Will universities ever become obsolete? One professor thinks so. Dr. David Wiley, a professor of psychology and instructional technology at Brigham Young University, believes that some universities will become irrelevant by 2020 because they wont adapt to the ‘open’ course method of teaching.

This ‘open’ course teaching method revolves around taking advantage of technological advances such as the internet, iTunes, podcasting, wikis and different forum and chat application to share and discuss published information, including textbooks, papers and lectures. Wiley thinks that the schools that don’t adapt will eventually lose students to the ones that do embrace this new way of higher education. In addition to this free flow of information and education, Wiley wants it to be presented to everyone for the same low price: for free.

Institutions can still charge tuition if students want to earn college credits for their diplomas or degrees. However, if anyone wants to learn more about an anthropology class, under this new movement of education, they can simply go online and enroll without paying for the class.

Will we see more universities succumb to this new movement? So far, Utah is the only state in the union to provide state-level funding for this type of open courseware. Although, when the bill came to vote for the funding in 2009, the legislature didn’t choose to renew the project.

What are your thoughts on opening educational doors and sharing information to the public?