Imagine if 15 years ago universities had poured money into developing best practices in online learning--using technology to hold tuition costs down, building a culture around creative online pedagogy. We would be better prepared today.

Instead, we got great climbing walls.

2. I've read story after story in which students lament missing out on the campus experience. I fully get that, I miss campus too! I miss seeing my students at the coffee shop.

3. But I also think universities badly oversold the campus "experience" as a consumer item-plush dining halls and fitness centers, without commensurate educational investments.

4. Data I've seen always indicates students remember and value faculty+advising staff interactions most from their college years. Can THOSE interactions be meaningful online? We act as if they can't, but we are trying to build those online relations in the middle of a disaster!

5. Why didn't we start sooner, preparing and investing for a digital inflection point when more and more higher education would go online? Didn't runaway costs send the signal that change was needed? Or did we just get lost in the beautiful "learning commons"? /end