I find this to be a fascinating subject, and Jessica articulates her point of view well. As one who had to write advertising copy for three years, I studied from these masters, and always marvelled at their left-brain creativity. Yes, it's true that we are manipulated and sold stuff using emotion. But it's also true that some of the people in the film like George Lois shaped cultural resistance with his ads for Esquire magazine.

The unstated premise of this article is that distance education is exempt from the high costs of instruction, thus providing an anytime, anywhere learning environment. This isn't so.

The facts of this article are all true, but a few facts from my experience with college faculty and students in online courses adds to the equation:

Many faculty say that the prep time is 3-4 times more intensive for these courses, making them more expensive to teach. Therefore, they too, are being cut.


To justify them as "real courses", there are often heavier assignments and tests by given dates to make sure that the class works consistently throughout the semester.


Faculty report many benefits as well as liabilities for courses they've taught for 20 and 30 years--a more in-depth picture of the student's knowledge, and exemption from the "dominating few" that talk in class, forcing more interaction.