Otte and best practices

I feel like there's a piece in the Otte article that I never want to forget-  the right system in place in a Higher Ed distance education program can lead to centripetal force--  the wrong system or no system?  And online learning can be driven by centrifugal force and "random innovation".  I love that image, I can just imagine the university spinning inward........  or spinning outward.  What a push and pull between so many different moving parts in a University.  I think Academic freedom and shared governance and really just lack of transparency make many faculty members resistant to change and DEFINITELY resistant to the idea of other people getting their hands in someone's  class.  I do sympathize with that-  if going from face-to-face to online teaching means losing some autonomy, why in the world would any faculty member want to do that?   But the pull to innovate is so strong with faculty as well, that people are taking the risk and trying it anyway.  No wonder faculty are always talking about the "politics" of a University!  The push and pull of administration and faculty are no joke!