Are we looking in the wrong places about distance ed?

http://www.openculture.com/2012/06/a_master_list_of_500_free_courses_from_great_universities.html


In education we are often worried about theories and pedagogues, things to tell us we are on the right path.To me there appears to be a new trend, forget about what we did, what are we going to do? Easy answer, we are going to do what works. But that is the hard part really, but not for everyone. I have included a link to free courses online. Which is becoming a huge trend lately, and the public seems to think its an awesome idea. But what I would like to look at is how are the creators of online environments like khan academy (http://www.khanacademy.org/) and wonder why does this help/work? It is breaking the mold, but on top of that it is helping the way we used to do things. Teachers are using online resources such as this to supplement in the classroom and as a result are more conservative with their time while getting better results. And in today's current trend getting bigger results with less is becoming the expectation.