It’s good to have out-of-the-box thinkers in higher education. One of them is Richard DeMillo, a professor of computing at Georgia Tech. Inside Higher Education has just interviewed him about his new book, Revolution in Higher Education: How a Small Band of Innovators Will Make College Accessible and Affordable. DeMillo is also author of From Abelard to Apple: The Fate of American Universities, which addressed the future of American universities.

DeMillo’s new book appears to be more positive about the future. He believes that technology is going to change colleges and universities. So, naturally, IHE asked him about MOOCs (massive open online courses) He said:

Sometimes think that I live on two planets. I live on one planet where people say MOOCs were hyped two years ago and now the whole idea is a failure. I live on another planet where enrollments in programs like Georgia Tech’s online master’s in computer science program are going through the roof.
All of those universities are going to have to change their mission dramatically or find themselves in severe financial trouble.

Asked about whether traditional colleges will have to close their doors, he said:

Some people, like Clayton Christensen, put that number as high as 50 percent. I think that’s a little high, but even if it’s 25 percent or 20 percent, you’re talking about a massive change in the business of educating students.

You can also read Joshua Kim’s column about DeMillo’s new book, in which he writes:

Revolution in Higher Education would be a good book to start with for any campus contemplating going through a large strategic planning process. (And DeMillo is wonderfully incisive about the limitations of strategic planning).