近兩年，世界名校網(wǎng)絡(luò)公開(kāi)課受到熱捧，各大字幕組爭(zhēng)相出字幕，門戶網(wǎng)站也爭(zhēng)相購(gòu)版權(quán)。一時(shí)間，追隨網(wǎng)絡(luò)公開(kāi)課的人似乎都有點(diǎn)比別人先進(jìn)一步的感覺(jué)。這些網(wǎng)絡(luò)公開(kāi)課在英語(yǔ)里叫Massive Open Online Course(MOOC)。

MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are the latest addition to the acronym-bound lexicon of higher education, and quite possibly the most significant of them all. They represent a new generation of online education, freely accessible on the internet and geared towards very large student numbers.

MOOC(網(wǎng)絡(luò)公開(kāi)課)是高等教育相關(guān)縮寫詞匯中的新成員，也可能是所有詞匯中最具影響力的一個(gè)。網(wǎng)絡(luò)公開(kāi)課代表網(wǎng)絡(luò)教育的新一代，可以通過(guò)網(wǎng)絡(luò)免費(fèi)獲取，接收到學(xué)生數(shù)目巨大。

The phenomenon has been likened by the president of Stanford University to "a digital tsunami", threatening to sweep aside conventional university education. Whether or not the rise of MOOCs will prove to warrant such hyperbole, there is no doubt that something very important is happening in the global system, raising profound questions about the very nature and future of higher education.

這一現(xiàn)象被斯坦福大學(xué)的校長(zhǎng)比作“一場(chǎng)數(shù)字海嘯”，稱有可能將傳統(tǒng)大學(xué)教育全部“沖走”。不論網(wǎng)絡(luò)公開(kāi)課的崛起是否真的會(huì)達(dá)到如此夸張的階段，有一點(diǎn)可以肯定的是全球體系內(nèi)正在發(fā)生一些重要的事情，并引發(fā)了對(duì)高等教育本質(zhì)和將來(lái)的一些疑問(wèn)。

At this early stage of the MOOC revolution, it is premature to predict the impacts on conventional higher education providers. The universities and private venture funds investing in this area openly acknowledge the high level of experimentation and testing of waters involved. The current MOOC offerings are mostly digital versions of conventional pedagogies – what blogger Dan Butin has called "Learning 1.0 products in a Web 2.0 world".

在網(wǎng)絡(luò)公開(kāi)課發(fā)展的早期階段，預(yù)言其對(duì)高等教育提供者的影響還為時(shí)尚早。投資該領(lǐng)域的高校和私人風(fēng)險(xiǎn)基金均空開(kāi)表示其投資行為只是實(shí)驗(yàn)性質(zhì)，純屬試水之舉。目前網(wǎng)絡(luò)公開(kāi)課提供的課程大部分都是傳統(tǒng)課堂教學(xué)過(guò)程的數(shù)字版本，博客作家丹?布汀將其稱為“在web2.0的世界學(xué)習(xí)1.0的產(chǎn)品”。

This can and will change through the incorporation of the kinds of user interactivity already well-established in social media technologies. There is no inherent reason why MOOC-acquired learning cannot be accredited and recognized, especially as the market for degree-awarding powers opens up, subject perhaps to appropriate quality assurance arrangements.

這些狀況都會(huì)隨著社交媒體技術(shù)帶來(lái)的用戶互動(dòng)行為而發(fā)生改變。通過(guò)網(wǎng)絡(luò)公開(kāi)課獲取的知識(shí)沒(méi)有理由不被認(rèn)可，尤其是在確保質(zhì)量的前提下，學(xué)位授予機(jī)構(gòu)的市場(chǎng)已經(jīng)開(kāi)放。