At first blush, the unassuming Bielefeld University of Applied Science — a small public technical college in a small German city — has little in common with the world-renowned Stanford University. Checking the Internet, however, one surprising similarity emerges: the long reach of some of their undergraduate lectures.
乍看之下，比勒費爾德應用科技大學這座位于德國小城中的小型公立學院與世界著名學府斯坦福大學似乎并無相似之處。但只要查查網頁，你就會發現二者有著驚人的相似之處：這兩所大學的本科生課程都輻及海外廣為傳播。
Jörn Loviscach, a professor of mathematics and computer science in Bielefeld, has been putting his lectures on YouTube since 2009. The German-language math and computer science courses have become smash hits.
比勒費爾德應用科技大學的數學與電子科學學院教授，Jörn Loviscach 從09年就開始將自己的課程發布到YouTube上。他用德語講授的數學與計算機科學課程獲得了極高的點擊率。
MOOCs have become highly popular in the last couple of years in the United States, where the concept evolved. The growth in the number of courses, providers, participating universities and online students has led to a debate among educators, with some arguing that these free virtual lectures could completely change the nature of post-secondary education, while others warn that the courses are not nearly as effective as real lectures.
MOOC在線學習平臺的概念誕生于美國，并在最近數十年中在美國掀起了一股在線學習熱潮。課程數量的增加、課程提供者的增多和參與學校的增多引起了教育界的一場爭議。一些學者認為在線課程會徹底改變高中后教育的本質。而另一些學者則認為在線課程不如面授課程有效。
Now, after a cautious start, MOOCs are catching on in Europe, too, as universities and educators look for ways to save on teaching costs and reach out to a wider student audience, and as providers sense commercial opportunities.
現在，經歷了草創階段之后，MOOC在線學習平臺的熱潮已經感染了歐洲，成為大學機構和教育學者們節約教學成本、擴大生源范圍的有效方式，也成為課程供應者的有利商機。
Several distinct platforms have started operating in Europe this year, while a consortium of open universities has come together to provide a database of their MOOCs. Innovation is not only coming from entrepreneurs and educators: As part of a major education directive, the European Commission is set to launch an open education resource Web site later this week.
在歐洲，數個獨立的在線學習平臺已經于本年開始運作了。一個公開的大學財團組織已經開始相互合作、經營眾多在線學習平臺的聯合數據庫。不止企業家和教育家在進行革新，歐盟委員會也將在線學習作為教育政策的題中之義，一個歐盟委員會管理下的公開教育資源網站將在本周內投入運營。
Often produced by well-known colleges or universities, MOOCs are frequently hosted on third party commercial platforms. Depending on the platform, students may be able to watch top-quality lectures and tutorials online, contribute to discussion boards and take computer-graded tests. There are no admission requirements, no scheduling clashes and no, or low, tuition costs.
MOOC在線學習平臺通常是由著名學府制作，并借助第三方商業網絡平臺加以推廣的。借助于在線網絡平臺，學生們可以學習最好的講座和課程，在討論簿上發言，并參加電腦評分的在線測試。在線學習平臺沒有任何入學門坎，不會產生任何課程安排沖突，只需要學生支付少量，乃至免費的學費。
“We are just as far from India as Stanford — namely, just one click,” said Sebastian Springer, a professor at the Jacobs University in Bremen who is preparing an English-language molecular biology MOOC.
不來梅雅各布大學Sebastian Springer教授正在準備一場英授分子生物學MOOC課程，他說，“我們與全球各地的距離已經無限拉近了——從這里到印度、或到斯坦福都只需輕擊鼠標。”
Together with his teaching partner, Susanne Illenberger, Mr. Springer won one of 10 places in a European MOOC production competition in June.
在Springer教授與其助教的通力合作之下，他的在線課程在六月舉辦的歐洲MOOC產品競賽中獲得了十佳的榮譽。
The competition won by Mr. Springer and Ms. Illenberger — which was partly decided by an online vote — was held by the Stifterverband, a German science foundation, and Iversity, one of Europe’s newest MOOC providers. The 10 finalists each received 25,000, or $33,000, to develop their MOOC in addition to technical help from Iversity to take the courses live, starting this autumn.
此次比賽是由德國基金會聯盟和Iversity這一全歐最新的MOOC供應商之一聯合舉辦的。從今年秋天開始，入選十佳的參賽課程，將獲得2.5萬歐元或3.3萬美元的課程平臺建設基金以及Iversity提供的在線技術支持。
評論
打印
