Schools who go online also put their names on the line. Do they run the risk of potentially diluting their brands? A recent story on Boston’s NPR news station considers this question.

“The University of Virginia may have settled its most urgent controversy by reinstating President Teresa Sullivan after initially forcing her out. But still unresolved is one issue underlying her ouster: whether the university was too slow to join the stampede of schools into the world of online education.

Many other schools share the concern and wonder if the technology will live up to its hype.”

I leave you with some select snippets from the transcript, though I can greatly recommend listening to the whole thing.

(Stanford Professor) Terry Moe: What you have is mad scramble, it’s a certain kind of chaos but this is a revolution. There’s no way this isn’t going to transform the way schools are organized.

(NPR Reporter) Tovia Smith: Many innovations will turn out to be spectacular successes and others spectacular stumbles. But Agarwal, from edX, says that shouldn’t deter anyone.

(edX President) Anant Agarwal: You know, fumbling and groping in the dark here, and trying to figure out is a good thing. And if you’re not stumbling, you should be.

Smith: Agarwal says, the worst mistake a school could make is sitting still.