"Who needs a university when we have Google?"

 "Who needs a university when we have Google? All the world's digital knowledge is available at a search."

Jeff Jarvis wrote a few years ago an interesting book What Would Google Do? Among other spheres he googlefies education.

"We can connect those who want to know with those who know. We can find experts on any topic."

This is easy, to shoot down Jeff's ideas. It's sufficient to say that not everyone has a trustworthy friend who's a pro in the field that one wants to learn. And finding some other expert... well, the web is packed with experts of everything...

And yet, as Jeff continues painting a picture on new educational ecology

"where students may take courses from anywhere and instructors may select any students, where courses are collaborative and public, where creativity is nurtured as Google nurtures it (...) where universities teach an abundance of knowledge to those who want it rather than manage a scarcity of seats in a class."

I feel at home on this MOOC on current/future higher education. I bet that there will be opportunities to return to Jeff's thoughts along the course.