[woodall]

There is physical/virtual room, however, the professors may not have the ability to handle all the students. This does not differ from the 200 student classes at a regular university, but many on-line professors do all the work them selves- no student aides.

I have heard mixed reviews from many academics on the subject of online instruction. Some think it "spoils the crop", while others think it helps those in difficult situations- where going to a university is not an option.

I feel that education is education, in that person will only get back what they put in. Hybrid, IMO, provide a nice middle ground. There types of programs allow a student to do readings, tests, and other assignments online, but at some point require them to meet with the professor to go over- in more depth- some of the subject content. Again, a person will only get out of this what they put in, so if they meet with the professor and ask no questions they will get little in return.

[yummyfajitas]

There is physical/virtual room, however, the professors may not have the ability to handle all the students.

A single, quality professor is needed to generate content. Content scales.

An army of cheap drones are needed to grade, assuming all grading is done manually. You could probably get a grader for 50 students for $3000-5000 [1]. That's less than $100/student. As long as students pay more than $100/course, online classes will scale.

[1] This is the pay a PTL will receive for teaching a single in-person math course.