【英语语言学习】网上教育受到追捧 质疑声不断

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

 

Massive Open Online Courses, or MOOCS, are reshaping the landscape of higher education. And there's no bigger MOOC than Coursera, the for-profit tech company, with 3.5 million people taking its online courses. Today, Coursera unveiled a partnership¹ with 10 state university systems serving well over a million students.

 

As NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports, it is the biggest shift so far of degree-granting institutions into the world of global online education.

 

CLAUDIO SANCHEZ, BYLINE²: For Tennessee's 46 public colleges and universities, the deal with Coursera is huge, but not without its risks.

 

RICH RHODA: This is a leap in faith but, again, I think the potential good far outweighs³ the bad.

 

SANCHEZ: Rich Rhoda is executive director of Tennessee's Higher Education Commission. He says the bad is not knowing whether MOOCS can truly compliment, let alone replace, traditional classroom instruction.

 

RHODA: Well, you just described the discussions in Tennessee. We look at it as an experiment.

 

SANCHEZ: The good that could result from this experiment, says Rhoda, is that students may now be able to earn a degree more quickly, more cheaply; entirely⁴ online or as part of a regular course. Institutions will be able to showcase their top professors and connect students to professors at other schools.

 

As part of the Coursera network, the University of Tennessee System - and those in New York, Georgia, Colorado, Kentucky, Nebraska, New Mexico, West Virginia and the Houston University System - will now join the ranks of elite⁵ institutions that have embraced the MOOC model.

 

Like most states involved in the deal, colleges in Tennessee already offer lots of courses online, which Coursera will format⁶ into modules⁷ for a fee.

 

RHODA: We're talking about three to $5,000.

 

SANCHEZ: That's per course. It's a fraction of what it costs to develop and deliver a regular course. That's the hook, says Rhoda.

 

RHODA: Replacing campus scholars with cyber scholars.

 

SANCHEZ: Schools save money and cut costs. It's how schools are responding to tight budgets and the economic realities of higher education.

 

DAPHNE KOLLER: This is going to transform the way that we teach on college campuses. It's not going to substitute for it.

 

SANCHEZ: Daphne Koller is Coursera's co-founder. A professor of computer science at Stanford University who, by the way, hates the term MOOCs but who's pushing the concept and turning higher education on its head.

 

KOLLER: The whole landscape of higher education has been reshaped as a consequence of this phenomenon. Multiple institutions that had not considered online to be a critical part of their mission are now no longer thinking whether, they're thinking when and how.

 

SANCHEZ: Still, even among institutions that are partnering with Coursera there are questions.

 

HOUSTON DAVIS: Oh, absolutely.

 

SANCHEZ: Houston Davis is chief academic officer and vice⁸ chancellor⁹ with the University System of Georgia.

 

DAVIS: I don't think anyone should see it as a magic pill. This has to be about high quality teaching and learning opportunities at an affordable¹⁰ price for students.

 

SANCHEZ: This fall, Davis says Georgia's 31 state colleges and universities will be working with Coursera to improve quality, access and raise college completion rates.

 

Critics aren't so sure, though, that Coursera or MOOCs in general can do any of these things.

 

EILEEN LANDY: Whether it costs a little less or a little more, I would not want my child's education to be an experiment.

 

SANCHEZ: Eileen Landy, professor of sociology at the State University of New York-Old Westbury, is with the union that represents the 35,000 faculty¹¹ members in the SUNY system.

 

LANDY: We know MOOCs have an average about 10 percent completion rate and that's among very highly motivated students. If you target MOOCs for incoming students, students who need remediation, the chances are we'll lose them.

 

SANCHEZ: But Nancy Zimpher, the chancellor of the SUNY system, says that with nearly half a million students on 64 campuses, SUNY'S goal is to use Coursera to help more students complete their degrees, not discourage them.

 

NANCY ZIMPHER: And since we have so many people who need what we offer, why not enhance access and completion through this vehicle as well?

 

SANCHEZ: It's the future, says Zimpher. As for Coursera's future, Daphne Koller says its partnership with states will be a model for working with countries around the world, where people have no access to higher education.

 

KOLLER: You can basically change lives by giving people an opportunity they never had before.

 

SANCHEZ: Koller calls it Coursera's social mission.

 

Claudio Sanchez, NPR News.

1 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 outweighs   

v.在重量上超过( outweigh的第三人称单数 )；在重要性或价值方面超过

参考例句：

• Her need to save money outweighs her desire to spend it on fun. 她省钱的需要比她花钱娱乐的愿望更重要。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Its clarity in algebraic and analytical operations far outweighs any drawbacks. 文化代数和解析运算中的清晰性远远胜过任何缺点。 来自辞典例句

4 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

5 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

6 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

7 modules   

n.模块( module的名词复数 )；单元；（宇宙飞船上各个独立的）舱；组件

参考例句：

• The course consists of ten core modules and five optional modules. 这门课程包括十个必修单元和五个选修单元。
• Our English course is divided into modules on poetry, drama, and novels. 我们的英语课分为诗歌、戏剧和小说等单元。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

9 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

10 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

11 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。