, and other forms of bi-directional communication are used shore up existing issues with MOOCs and existing learning platforms.

The key will be a combination of advanced video usage with sound instructional strategy.

Good times ahead!

– Josh

1. It devalues the product to the consumer.
2. It hides the fact that SOMEONE (you and I) are actually paying for it.
3. It tends to eliminate the concepts of accountability, value, and measurement.

Education is never “free”, if it is meaningful. There is sweat and tears from the learner, effort from the instructor, effort from the (ahem!) Curriculum Designer, and financial support from whoever pays for the location, the pipe, and the measurement.