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The Internet has been hosting a quiet revolution that could lead to changes in the way we educate our college and post graduate students. “Disruptive Innovation” is the term for the kind of change the field of education is undergoing. The best way to define this term is with examples from other industries. News organizations experienced huge change with the advent of television, and are undergoing similar (maybe bigger?) changes with the popularity of the internet. Traditional telephone service has been strongly impacted by the invention of the cell phone.

Online education has grown as a phenomenon during the last 10 years and it has been for-profit online schools like the University of Phoenix and Kaplan University which have led the way. Initially, the quality of the education may not have been up to the standards of conventional universities. As it has evolved, though, the quality has been improving due to the efforts of the for profit schools. “Disruptive innovation” has taken place not only in the technology required to bring the classroom to the student, but also in developing effective distance learning techniques.

It has been reported that about 30 percent of American college students are taking at least one course online. And these same experts assert that during the next 10 years, there will be an increase in the number of online classes at traditional non-profit schools.

At first, only nontraditional college students embraced online classes. These are the students who can’t get to classes at a traditional school, either because of a full time job, travel issues or even finances. However, now known and prestigious schools are starting their own programs. USC in Los Angeles and the University of North Carolina are two of many examples of traditional schools with solid reputations that are going this route.

Traditional schools are finding online classes the ideal solution for offering the many entry level courses like English 1A, Algebra and Accounting 101. These courses have historically consisted of hundreds of students in a huge lecture hall because so many students need to take the same basic classes. These classes are so large, there is little chance for individual interaction between students and teachers.

Questions about the quality of teaching at online colleges have plagued the industry from the beginning. As online education has expanded and become more mainstream, educators have turned their attention toward solving the problem by calling for a standardized system of training online professors. Currently there is no such standard. However, these same analysts point out that this problem can be solved by the creation of an association of online schools or the formation of an accredited body that can step forward to fill the need.

This process could be encouraged by a controversial policy being advocated by the U.S. Department of Education. The policy is referred to as “gainful employment” regulations developed to force for profit schools to increase quality of their education programs by preparing students to enter the job market or risk losing access to federal loans. This could also reach into the segment of online education and thus raise the quality of education throughout higher learning.

It’s clear now that online education is here to stay. It’s just too convenient and cost effective to ignore. Technology and quality challenges will be overcome because the benefits are worth it. No industry, no matter how traditional, can stay the same forever.

Military college is the first to feel the changes, since they have a need to education people who travel frequently.

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