Celebrity Teachers (Score 1)

If the whole teaching experience went virtual then could 100,000 students listen in on a single teacher, the best in the field? With such a following, could these teachers break free of the university and become little Joel Osteens? Then the better teachers become mere assistants helping with questions in smaller collaborative settings? And all the mediocre to horrible teachers get the boot? That seems the most efficient route and if no one resists, it may be what the educational system slowly evolves into. This won't replace classes that require hands-on learning. It won't be optimal for a class that traditionally was interactive. It will be a fine substitute for all those classes that are 100% lectures though. You'd also gain by learning from the best, possibly at a lower cost too. Just a taught. Not like it's ever going to happen.

I just think it's insane how youtube and wikipedia has transformed our daily lives, but higher learning is still being held back. My professor would password protect his website so no one other than his students could access his material. Now I know he had a reason for that, but what if he chose to share his knowledge with others? What if his knowledge was so good that people would pay to subscribe to it?