Office hours with an android? We’re not quite there yet, but the science-fiction future of higher education is closer than you might think. Thanks to a slew of new products known as courseware, college professors can practically run a class on autopilot.

Related Reading:

• The Substitute Teacher: Millions of students have to use courseware. Often, the product replaces the professor.
• The Homework Tax: For students already struggling to afford college, courseware can add to the burden.
• The ‘Textbook’ That Reads You: When students use courseware, how much personal data is it collecting?

Guest: Taylor Swaak, tech and innovation reporter at The Chronicle of Higher Education

For more on today’s episode, visit chronicle.com/collegematters. We aim to make transcripts available within a day of an episode’s publication.