[ksaj]

Agreed, depending on context. I have taken a number of online courses through Lynda (now: LinkedIn Learning) and Santa Fe Institute's Complexity Explorer, and the format suits me well. But for university and college, I imagine there would be a need for at least some human interaction beyond the bi-monthly fireside chats SFI put on for their students.

Half of the classes I took at Ryerson University were online. The instructors were only there for feedback, questions, and grading, and even then, only through email or a text chat. It was definitely an easy period for them.

Tutoring is a different beast since by definition it requires a lot of interaction.

[egberts1]

My spouse is a professor at a large university. Her time is spent setting up virtual classrooms, online office hours (there’s more hours there), grading online, preparing/producing videos and configuring and using their many interactive tools.

If anything, I see less of her due to her workload and she works from home while I live in it.

It’s not easier than brick-n-mortar. It’s a whole new approach.