Saw this today–made me think about how on-line education will become more important in the future:

“What’s the most frustrating part about being teacher?”
“I think it’s getting increasingly difficult to convince my students that what I’m teaching is relevant to their lives. They see a world where the path to success is much more muddled, and social skills are beginning to seem more important than academics. It’s hard to instill the importance of memorization when information is so freely and instantly available.”  https://www.facebook.com/humansofnewyork?fref=ts

The virtual world will allow students to customize their education in ways that the traditional classroom can’t. That alone makes the material relevant. The key is to make the on-line experience effective AND unique.