“The free course touched off an intense debate behind the scenes at Stanford, where annual tuition is $40,050. Ultimately, the 22,000 students who finished the course received “certificates of completion” rather than Stanford credit.”

Online education continues to make inroads in education. Ventures like these & even TED, have democratized access to the biggest thinkers & academicians of our times. Course content is rampantly being shared by educational institutions. When content becomes so easily accessible, what do class room offerings bank on to attract its clientele? What is it that is offered in a physical classroom that is not in the virtual world?

• In a classroom, there is greater control in minimizing distractions
• Personalization (especially wrt instructors inputs) & mass virtual platforms cannot co-exist
• How do we enhance the real time learning that happens from physically sharing a learning platform?

It is not only the educational institutions, but even the corporate training offerings that need to focus on differentiating their offerings.