Digital Revolution Shakes Colleges

 Advancing digital technology is bringing major changes to higher education, after upending journalism¹, the music business, manufacturing and many other industries.  In a few cases, this digital revolution means tens of thousands of students can sign up for one class taught by top professors.  The pace of change in higher education is getting faster, and will affect teaching, student evaluation², and access to knowledge.

Imagine a university class with 160,000 students sitting at computers all around the world, all learning from the same professors.

It is not science-fiction.  It is a class at Stanford University in California taught by Sebastian Thrun.

"We are teaching this class at Stanford and now we are teaching it online for the entire world," said Thrun. "We are really excited about this."

The class in artificial intelligence by Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig can be found on YouTube.  It's free, and proponents³ say it shows that top scholars can efficiently⁴ teach some subjects to anyone, anywhere.

Universities have been slow to change, according to Professor Rita McGrath at Columbia University in New York.

“The basic business model of our higher education has not changed since the age of Socrates. It is some guy standing⁵ in front of a group of people talking," said McGrath. "The advanced version is they ask questions."

McGrath tracks industries undergoing rapid change.  She says digital technology has improved and is about to spark major changes. Those change including how teachers teach, according to University of Maryland Professor Spencer Benson. 

"It's changed, in part, the role of the teacher or the role of the professor from being the content delivery unit to being the person who helps students find and evaluate and utimately be able to use content," said Benson.

Another change is the way a student's progress is measured.  Rob Hughes is the president of TopCoder, a company that awards on-line credentials⁶ to students.  

"Certainly code, software development, mathematics, algorithms, computer science; those things lend themselves very well to objective and automated⁷ testing systems," said Hughes.

More difficult to assess is student progress in literature, history and other nontechnical fields. 

One solution is to use online classes to present material, but still have an instructor⁸ to assess a student's understanding.

That is something Professor George Siemens has done at Athabasca University in Alberta, Canada. 

"It really is a very exciting time to be in education, but it is a little unsettling because we are asking big questions, about will the university survive, and if it does, what is it going to look like?" said Siemens.

While education leaders think many future classes will be online, some students at the University of Maryland have concerns.  

"It just seems it would be a little alien and harder to learn that way," said Cooper Gilbert.

"Late night studying with friends in the dorm was, like, really crucial for grades and classes," said Chuma Obineme.

These students liked the idea that online classes could be cheaper than traditional courses and available to people outside the university.

While some scholars say universities will resist change, others insist that massive online classes are just part of a digital revolution that will soon bring dramatic changes to the ways knowledge is gathered and shared.

1 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

2 evaluation   

n.估价，评价；赋值

参考例句：

• I attempted an honest evaluation of my own life.我试图如实地评价我自己的一生。
• The new scheme is still under evaluation.新方案还在评估阶段。

3 proponents   

n.（某事业、理论等的）支持者，拥护者( proponent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Reviewing courts were among the most active proponents of hybrid rulemaking procedures. 复审法院是最积极的混合型规则制定程序的建议者。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• Proponents of such opinions were arrested as 'traitors. ' 提倡这种主张的人马上作为“卖国贼”逮捕起来。 来自辞典例句

4 efficiently   

adv.高效率地，有能力地

参考例句：

• The worker oils the machine to operate it more efficiently.工人给机器上油以使机器运转更有效。
• Local authorities have to learn to allocate resources efficiently.地方政府必须学会有效地分配资源。

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 credentials   

n.证明，资格，证明书，证件

参考例句：

• He has long credentials of diplomatic service.他的外交工作资历很深。
• Both candidates for the job have excellent credentials.此项工作的两个求职者都非常符合资格。

7 automated   

a.自动化的

参考例句：

• The entire manufacturing process has been automated. 整个生产过程已自动化。
• Automated Highway System (AHS) is recently regarded as one subsystem of Intelligent Transport System (ITS). 近年来自动公路系统(Automated Highway System,AHS)，作为智能运输系统的子系统之一越来越受到重视。

8 instructor   

n.指导者，教员，教练

参考例句：

• The college jumped him from instructor to full professor.大学突然把他从讲师提升为正教授。
• The skiing instructor was a tall,sunburnt man.滑雪教练是一个高高个子晒得黑黑的男子。