The challenge for universities is not just creating new provision, but building the organisational capabilities to make lifelong learning financially sustainable.

Ultimately, I think sometimes the sector doesn’t have a thoroughly convincing purpose behind some of the desires around blended learning, or what this is really about, which is the greater use of digital technologies within the on-campus model.

If we continue to see students' needs and demographics change, then the sector and the regulator will need to get to grips with an understanding of blended learning that results in a reduced place and time-based commitment.

While some continue the futile debate over whether online education is as effective as on-campus education, it's clear that on-campus education can learn much from its online counterpart in offering an accessible, appealing, and contemporary educational experience.

Evidently, trials are not expected to be flawless and are designed to reveal issues, but this trial seems to have been more about falling flat than failing forward.

Ultimately, the path ahead for online education in the UK is one of more subtle shifts and ongoing developments, but year-on-year it’s playing an increasing role in reshaping UK higher education.

It shouldn’t be controversial to conclude that there was continuity but the teaching and study experience was hugely variable and in some cases problematic and suboptimal.

Unfortunately, what I think is becoming increasingly evident here in the UK and further afield is a digital education research field that earnestly pursues a cause but not truth. It believes itself to be righteous and this blinds it, and can make it insular and exclusionary.

If you want to change the teaching and study model then you have to change the organisational model that buttresses it.