There is a huge demand for alternatives to ‘bricks and mortar’ higher education in the developing world. The monetisation of MOOC’s, through verified certification for example (such as the ‘signature track’ programme from Coursera), is one solution to that – and is also a huge commercial opportunity. As robust, online education becomes a mainstream reality, it will be interesting to see how it changes the landscape of existing institutional learning.

A study I recently completed reinforced my view that both types of teaching and learning: online and face-to-face, are here to stay but maybe with a shift in emphasis. Without doubt, students will continue to demand high quality tutorial engagement. Even more so probably, as students become highly discriminating customers as a result of new funding structures. And we have to question whether having a valuable academic ‘broadcasting live’ to students from the front of a lecture theatre is the most effective use of their time.

So a future which embraces online education for the ‘one-to-many’ aspects of teaching, for both distance learners (resulting in improved revenue and profitability) and fee paying, campus based students, provides academics with more time to focus on the ‘one-to-one’ aspects of education, such as lab sessions and higher quality tutorials and research.

I spoke to someone in a university recently who said: “If universities embrace online learning, why will they need me?”. This seems to be a common fear. But the reality is that online education is an opportunity for academics, not a threat.