身在線上課堂上 每人都可以前排坐大綱

I went to Arizona earlier this month to see what the college of the future might look like. What I found taking shape is an exciting new era of higher education that will help more students get a great, personalized education at an affordable price.
這個月早些時候，我去了趟亞利桑那州，爲的是一睹未來的大學會是什麼樣子。我看到了一個振奮人心的高等教育新時代正逐步成型，屆時，更多的學生將獲得良好的，個性化的 教育，代價也是他們可接受的。

This future may not always include the lecture halls, dormitories, football teams and other features of the traditional college experience. Instead, the colleges I visited are experimenting with ways for students to get their degrees online, allowing them to take courses anyplace and at any time.
在這個未來的教育世界中，或許不一定有講課禮堂、學生宿舍、足球隊以及傳統大學生活中的一些其他特色。在我訪問的大學裏，恰恰是學校想方設法讓學生通過在線學習來獲得 學位，讓他們能夠隨時隨地地上課。

These “colleges without walls,” as they are sometimes called, are at the forefront of the effort to broaden access to higher education, especially for low-income students juggling their studies with full-time jobs and families. During my visit, I heard inspiring stories of students who are taking advantage of these flexible learning models to pursue degrees that can put them on paths to new careers.
這些大學，——有些人稱之爲“沒有圍牆的大學”，是普及高等教育工作的前沿陣地，尤其對於那些要依靠全職工作來養家餬口的低收入學生來說，更是這樣。在我訪問期間，我 聽到了一些激動人心的故事，學生們利用這些彈性的學習模式來讀取學位，這樣他們便能踏上新的職業征途。

One of those students is Shawn Lee, a student at Rio Salado College in Tempe. He has a compelling story: After dropping out of college decades ago, he found himself in a series of low-paying, often back-breaking jobs. He recently decided to get his degree—and I’ve found this is a pretty common refrain at community colleges—when he had his first child and wanted to start building a better life.
有一位名叫Shawn Lee的同學，他在滕比市的Rio Salado學院讀書，他的故事非常動人。十幾年前，他從大學輟學，之後做了好幾份低收入、重體力的工作。 前不久，他決定要讀一個大學學位，這時候的他已有了第一個子女，而且希望締造一份更好的生活——我發現這是一個在社區大學很常見的畏懼心態。

Tucked away in an industrial park in Tempe, Rio Salado doesn’t look much like a traditional institute of higher education. There were no students running to class. No ivy-covered walls. Just a couple of glass-faced office buildings.
Rio Salado學院深藏在滕比市的工業園區中，她與傳統的高校看起來不太一樣。這裏看不到學生匆忙趕課，沒有長滿常青藤的圍牆，只有幾棟玻璃外飾的辦公樓。

As we walked inside for a tour, there was an even bigger surprise.
當我們步入校園遊覽後，還有更多想不到的事。

The college has just 22 full-time faculty serving 60,000 students, with more than half of them attending their classes online. (The full-time faculty depend on 1,400 part-time teachers who manage individual class sections, review/grade assignments, and consult with students.) Students can start any of the school’s 1,000 courses almost any Monday of the year. Classes cost $84 per credit hour, far less than what other colleges charge.
學院只有22位全職教師，卻有6萬名學生就讀，一半以上的人通過網上上課。（全職教師隊伍由1400位兼職教師組成，他們管理各自的課程組成，自主打分評定作業，並指 導學生。）學生可以從學校開設的1000門課中選課，幾乎全年中的任何一個週一都可以選。每學時只收取84美元，遠比其他大學便宜。

I also visited the University of Phoenix, a for-profit institution with more than 300,000 students, where teachers and staff are working to make online learning even more flexible. One of the most popular innovations is a mobile app that gives students the freedom to study virtually anywhere. With the app they can keep track of their grades and assignments, participate in class discussions, and receive alerts from their teachers about their courses.
我也訪問了菲尼克斯大學，這是一所擁有30多萬學生的私立學校。這所大學的教職員工正努力使得在線學習更具彈性。其中一項最受歡迎的創新是一個基於移動端的app，這 個程序讓學生真正獲得了移動學習的自由。通過這個程序，學生們可以及時知曉他們的成績和作業，參與課堂討論，還可以收到老師的課程提醒。

