Interactivity is the lifeblood of live streaming. That’s what powers its monetization model in China, where audience members shower live streaming hosts with virtual gifts in exchange for attention and entertainment. Live streaming in the classroom, however, is a slightly different story.
網(wǎng)絡(luò)直播的本質(zhì)是互動(dòng)交流。這是中國(guó)直播最主要的盈利模式。在直播中，粉絲向主播贈(zèng)送虛擬禮物以求獲得主播關(guān)注并（通過(guò)這個(gè)過(guò)程）得到消遣。然而，在教室里進(jìn)行直播，則是另外一回事。

“In the past few months, there [have been] a lot of doubts about what kind of role live streaming can play in education,” says Lu Jian, president of CCTalk Cloud, the live streaming arm of Chinese education company Hujiang. “A lot of people […] think it’s a fad.”
CCTalk云是中國(guó)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)教育公司滬江旗下的直播社群學(xué)習(xí)平臺(tái)。CCTalk云總裁陸堅(jiān)說(shuō)：“在過(guò)去的幾個(gè)月，人們對(duì)于直播在教育體系中所扮演的角色存在很多疑問(wèn)，很多人……認(rèn)為這只會(huì)是曇花一現(xiàn)”。

“However, I think it’s because of the misunderstanding of [how] live streaming for entertainment is different from live streaming for education,” he tells Tech in Asia.
“但是，我認(rèn)為這主要是因?yàn)槿藗儾惶私鈯蕵?lè)直播和教育直播之間的區(qū)別?！彼嬖VTech in Asia的記者。

CCTalk is part of a growing number of live broadcasting services in China’s education industry. Similar to entertainment and ecommerce applications of live streaming, educational live streams open a real-time channel between a host and an audience, or – in education vernacular – a teacher and students.
中國(guó)教育行業(yè)中直播平臺(tái)日益增多，CCTalk也是大軍中的一員。和娛樂(lè)直播、電商直播一樣，教育直播打造了觀眾和主播之間（站在教育的角度來(lái)說(shuō)，是老師和學(xué)生之間）的實(shí)時(shí)互動(dòng)平臺(tái)。

The key difference, however, is in host and audience interactions. On CCTalk, for example, virtual gifting is not encouraged. Beautifying effects, such as filters that make your eyes bigger, are also non-existent. Instead, there are tools that are familiar to anyone who’s tried MOOCs like Coursera and Udemy.
但是，主播和觀眾之間的互動(dòng)是最主要的區(qū)別。打個(gè)比方，在CCTalk上不鼓勵(lì)送虛擬禮物。那些能使你眼睛變大的濾鏡美顏等工具也不復(fù)存在。相反，上過(guò)MOOCs課程的人（例如Coursera 和Udemy的公開(kāi)課）應(yīng)該會(huì)比較熟悉CCTalk上的一些功能。

Teachers can share their screen with students and write on a virtual whiteboard. To prevent CCTalk students – as many as ten thousand in a single class – from drowning out their classmates or teacher, students have to ‘raise their hand’ to participate.
老師和學(xué)生共享一張屏幕，在虛擬的白板上書寫。在CCTalk上，為了防止老師或?qū)W生被班級(jí)里上萬(wàn)同學(xué)淹沒(méi)，學(xué)生們必須“舉手提問(wèn)”才能參與課堂活動(dòng)。

Even though the classes are less polished – teachers can’t edit footage – live courses feel more authentic, says Lu Jian.
陸堅(jiān)說(shuō)，老師們不能剪輯視頻，盡管這種上課方式少了很多修飾成分，但是課程直播能讓人感覺(jué)更加真實(shí)。

