Online learning has helped rescue higher education from the pandemic and from natural disasters, wars and untold disasters. It is online learning to the rescue again, but this time the change will be far more lasting than an epidemic or huricane. The model of higher education premised on 18-year-old freshmen, right out of high school, is coming to a close. We have an oversupply of colleges and universities to meet that need. The shakeout has begun with faculty layoffs, program cuts and deep deficits. The trends I have been following show this to be undeniable and pervasive. The emphasis for many universities who survive this shakeup will be to serve the "60-year learner" who returns again and again to prepare for work in an ever-changing economy fueled by artificial intelligence. And, by and large, they are doing this online.
