E-Learning at a Crossroads? What Price Quality?

For distance learning to flourish, higher education must address several challenges, including volume versus quality.
Can the e-learning juggernaut continue at its current rapid pace? Courses at a distance already reach close to 20 percent of college students in the United States, and growth rates are significantly higher than those of traditionally taught programs. New offerings seem to be springing up everywhere, and some existing ones are bursting at the seams. Will the number of students taking college courses at a distance double or triple by 2010? What barriers or obstacles might slow this rapid growth?