If your idea of college is a professor lecturing in front of a classroom full of students, some of these innovations may be surprising, even a little unsettling. But this kind of out-of-the-box thinking is needed to address the challenge facing higher education. College tuition is rising faster than any other cost in the U.S.—pricing many students out of a degree. More than 40 percent of college students drop out, depriving them of the chance to earn more money and leaving the U.S. without the highly-trained workers we need for economic growth. The fact is, we face a real dilemma. We need to educate people in a better way without increasing cost.
如果你對大學的認識還停留在一個教授面對滿堂學生講課的層面上，那麼有些創新對你來說或許是很意外的，甚至讓你感到不安。但我們應對高等教育的挑戰時急需這種不落窠臼 的思維。在美國，大學的學費比任何其他費用都長得快，高學費讓學生對學位望洋興嘆。大學的輟學率高達40%多，這剝奪了他們掙更多錢的機會，也讓美國喪失了本可以促進 經濟增長的高素質工人。實際上，我們有一個很現實的難題——我們需要在不增加花費的基礎上，以一種更好的方式使人接受教育。Most mornings I listen to online courses while walking on my treadmill. In my experience, what separates the great courses from the mediocre ones is the quality of the professors, whose passion and expertise bring their subjects to life, as much online as in-person. That’s why it’s critical that during this time of transition we keep our focus on the instructors. They are the ones who inspire and guide students. The best online learning technologies expand the reach of the most inspiring professors by allowing more students to be part of their classes.
很多個早晨，我在跑步機上聽在線課程。以我的經驗來說，好的課和一般的課之間的最大差別是教授的質量。好教授的激情和專業度會讓他們的講課題目充滿活力，即使在線的效 果也如同在對面一樣。這就是爲何我們在這個轉型的時期高度關注授課老師。他們纔是啓發和引導學生的人。最棒的在線學習技術便是幫助這些最能啓發學生的教授拓寬受衆的範 圍，讓更多學生能夠進入他們的課程。

The risk of this mass approach to education, of course, is that students might get lost in such an impersonal setting. That’s why Rio Salado and other institutions are researching new approaches to student advising. Using the growing body of data available about online students’ learning habits—for example, are they completing assignments and logging onto their courses regularly?—the institution can intervene to help students at risk of falling behind or dropping out. “Students don’t get lost because no one can just sit in the back corner. Everyone is in the front row,” a Rio Salado faculty member told me.
當然，這種大衆教育方式有一個風險，——在這樣一種非針對個體的環境中，學生可能會迷失方向。因此，Rio Salado學院和其他機構開始研究有關指導學生的新方法 。利用不斷積累的學生在線學習數據——例如，他們是否有規律地完成作業，登陸自己的課程？——學校可以在學生有可能落伍或輟學時介入幫助他們。“學生不會迷失方向，因 爲沒人可以坐在角落聽課。每個人都在前排。”Rio Salado學院對我這樣說。

Several students I met during my visit said they liked learning online better than in a classroom. “I’ve taken college classes in a big auditorium with herds of people. There was no personal connection,” one University of Phoenix student said. “Now I can reach my teacher with the click of a mouse.”
在我訪問期間，幾位學生告訴我，比起坐在教室裏，他們更喜歡在線學習。“我在大學的大禮堂和一大幫人上過課，課上沒有個人的聯繫。”一位菲尼克斯大學的學生說道，“現 在，我只需點擊一下鼠標便可以聯繫到我的老師。”

Other students said they liked the fact that they can learn at their own pace and fit school into their busy schedules. What still needed improvement, however, was a connection with other students. They said they struggled to complete team assignments online because it was too difficult to coordinate schedules. Lab work for science classes and other hands-on learning can also be problematic, although Rio Salado is addressing this issue by giving chemistry students a lab kit to use at home. Marine biology students get a frozen squid to dissect.
其他學生坦言，他們喜歡以自己的進度來學習，喜歡把學校學習排入自己繁忙的日程中。而還需要改善的地方是學生之間的聯繫。學生們說他們一起完成在線的團隊作業很困難， 因爲相互協調日程非常難。實驗室的任務和其他一些實操性的學習也會有不少問題，儘管針對這個問題，Rio Salado已經向學化學的同學提供實驗室工具套件，使得他們能在家裏進行實驗。海洋生物學的學生可以得到一個冰凍的魷魚來做論文。

The biggest challenge facing all higher education institutions is how to ensure more students stay in college or university and complete their degrees. They are looking everywhere for solutions. Arizona State University, for instance, discovered that the college catalogue overwhelmed students with too many class choices and gave them too little guidance. So the university redesigned the entire experience. The new, personalized online catalogue features “major maps,” which outline a major’s key requirements, optimal course sequence, and career options to help keep students on the path to graduation.
擺在所有高等教育機構面前的一個最大挑戰是如何保證讓更多的學生留在學校裏，並讀完他們的學位。他們四處尋找答案。例如，亞利桑那州立大學發現，大學課程目錄中的課程 讓人目不暇接，但卻沒有多少指導意見，這讓學生無所適從。所以，這所大學重新設計了學習體驗。新的個性化的在線課程目錄有這些特點：“學科地圖”列舉了一門學科的主要 要求，推薦的課程攻讀順序，以及職業選擇，幫助學生一路順利地走到畢業。

I left Arizona feeling quite optimistic about what the future holds for higher education. It also reminded me how much work still needs to be done. What’s most exciting is that the institutions I visited are not standing still. They are taking risks and using their creative and intellectual powers to reinvent themselves for the future. In doing so, they will give many more students the opportunity to do the same with their own lives.
我離開亞利桑那時，心中充滿了對高等教育未來的樂觀。同時，我也提醒自己還有很多工作要做。最讓人激動的是我訪問的那些學校並沒有安於現狀。他們繼續嘗試着風險，用創 意而智慧的力量爲自己的未來投資。而這種做法將使得這些學校能爲更多學生爭取到投資自身的機會。