Do as I Do, Not as I Say? The Wall Street Hypocrisy on Online Education

In a recent New York Times column, NYU business school professor Hans Taparia proclaimed (as many have before) that “the future of college is online.”  Whenever I hear these words, I think of a student of mine, a dual major in history and anthropology, who testified before my institution’s Board of Trustees about her experience with online education.  She transferred, as many students do, from community college, which she had completed online.  When I asked her about her experience in a conversation in my office, she admitted that she had no idea how much she was missing until she came to Western Washington University.