Online Education: Still A Lot To Learn.

The recent stratospheric rise and equally precipitous fall of MicroStrategy stock has put online learning back in the spotlight. Michael Saylor, the 30-something paper billionaire who serves as MicroStrategy's CEO, has pledged $100 million of his own money to fund an "Ivy League-quality" online university that will be open to anyone on the planet, provided of course that they have Internet access.

Saylor's plan wouldn't be especially innovative if this was all there was to it. After all, lots of brick-and-mortar-and-pestle universities already offer online classes, and several online-only colleges have sprung up over the past few years--some of which are accredited.

No, what makes Saylor's e-university different is that he has pledged to make it free for all enrolled students. With the cost of secondary education (particularly for top-tier schools) skyrocketing into the six figures, Saylor's plan obviously has a receptive audience, both in homes across the country and on Wall Street. Saylor believes that famous people with the relevant experience will donate their time and knowledge, thereby eliminating the need for salaries--for professors, if not for the IT managers who run the place.

Not surprisingly, Saylor's idea has lots of critics, many in academia. Most make the same argument: online/distance learning is no substitute for the real thing. You cannot reproduce the interactive, Socratic give-and-take of the classroom with an online chat and some white-boarding software. While I take issue with the point that lectures can't be reproduced online (in college, I had many professors who simply read from a script for 90 minutes), there is some truth to the fact that small seminars--where most productive learning takes place--will be harder to replicate online.

This being said, I think critics of online learning are a bit shortsighted. Granted, today's Internet tools for collaboration are still a bit cumbersome. But much of the technological infrastructure that will make online collaboration effective is still being developed. Videoconferencing is the killer app which will make WAN-based education a reality, and it is still at least five years away from widespread adoption. But I wouldn't be surprised if, in the next year or two, we see a brand new, packet-based video codec that can operate reliably over slow wires. Combine a new codec with a broadband connection, throw in more Internet capacity via fiber links, and you have the ingredients for widespread adoption of videoconferencing--which will make online learning more than a glorified chat session.

But while broadband connections to homes will clearly help, I'm not sure this is the real issue. Saylor would do well to remember that the majority of the planet lacks any Internet access at all (not to mention potable water, reliable electricity, etc.). Perhaps that $100 million might be better spent providing solar-powered generators and wells in areas of the world where these basic necessities are still badly needed. Satellite and wireless Internet access are still in their infancy, and need years to develop. Once they do, distance learning will be a boon to rural areas that otherwise would not have access to any education whatsoever. But until that day, these areas need power and water first, Yahoo! second.

While Saylor altruism is admirable, I think it is perhaps misplaced. Rather than concentrate on providing Ivy League degrees to people who already have access to decent secondary education, perhaps MicroStrategy should concentrate its resources on those who have no access to even basic schooling. The potential of the Internet is clear: equal access to information for everyone. Wall Street bigwigs may cheer online learning, but the rest of the world has other priorities.