The academic calendar: what if?

The Chronicle ran a lead story about online teaching's possible impacts on the traditional idea of an academic calendar. The prospect of a semesterless environment is being investigated at some community colleges where self-paced online learning prevails, and the article does a nice job of outlining the obstacles that this new idea needs to address; and they are many - the implication to financial aid, student interaction (then lack of), calibrating teacher pay, and what we mean by the "higher educational" experience.