In the past weeks, there have been numerous articles waxing poetic about the coming revolution in higher education as heralded by recent announcements of elite universities moving some of their courses online. The exuberance is understandable as it stems from the reputations of the institutions involved and the affordability of MOOCs (currently free). In fact, some articles even go as far as to proclaim that online universities are the future of elite learning.

But a thoughtful piece on Inside Higher Ed refutes the premise that it will be an elite university that upends the online learning market.

“It’s hard to envision any top-tier university launching an online program with the objective of keeping every aspect of its operation separate. Clearly, it couldn’t if it wanted to grant degrees; degrees must be granted by the accredited institution. But realistically, no online program would be completely separated from the mothership.

So we arrive at the conclusion that it will not be MIT, Stanford or an Ivy League institution. Their impact is likely to be limited to the extent other universities opt to incorporate their content into new programs—equivalent to today’s textbook publishers. Rather than cementing their leadership, the coming revolution could very well change up the pecking order in higher education for the first time in the history of the Republic.”