“I think live courses […] are more popular because they are more similar to the experience of the classes that we all have experience with,” says Lu Jian. “The teacher is teaching on the stage [and] we can interact with him or her.”
“我認(rèn)為直播課程…更受歡迎，因?yàn)樗覀兤綍r(shí)上課的體驗(yàn)差不多”陸堅(jiān)表示?！袄蠋熣驹谥v臺(tái)上授課，我們能跟他/她互動(dòng)?！?/div>
The company plans to add more live interaction features in the future, such as pop quizzes and in-class vocabulary games. Because classes are live, interactions can be more dynamic, says Lu Jian.
他說(shuō)：“未來(lái)滬江計(jì)劃增加更多即時(shí)互動(dòng)功能，比如隨堂測(cè)試和課堂學(xué)詞的游戲環(huán)節(jié)。因?yàn)檎n程是直播的，交流互動(dòng)能活躍課堂氣氛?！?/div>
Currently, Hujiang has over 10,000 individuals and organizations teaching classes on CCTalk. Though most classes are free, some teachers are making more than US$200 per class. Unlike Hujiang’s MOOC-like video classes – the company’s main revenue stream – CCTalk has no restrictions on content or teaching experience. Anyone can register as a teacher and start broadcasting live.
目前，滬江 CCTalk 直播平臺(tái)已經(jīng)吸引超過(guò)1萬(wàn)名老師和機(jī)構(gòu)在此進(jìn)行授課。盡管大多數(shù)的課程是免費(fèi)的，但是還是有一些老師每堂課的收入超過(guò)200美元。滬江的MOOC類視頻課程是公司的主要收入來(lái)源，和這些課程不同的是，CCTalk對(duì)內(nèi)容和教學(xué)經(jīng)驗(yàn)沒(méi)有限制。每一個(gè)人都可以注冊(cè)成為老師，然后開(kāi)始直播教學(xué)。

MOOC+?

Hujiang is not the only company implementing live classes. Larger players, such as Tencent and YY, have their own live education platforms as well. Their product offering is almost identical – open platform, shared screen capabilities, education-specific interactions – which means content and reach will be key differentiating factors. No doubt each company has been able to leverage the hype around live streaming in China this year.
滬江不是唯一一個(gè)做課堂直播的公司。其它更大的公司，像騰訊和YY，也擁有自己的教育直播平臺(tái)。他們提供的服務(wù)幾乎一樣——開(kāi)放的平臺(tái)、屏幕共享、教育行業(yè)特殊的互動(dòng)功能，這就意味著內(nèi)容和平臺(tái)的傳播度將會(huì)成為最關(guān)鍵的區(qū)別因素。毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，今年每個(gè)公司都能利用中國(guó)直播領(lǐng)域的熱潮大肆宣傳一番。

However, at the moment it’s not clear whether live classes offer anything new to the edutech industry. With virtual whiteboards and screen-shared powerpoint slides, they look very similar to traditional online courseware. Adobe Connect, for example, even has a little ‘hand raising’ button so students don’t talk over each other.
然而，目前尚不清楚課堂直播是否會(huì)給教育體系帶來(lái)新的變化。在直播課堂上使用虛擬白板和屏幕上共享PPT，這些看起來(lái)和傳統(tǒng)的在線課件相似。例如，Adobe Connect（全球知名的視頻會(huì)議軟件），甚至有一個(gè)小的“舉手”按鈕，以保證學(xué)生的討論秩序。

Still, it’s worth noting that student attrition – the Achilles’ heel of MOOCs- might be mitigated if edutech companies can make live classes more engaging for students. For now, Hujiang will rely on external factors, such as acing the TOEFL to study or work abroad, to drive student motivation.
不過(guò)值得注意的是，如果教育公司能夠讓直播課程對(duì)學(xué)生產(chǎn)生更大的吸引力，那么學(xué)生流失（MOOCs課程的弊端）情況將得以改善。目前，滬江將依靠外部因素，比如通過(guò)托?？荚嚦鰢?guó)學(xué)習(xí)或工作來(lái)提高學(xué)生的積極性。

“In our case […] most of the students have strong motivation,” says Lu Jian. “They are not studying for fun.”
“我們的情況是…大部分學(xué)生有很強(qiáng)的學(xué)習(xí)動(dòng)機(jī)，”陸堅(jiān)說(shuō)?！八麄儾皇菫榱撕猛娑鴮W(xué)習(xí)?！?/div>

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