The End of the Conventional Campus?

(from Quartz) Dramatic physical changes have come slowly to traditional education institutions, but the pace is quickening, as demonstrated in higher education in particular. Rapid innovation out of Silicon Valley lets students chat over messaging apps from their dorms and work at lightning-fast speed across digital platforms. Classrooms, greens and hallways are no longer necessary. Much of this drive is corporatized: Apple pushing iPads, Google Docs, Microsoft's adaptive learning software, etc.

First came free or cheap digital learning platforms like Coursera and the University of Phoenix, offering distance learning to many students who might not have gone to a traditional college. Now traditional campuses, state flagships and community colleges and Ivy League schools alike are offering free online courses; in some cases, students can even complete degrees online. 

Students have largely embraced the shift. Texas A&M University is debuting a first-of-its-kind online lecture to replace a mandatory introductory economics lecture: Students can pass the entire semester without ever having to see the professors, or one another, in person. At many other universities, textbooks are going the way of Netflix.

More at Quartz 

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