Popularity of online courses changing the college experience

This should be no surprise to anyone who is involved in distance education. Good article.
Excerpt:
As enrollment in online college classes soar, driven by students who expect high-tech opportunities, faculty members like Ford are creating a whole new kind of campus — one where students won't need to step inside a classroom.

The college experience — a campus filled with 20-somethings who live in dorms and join clubs and fraternities — is "becoming more and more of a minority," said Jeff Seaman of the Sloan Consortium, a nonprofit group that tracks online education.

The change has some administrators wondering how these students will develop social skills and maturity, traditional byproducts of the college experience.

Others argue that students may actually interact more online, when perhaps they're less inhibited.

"There's so many exciting things going on in online teaching that aren't really even possible in a face-to-face class," said Diane Williams, director of USF's Center for 21st Century Teaching Excellence.

To ensure students are interacting with their professors and peers, USF taps into a menu of options: chat rooms, social networking, Twitter, text messages, videos on YouTube and podcasts, Williams said.