Ivy League school officials suggest that one of the biggest impacts of massive online open courses – MOOCs – could be a renewed focus on teaching over research at elite American universities.
在美國(guó)精英大學(xué)中，常春藤聯(lián)盟學(xué)校的官員認(rèn)為，MOOC最大的影響之一是教學(xué)取代科研重新成為焦點(diǎn)。
“Coursera already is affecting our campus,” said Jeffrey Himpele, associate director of the McGraw Hill Center for Teaching and Learning at Princeton University, which aims to improve teaching at Princeton University. He’s also a documentary filmmaker, professor in media and anthropology and an author.
He says many faculty members have been more focused on research instead of teaching in the past. Open education classes are changing that. Because of MOOCs and Princeton’s upcoming participation in Coursera, “The conversations about teaching (at Princeton) have gone from 0 to 60 on our campus,” he says. Princeton faculty who used to brush off discussions geared toward improving their teaching are now eager to have such discussions, he says.
許多教工過(guò)去更加關(guān)注科研而不是教學(xué)，開放教育課程正在改變這一方向。正是由于MOOC和普林斯頓即將加入Coursera，普林斯頓大學(xué)的教工開始空前地討論如何改進(jìn)教學(xué)。
The first Coursera course launches in a month at Princeton and already has 20,000 students signed up for it.
面對(duì)成千上萬(wàn)的學(xué)生，確實(shí)是需要一種能力，這是教師在課堂中前所未有的角色。普林斯頓在Coursera上線的第一門課程在一個(gè)月時(shí)間已經(jīng)有20000名學(xué)生注冊(cè)。
Himpele says the MOOC courses are also forcing professors and universities to rethink the traditional 60 or 90 minute lecture structure for classes. Princeton’s upcoming Coursera course uses a 50 minute lecture format, broken into several 12-minute parts with quizzes in between.
MOOC課程還在讓教授和學(xué)校重新思考傳統(tǒng)60-90分鐘課堂講座的結(jié)構(gòu)，普林斯頓即將上線的Coursera課程采用了50分鐘的講座形式，但是劃分為多個(gè)12分鐘的內(nèi)容，每個(gè)內(nèi)容之間穿插小問(wèn)答。
“After 12 minutes in a lecture hall, student attention falls off a cliff,” he says. He said professors at Princeton are now radically rethinking how they teach this coming fall. “They are thinking about it from the point of view of their students.”
在12分鐘聽講之后，學(xué)生的注意力會(huì)急劇下降，大學(xué)教授正在從學(xué)生的角度思考如何改進(jìn)新學(xué)期的教學(xué)。
Some are considering ways to flip their lectures, having students go over some basic material at home and going with a more engaging, discussion-oriented setting in class. “A year ago, to flip a lecture would have required a lot of twisting of arms,” he said.
有些教授希望學(xué)生在家學(xué)習(xí)一些基礎(chǔ)資料，在課堂上可以進(jìn)行更加引人并以討論為主的活動(dòng)。
At the panel discussion on MOOC courses, other experts and faculty expressed more skepticism at the impact of MOOCs on top schools and the traditional college system.
在MOOC課程的討論面板，對(duì)于MOOC對(duì)精英學(xué)校和傳統(tǒng)學(xué)院系統(tǒng)的影響，其他專家和教工也表達(dá)了不同看法。
Dr. Peter Struck, an associate professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, is teaching a Coursera class on classics and mythology. He compares online teaching to hosting a TV show rather than a classroom, which functions more like a play. His upcoming Coursera class has 14,000 student signed up already and counting.
Dr. Peter Struck，賓州大學(xué)的助教，同時(shí)在Coursera授課，認(rèn)為電視節(jié)目般的在線教學(xué)相比課堂教學(xué)，更像是一場(chǎng)演出，成為萬(wàn)眾矚目的焦點(diǎn)，那種感覺(jué)令人如此激動(dòng)。
Kevin Carey, policy director at Education Sector in Washington DC, said the fact that Harvard University – which was absent from open educational resources for some time – recently teamed up with MIT on edX is significant. “I can only assume that Harvard University decided to do this because they felt they were being left behind,” he said. Competition among MOOC providers is a driving factor right now, he says.Kevin Carey
認(rèn)為哈佛大學(xué)最近加入edX，是因?yàn)橹霸陂_放教育資源上落后了，需要急起直追，競(jìng)爭(zhēng)MOOC供應(yīng)商現(xiàn)在是個(gè)驅(qū)動(dòng)因素。他認(rèn)為，美國(guó)東西海岸MOOC的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，西海岸是基于硅谷的技術(shù)派，而東海岸是基于常春藤聯(lián)盟和精英學(xué)院，但是學(xué)院無(wú)法壟斷專業(yè)知識(shí)。
Carey sees MOOCs setting up a power struggle between the two coasts of knowledge power – the West Coast, Silicon Valley-based tech sector and the DC to Boston
corridor of Ivy League and elite colleges. “I’m not sure who will end up running the place,” he says. “Colleges don’t have a monopoly on expertise.”
Joshua Kim對(duì)MOOC持懷疑看法，他認(rèn)為這對(duì)于學(xué)院，尤其是精英學(xué)院，只是時(shí)髦的趨勢(shì)和方式，是在加強(qiáng)公關(guān)。關(guān)注MOOC，會(huì)消耗大學(xué)的資源和關(guān)注，偏離應(yīng)該做的事情。
University of Pennsylvania Professor Peter Struck shares his thoughts on what MOOCs will do, won’t do and might do:
賓州大學(xué)教授Peter Struck分享了MOOC能做到的、不能做到的和可能做到的事情：
What MOOCs Will do:
1) Will make the TV show class free to people.
2) It will allow professors and colleges to be better than the history channel at providing knowledge on history and other topics.
3) It will allow some real pedagogical advances, challenging the notion of a 50 minute lecture. While his Coursera segments range from 7 to 15 minutes in length, Struck notes, that “the long narrative arc is sometimes the critical component to convey in my class.”
MOOC能夠做到的：
1) 免費(fèi)向人們提供電視節(jié)目一樣的課程教學(xué)
2) 讓教授和學(xué)院在提供歷史和其他主題的知識(shí)方面，比歷史頻道做得更出色
3) 促成真正的教學(xué)進(jìn)步，挑戰(zhàn)50分鐘的傳統(tǒng)宣講教學(xué)。
MOOC不能做到的：
1) 不會(huì)像一些人所想的改變現(xiàn)有的高等教育
2) 不會(huì)完全扼殺講座
3) 不會(huì)像一些人所想的讓知識(shí)更加普及
What MOOCs Might Do:
1) Expand wisdom.
2) Broaden empathy – understanding of what other people are feeling.
3) I don’t know, if in the aggregate, it will make us smarter.
4) I’m not sure if it will make teaching a more important part of self definition.
5) It might add to the credentialing frenzy of high school students who want to go to a Princeton or University of Pennsylvania, who see MOOC badges as another way to demonstrate their achievement, similar to AP classes.
MOOC可能做到的：
1) 擴(kuò)展學(xué)術(shù)
2) 拓寬換位思考 – 理解他人的感受
3) 總的來(lái)說(shuō)，可能會(huì)讓我們更加聰明
4) 可能會(huì)讓教學(xué)成為自我定義中更加重要的部分
5) 對(duì)于希望進(jìn)入普林斯頓或賓州大學(xué)的高中生，可能會(huì)掀起認(rèn)證高潮，從MOOC獲得的榮譽(yù)是展示其成就的另一種方式。
