在線教育如何變現?Coursera又出新招

Since launching earlier this year, Palo Alto-based Coursera has established itself as a force in online education, attracting more than two million students, 33 top-notch universities and $22 million in venture funding. But this week, the company made a key step toward building out its business model, announcing that it had opened up a recruiting service that matches employers with top-performing students on its site.

自從今年早先時候上線以來，開放課程教育平臺Coursera已經成爲在線教育的一股強力：吸引了超過 200 萬學生加入課程，33 個頂尖高校入駐，併成功募集了 2200 萬美元融資。上週，Coursera 在商業模式的探索中又邁出了重要一步：推出了一個匹配未來僱主和網站上的頂尖學生的招聘服務。

In a blog post Tuesday, the company said:

If you opt-in to our Career Services, we will try to find companies that match your interests, skills and knowledge. If you do well in a Coursera class and allow us to share that information with potential employers (who will have agreed to keep this information in strict confidence, and use only for the purpose of considering you for employment), this could make you even more appealing to employers.

Coursera 在官方博客上這樣寫道：

如果你選擇加入我們的就業服務，我們就會基於你的興趣、技能和知識的幫你匹配公司。假如你在 Coursera 的課程中表現優異並批准我們跟潛在僱主分享你的信息（這些僱主同意會保證信息的高度機密，這些信息的使用將完全用於招聘），那麼你對僱主來說就會更有吸引力。

As with Coursera courses, the Career Services support is free for students, but employers pay Coursera for information on who might be good candidates. So far, Facebook, Twitter, AppDirect and TrialPay are among the companies that have signed up. For now, the company is just starting with software engineering but plans to expand to other disciplines.

和課程一樣，Coursera 的這個就業服務對學生來說是免費的，但是僱主需要爲獲取潛在僱員的信息支付費用。目前，Facebook, Twitter, AppDirect 和 TrialPay 等數家公司都已經跟 Coursera 簽署了協議。儘管 Coursera 的這項服務目前還限於軟件工程，但會在之後拓展到其他學科。

The announcement isn’t surprising as Coursera has previously indicated that matching students with employers is a possible revenue model, as well as charging students for certificates from partner universities. The company did not disclose how much it is charging employers or how it is splitting the revenue with its university partners, but a contract between Coursera and the University of Michigan obtained this summer by the Chronicle of Higher Education indicated that partners could get 6 to 15 percent of the revenue.

Coursera 公佈這項計劃實際不足爲奇，因爲 Coursera之前 就暗示了這種商業模式的可能性。而它先前提到的另外一種可能性，則是通過授予合作高校證書向學生收費。就第一種商業模式而言，Coursera 目前尚未公佈它向各公司收費的額度；就第二種模式而言，合作高校的分成比例目前也是未知數。但是，基於Chronicle網站在今年暑假公佈的 Coursera 與密歇根大學的一項協議推測，高校應該可以拿到收入的 6% 到 15%。

According to the Chronicle, through Coursera’s Career Services program, participating employers are provided lists of students who meet their requirements, which typically includes the top-performing students in a given discipline in a geographic area. If one of the students piques the employer’s interest, Coursera reaches out to the student via e-mail asking if she wants an introduction to the company. In addition to requiring an opt-in from students, the program gives universities offering courses the choice to participate.

根據 Chronicle 的報道，Coursera 的就業服務項目會向參與僱主提供一個滿足他們要求的學生列表，該列表通常都會顯示在某個特定地區（Coursera 面向全世界）、特定學科的優等生。假如某個學生滿足公司要求，Coursera 就會通過郵件方式詢問學生是否有意被介紹給該公司。另外，合作高校也有權利選擇是否加入這個項目。

Co-founder Andrew Ng told the Chronicle that not all of the universities have joined the program but given the “uncontroversial” nature of the business model, he added that he expects more to join in the future. He also said that while results of its Career Services program have been positive, they expect to make more revenue from selling certificates, something it plans to do in the coming months, the Chronicle reported.

Coursera 的聯合創始人 Andrew Ng 稱，目前並非所有的高校都已經加入了這個項目。不過，因爲這個商業模式也沒有什麼爭議（跟授予證書相比），他預測未來會有更多高校加入。另外，儘管這個就業服務項目目前的結果非常積極，但他預期 Coursera 未來更多的收入依然會來自出售證書（Coursera 計劃在未來幾月推出該項服務）。

Online learning site Udacity also makes money from a similar “headhunter”-style model and, earlier this fall founder Sebastian Thrun told me that, so far, 20 students had found employment through the though the recruitment programs are still in their infancy, considering that the startups themselves just launched in the first quarter of the year, the progress shows the interest on both the university and employer sides. And even before it had an official program in place, Coursera said its courses helped students find new jobs, indicating the value of free online education, especially as university costs rise and jobseekers struggle to keep up in the changing economy.

實際上，另外一家在線教育平臺，美國在線教育的三座大山之一Udacity也有類似的“獵頭”服務。據其創始人 Sebastian Thrun，目前已經有 20 名學生通過網站找到工作。雖然這項尚處於非常早期的階段，但考慮到 Coursera 在今年第一季度剛剛上線，Coursera 取得的這些進展也顯示出校方和僱主方雙邊的興趣。但話說回來，教育是一個慢熱行業，教育的變現也是一個相對漫長的過程。所以先把內容做好，讓更多的學生獲得優質教育，潛在僱主纔會願意爲這些學生的信息買單。