Now is the time to leverage that knowledge and start building the kind of inclusive, high-quality online instruction that faculty can really get behind. To do that, we need our universities to invest seriously in this effort and commit to offering online courses post-pandemic. Historically, talk about online instruction in brick-and-mortar institutions brings up legitimate concerns about the privatization of public education. I can easily imagine a dystopic future in which the work of teaching has simply been turned over to profit-driven EdTech companies or academic service contractors. But so far, while some universities contract out services, such as tutoring and mentoring, they remain public institutions, not profit-driven corporations.
