As a computer programmer, I can, and last Spring did, create my own site, using FrontPage 2000, complete with database access for grades, password-protected access, etc. While the site was exactly the way I wanted it, it also was very time-consuming to write all the necessary code. This is the crystal ball question. For better or worse, it is the future. I'm alternating between typing these answers and doing my banking online and buying books online, and when I get hungry I'll buy my groceries online.
Many activities now are online that only a couple of years ago required personal presence.
This trend seems only to be accelerating as demands on our time increase and our time to meet those demands decrease. Particularly in our more advanced computer science classes, many if not most of my students work all day, and because of traffic, work demands, family demands, etc. find it very difficult to come to the college. Without distance education, the community colleges will lose these students to those institutions which do offer it.