加载中…在线高教课程革新学习经历
(2012-12-21 09:04:38)
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关于程革新电子人才大学 |
分类： 文化和教育 |
Coursera由斯坦福大学计算机科学教授安德鲁•吴和达芙妮•科勒（Daphne Koller）创立。公司位于加利福尼亚州山景市（Mountain View）。
Kathryn McConnell | Staff Writer | 2012.12.19
华盛顿——美国和世界的高等教育正在发生一场革命。
引领这场革命的是致力于在网上为全球学生免费提供世界一些著名高校课程的三家机构：Coursera、Udacity和edX。
营利性的Coursera规模居三家机构之首，目前共有200多万名学生通过它注册了至少一门课程。这些课程由约翰斯•霍普金斯（Johns Hopkins）、普林斯顿（Princeton）、杜克（Duke）、伦敦（London）等33所伙伴大学提供。
Coursera由斯坦福大学（Stanford University）的两位计算机科学教授创立于2011年下半年，在此之前，由于他们注意到斯坦福有大约10万名学生注册选修了他们开发的在线课程而萌生创意。创始人之一安德鲁•吴（Andrew Ng）说：“我们认识到我们需要充分发挥自己所开发的技术的作用。”
他表示，Coursera合作伙伴提供的免费课程使教育变得民主化。
安德鲁•吴说：“多数学生永远没有机会到一流大学上课。而现在，只要他们明早醒来想要注册学习普林斯顿、加州理工学院（Caltech[California Institute of Technology]）或斯坦福大学的课程，就能马上做到，而且不用花钱。我觉得这简直太棒了！” Coursera提供从人文学科到社会学和基础科学以及商学、法律、金融和工程学的200多个“大规模在线开放课程”（massive open online courses，简称MOOC）。
他表示，这些课程不收取哪怕是最低费用，而这一点对于这家共有大约30名员工的公司有重要意义。他说：“当我看到社会上最贫困、最弱势的人时，我觉得如果设置障碍，让这些学生无法上我们的课程，那简直就是悲剧。比起赚钱，我对于为人们提供受教育的机会更感兴趣，提供免费课程正是这其中很重要的一部分。”
安德鲁•吴说，Coursera超过半数的学生来自美国本土以外的国家和地区，主要来自俄罗斯、印度、英国和巴西。
他说，Coursera的课程类似面对面的教学，有讲座和课外作业（讲座通过视频，配有西班牙文、中文、俄文或其它语种字幕）。
伊利诺伊大学（University of Illinois）新生吉尔•马里克（Jill Marik）（左）和杰里米•维维特（Jeremy Vivit）在校园学习。该校与在线教育公司Coursera是合作伙伴。
他预计，公司最终也许可以通过推荐优等生进入有意向聘用他们的公司并向这些公司收费而实现赢利。他还说，也有可能通过颁发有大学名称的证书或课程内容许可证来创收。
UDACITY
Udacity是另外一个由斯坦福大学免费计算机学课程演变而来的在线高教平台，它由加利福尼亚州的三位研究机器人的专家于2011年创立。它开设的第一门课程“人工智能入门”（Introduction to Artificial Intelligence）在推出几周后，即吸引到来自190多个国家的逾16万名学生注册。Udacity现在在北美、欧洲、巴西和印度共有约100万学生。
位于硅谷的Udacity号称自己是“21世纪大学”，提供以一周学习量为单位的互动式电脑和商学课程。其教学方法包括，安插在讲座视频中的小测验和不设截止日期的课后作业。据Udacity网站提供的信息，它迄今已与六所院校建立合作，提供STEM（科学、技术、工程学和数学）学科领域和商学方面的课程。
EDX
第三个在线高教机构是非营利的edX，由哈佛大学（Harvard University）和麻省理工学院（Massachusetts Institute of Technology）在5月份成立，课程主要涉及电子和计算机科学等技术领域。edX的合作院校包括加州大学伯克利分校（University of California，Berkeley）、韦尔斯利学院（Wellesley College）和得克萨斯大学（University of Texas）。它的目标是为10亿学生提供受教育机会。
12月，乔治城大学（Georgetown University）成为edX的合作伙伴。教务长罗伯特•格罗夫斯（Robert Groves）说，乔治城大学对于推广高质量教育的承诺，促使它决定加入edX，这是实施“以技术促教育”计划的举措之一。他说：“我们能够通过利用这一全新和正在发展的空间带来的机会，以新的方式履行我们的使命，并更好地理解全方位人才教育的意义。”
他还表示：“这个平台为我们提供了一些理解教学方法的新方式。”
Read more: http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/chinese/article/2012/12/20121219140178.html#ixzz2Fe07UdaT
Online University Courses Revolutionize Learning
By Kathryn McConnell | Staff Writer | 18 December 2012
Stanford University computer science professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller started Coursera. The venture’s office is in Mountain View, California.
