It's worth noting the distinction between for-profit colleges and universities, which are the real focus of this report, and online learning. If the two overlap significantly, they are not identical. It's also worth underlining what Roxanne said on the boards: the low rates of completion raise many questions, but they should not call into question the achievements of those who do successfully earn degrees from for-profit institutions.

This essay is a landmark in cultural criticism. Among other things, it asks what happens to a work of art when it can be so perfectly reproduced that there are no qualitative differences between the "original" and the copies - as with, say, film stock. The questions of what happens in the virtual reproduction of a classroom are different. But I think there are interesting analogies to be made. I wonder in particular about the loss of what Benjamin calls "aura" - of the ritual dimensions that are present in any really great class. Can those be reproduced? If not, what is lost? And - the question that makes Benjamin more interesting than some of his contemporaries - what might be gained?