The higher education revolution.

The transformation in higher education is being compared with an earlier education revolution--correspondence courses offered through the postal system--as universities find students far beyond their campuses. The Internet now is allowing MIT Harvard, Stanford, Princeton and other universities to bring their massive open online courses (MOOCs) to eager students in remote places.

Nicolas Carr, author of "The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains," sees plusses arid minuses in the burgeoning world of online education. An obvious plus is costs: Online education is more affordable than the $100,000 price tag of today's bachelor's degree. But Carr cites Wheaton College English Professor Alan Jacobs as saying classroom encounters can't be replicated online.

* Source: www.technologyreview.com