VOA慢速英語:More Universities Offer Free Online Courses

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語教育報(bào)道。

Earlier this year, we reported on the growth of massive open online courses, or MOOCs. These higher education courses are mostly free and, so far, largely in technical areas like computer science. MOOCs are usually open to anyone and can have thousands of students around the world.

今年早些時(shí)候，我們曾報(bào)道過大規(guī)模開放網(wǎng)絡(luò)課程(簡稱MOOCs)的增長情況。這些高等教育課程大多是免費(fèi)的，到目前為止，主要是在像計(jì)算機(jī)科學(xué)這樣的技術(shù)領(lǐng)域開設(shè)。 MOOCs通常面向所有人開放，而且可以容納世界各地?cái)?shù)千名學(xué)生。

Entrepreneurs and educators are studying the different business possibilities. One idea is to make money by offering credits or certificates to students willing to pay. Another is to charge employers for connecting them with students who get top scores on online tests.

一些創(chuàng)辦人和教育工作者正在研究這種課程的各種商機(jī)。一種想法是為愿意付錢的學(xué)生提供學(xué)分或證書。另一種是通過為雇主聯(lián)系在線測試最高分的學(xué)生來向雇主收費(fèi)。

Some top universities are starting to offer their own MOOCs. For example, this week the University of California, Berkeley, announced it has joined a nonprofit enterprise called edX. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology started edX and have each invested thirty million dollars.

一些一流大學(xué)已經(jīng)開始提供自己的MOOCs。例如，加州大學(xué)伯克利分校本周宣布它已加入一個(gè)叫做edX的非營利組織。edX是由哈佛大學(xué)和麻省理工學(xué)院合作創(chuàng)建，并分別投資3000萬美元。

This fall, Berkeley will offer two of the seven free courses on the edX platform: Artificial Intelligence and Software as a Service. Berkeley will also work with edX to get more universities involved. Schools that offer courses on the edX platform will be called "X Universities."

今年秋季，伯克利分校將在edX平臺(tái)上提供7門免費(fèi)課程中的兩門：人工智能和軟件即服務(wù)。伯克利分校也與edX一起努力，讓更多的大學(xué)參與進(jìn)來。在edX平臺(tái)上提供課程的學(xué)校將被稱為“X大學(xué)。”

MIT professor Anant Agarwal is the president of edX, and he helped develop an electrical engineering course for the fall. He says the goal is to reinvent education worldwide and on campus. Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau made similar comments as he expressed a commitment to "excellence in online education." He says the goals are to bring higher education to more people and to enrich the quality of campus-based education. And he said he believes that working with the not-for-profit model of edX is the best way to do that.

麻省理工學(xué)院教授阿納特·阿加瓦爾(Anant Agarwal)是edX首任主席，他幫助開發(fā)了一個(gè)秋季開課的電氣工程課程。他說，我們的目標(biāo)是重塑全球的在校課程。伯克利分校校長羅伯特·伯格諾(Robert Birgeneau)作出了類似的意見，他承諾“在線教育一樣優(yōu)秀。”他稱，目標(biāo)是為更多的人帶來更高的教育，提高校園基礎(chǔ)教育的質(zhì)量。而且他認(rèn)為，與非營利典范edX工作，是做到這點(diǎn)的最佳途徑。

EdX faces for-profit competitors. One is Udacity, co-founded by Sebastian Thrun at Stanford University. Another is Coursera, started by two other Stanford computer scientists, Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng. In fact, some Berkeley professors have been teaching free courses through Coursera. Coursera started with four universities and last week announced a big expansion for the fall.

edX 面臨著與營利組織的競爭。一個(gè)是Udacity，由斯坦福大學(xué)塞巴斯蒂安·史朗(Sebastian Thrun)共同創(chuàng)辦的。另一個(gè)是Coursera，由其他兩個(gè)斯坦福大學(xué)計(jì)算機(jī)科學(xué)家，達(dá)芙妮·科勒(Daphne Koller)和安德魯·恩格(Andrew Ng)創(chuàng)辦。實(shí)際上，一些伯克利分校的教授已經(jīng)通過Coursera教授免費(fèi)課程。 Coursera已經(jīng)聯(lián)合了四所大學(xué)，然而Coursera上周宣布，將在今年秋季進(jìn)行大擴(kuò)張。

One of the new partners is the University of Virginia. Just last month its popular president, Teresa Sullivan, had to resign. The governing board forced her out in part over suggestions that she was not moving fast enough into this new world of online education. But two weeks later, after campus protests, the board rehired her.

新的合作伙伴之一是弗吉尼亞大學(xué)。就在上個(gè)月，其受歡迎校長特瑞薩·沙利文(Teresa Sullivan)不得不辭職。董事會(huì)撤掉沙利文，某種程度上是考慮她還沒有盡快適應(yīng)網(wǎng)絡(luò)課程這一新領(lǐng)域。但兩周后，經(jīng)歷了校園抗議活動(dòng)，董事會(huì)返聘了她。