Washington — A revolution in higher education is taking place across the United States and the world.
The revolution is being led by the groups Coursera, Udacity and edX, which provide online university courses from some of the biggest names in postsecondary education to students all over the world at no cost.
The largest of the three — the for-profit Coursera — has more than 2 million students enrolled in at least one course offered by any of its 33 partners, including Johns Hopkins, Princeton, Duke and London universities.
The company was founded in late 2011 by two Stanford University computer science professors after they noticed that earlier in the year Stanford had enrolled some 100,000 students in online courses they had developed. “We … realized we needed to live up to the technology we’d developed,” said co-founder Andrew Ng.
He said free courses offered by Coursera partners democratize learning.
“Most students will never have access to classes from the top universities, Ng said. “Now, if they wake up tomorrow morning and feel like signing up for a Princeton, Caltech [California Institute of Technology] or Stanford class, they can now do so for free. I think that's just amazing!” Coursera’s more than 200 “massive open online courses,” or MOOCs, range from the humanities to social and basic sciences, business, law, finance and engineering, Ng said.
He said that not charging even a minimal fee to take a course is important to the company, whose staff consists of about 30 people. “When I look at the neediest and the most vulnerable people in our society … to throw up a barrier preventing these students from accessing our content would just be a tragedy,“ he said. “I'm much more interested in educating people than in making money, and offering the courses for free is a big part of that.”
More than half of Coursera’s students come from outside the United States, notably Russia, India, the United Kingdom and Brazil, Ng said.
He explained that Coursera’s courses resemble those taught in person, with lectures (via video subtitled in Spanish, Chinese, Russian and other languages) and homework assignments.
University of Illinois freshmen Jill Marik, left, and Jeremy Vivit study on campus. The university has teamed with online education company Coursera.
He predicts that the company eventually may make a profit by introducing top students to companies wanting to hire them and charging the company for the service. It also could generate revenue by charging fees for university-branded certificates or by licensing course content, he said.
UDACITY
Another outgrowth of free computer science classes offered by Stanford is Udacity, founded in 2011 by three California robotics experts. A few weeks after its launch, Udacity had more than 160,000 students in more than 190 countries enrolled in its first class, Introduction to Artificial Intelligence. It now has about 1 million students in North America, Europe, Brazil and India.
Udacity bills itself as “a 21st-century university” offering interactive computer and business courses in units of a week’s worth of work. Its teaching method includes quizzes embedded into lecture videos and assignments with no due dates. So far, Silicon Valley–based Udacity has six educational institution partners, according to its website. It offers courses in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subject areas and business.
EDX
A third member of the online learning group is the nonprofit edX, launched by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in May with courses mainly in technical fields such as electronics and computer science. With its partners the University of California–Berkeley, Wellesley College and the University of Texas, edX pursues the goal of educating 1 billion students.
In December, edX added Georgetown University as a partner. Georgetown’s commitment to make quality education widely available informed its decision to join edX as part of its “technology-enhanced learning” initiative, said Provost Robert Groves. “We are able to live our mission in new ways and better understand what it means to educate the whole person … through the opportunities presented in this new and evolving space,” he said.
“This platform gives us new ways of understanding methods of teaching and learning,” he added.
More information about Coursera, Udacity and edX is available on their websites.
Read more: http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/article/2012/12/20121218140095.html#ixzz2Fe0B17qH
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