My theory is that like many things in our postmodern world, Education will be tiered:
You'll have the industrial school, which most people will go to, for jobs and a basic, crappy education.
--This will educate the unmotivated more than any other, more independent form of learning.
You'll have the internet based, self leaning resources we have now, for the motivated and willing.
--This will be used for people unsatisfied with the basic form of education.
I think the trend towards educational choice and diversity will continue.
I have an AA, a couple of certificates (one from a technical college that my former employer sent me to), and I am a few classes short of a BS. I have taken plenty of classes on a college campus but have also taken online classes, condensed classes aimed at adults, and other stuff. I have also homeschooled my kids and what I know about running websites and writing code comes from books, educational CDs, websites, online discussion and other forms of uncredentialed "independent" or self study.
For my websites, I don't need any credentials. The king's stamp will not make them gold. Either I put up something good that has value to other people and I figure out how to get traffic and monetize it or I don't. A diploma makes zero difference. That doesn't mean taking courses would do nothing. That means if I took a class and it taught me something useful it would make a difference. But listing my educational credentials will have little to no impact on usability, appeal, etc for my websites. I get it right or I don't.
Since I don't plan to get a regular job again, credentials are not terribly important to me. I was STAR student, a National Merit Scholarship winner, inducted into Mu Alpha Theta in 11th grade (that's a college math honor society), state alternate for the governor's honors program, blah blah blah. None of that made very much difference in my life in terms of employability and income or certain other critical areas. I was a homemaker for a long time. My educational background and typing, math etc skills helped me get a better than minimum wage job while going through a divorce but I never got a promotion in part because of my health issues. Since I have special needs in that regard (and for other reasons), credentialing is of little importance to my life. Credibility is something I need more and that's a completely different animal.
So it depends a lot on your goals and needs. With a few billion people on the planet, we can easily support a diversity of educational approaches. There are plenty of people to fill both roles of provider and consumer. Even a fairly niche area or approach can routinely fill a class. That wasn't always true.
Online education isn't good for what most people want, which is getting certification. It doesn't have the reputation, cheating is harder to prevent, and the barriers to entry are lower.
But if you actually want to learn, I think online is superior for most things or at least will be.
My theory is that like many things in our postmodern world, Education will be tiered:
You'll have the industrial school, which most people will go to, for jobs and a basic, crappy education. --This will educate the unmotivated more than any other, more independent form of learning.
You'll have the internet based, self leaning resources we have now, for the motivated and willing. --This will be used for people unsatisfied with the basic form of education.