Don Tapscott, author of Growing Up Digital and Grown Up Digital seems to think so. But I think this response hits the nail on the head.
While there may be interest in online courses of ’star’ professors, I’m skeptical about how motivated potential students might be without the incentives of grades, deadlines for assigned coursework, and the degree credential. Tapscott’s over-the-top optimism about the desire for learning among the generation he refers to as “digital natives” strikes me the perspective of someone who has never stood before a class and asked, “has anyone done the reading?” only to look out a sea of blank faces staring back.
Here is an interesting little tidbit. Information technology had a section in Barnes & Noble that was a full two bookshelves from 1996 to about 2000. Now you can barely find it. While some claims from Tapscott and others have been provocative, the predictions among futurists have largely been revealed to have overstated the case.
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