Online education providers may very well disrupt the higher-education establishment, but first, these for-profit companies need to find a way to finance the mammoth technical infrastructure needed to support millions of students. It’s a challenge that all mission-based businesses wrestle with, and why many have wondered whether Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) providers will ever become big business — or be around in five years — let alone “transform higher education,” as they’ve so often promised.
在線教育提供商也許很好地顛覆了高等教育體系，但這些追求利潤的公司首先要找到方法來獲得資金，從而為支持?jǐn)?shù)百萬學(xué)生的龐大基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施買單。這是所有任務(wù)型的公司都需要應(yīng)對的挑戰(zhàn)，這也是為什么許多人都不確定大規(guī)模開放網(wǎng)絡(luò)課程（MOOC）提供商是否能在五年內(nèi)成為一大產(chǎn)業(yè)，更不用說它們經(jīng)常承諾的“變革高等教育”了。

Today, one of the biggest MOOC providers on the web, Coursera, showed skeptics that it has indeed found a way to monetize free educational content and may just be on the road to riches. In a blog post this afternoon, Coursera announced that it has raised over $1 million for paid certifications, which verify that students passed (an otherwise free) online college course.
今天，互聯(lián)網(wǎng)最大的MOOC提供商之一Coursera 向懷疑者們證明，自己確實找到了一種變現(xiàn)免費教育內(nèi)容的方法，使其可能走上了盈利之路。Coursera下午在一篇博文中宣布，已從學(xué)生通過免費在線大學(xué)課程的付費認(rèn)證中獲得了100多萬美元的收入。

For those unfamiliar, Coursera partners with top-tier universities — more than 83 institutions on board — to make their classes and lectures available online, for anyone in the world to consume. The company burst onto the scene with millions of dollars in backing from big names, and ever since its buzzy debut has been dogged by questions over whether or not MOOCs will ever be able to make enough money to justify $65 million-worth of venture capital.
Coursera與超過83家頂級大學(xué)達成了合作，向全世界所有用戶在線提供它們的課程和講座。Coursera 剛一問世即獲知名企業(yè)投資，同時也引來了眾多質(zhì)疑。人們懷疑Coursera是否能賺足夠多錢，不讓6500萬美元的風(fēng)險投資打水漂。

In July, Coursera added a significant round of funding (bringing its total to $65 million), saying that it would use its new capital to develop mobile apps and increase its presence internationally (among other things). Of course, with so much capital and so many investors now on board, Coursera’s road to monetization and profitability became that much steeper.
7月份，Coursera又獲得一大筆融資（使得融資總額達到6500萬美元），并表示會把新資金用在開發(fā)移動應(yīng)用以及增加國際知名度等業(yè)務(wù)上。當(dāng)然，獲得了如此多資本，董事會中加入了如此多投資者，Coursera的變現(xiàn)和盈利之路也變得越發(fā)急迫。

The news today is reason enough for optimism, especially considering how quickly it has been able to turn a new feature into $1 million in revenue. The startup unveiled “Signature Track” back in January — a program that has been designed to allow students to earn “Verified Certificates” for a small fee.
今天宣布的消息足夠讓人樂觀看待Coursera的前景，尤其是考慮到Coursera從一項新功能中獲得100萬美元收入的速度。這家初創(chuàng)公司在1月份推出“Signature Track”計劃，允許學(xué)生支付一小筆費用來獲得“認(rèn)證證書”。

Through Signature Track, students are able to verify the work they complete on Coursera, with the idea being to supplement the value of the work students do on the platform. While this represented Coursera’s first step (really, tiptoe) into credentialing , it does give students something tangible to prove that they’ve completed the course and know the material.
通過Signature Track，學(xué)生們能認(rèn)證自己在Coursera完成的課程，對學(xué)生們在Coursera完成課程的價值做了補充。這只是Coursera涉足認(rèn)證的第一步，但卻給了學(xué)生們有形的東西，證明他們完成了課程且了解課程知識。

While $1 million every nine months wouldn’t pay back their total $65 million in investment, there’s every reason to believe that there are many more students who would pay for this service. First, beyond being nine months old, Signature Track really hasn’t been aggressively promoted. Second, Coursera is quickly expanding to more universities, both in the U.S. and around the world.
9個月賺100萬美元可回報不了總計6500萬美元的投資，不過，有足夠多的理由相信，會有大批學(xué)生為這一服務(wù)付費。首先，盡管Signature Track功能推出了9個月，但并沒有進行大規(guī)模推廣。其次，Coursera正快速擴張至更多大學(xué)，不僅是美國還包括世界范圍內(nèi)的大學(xué)。

Third, and perhaps most importantly, tech companies are exploring an alliance that would weight these types of certificates as equal to a college degree in the hiring process. While this Alliance is still very much in the nascent stages of development, if MOOC providers like Coursera and Udacity are able to come together with the Googles and Apples of the world to develop some kind of standard, it could have big implications for higher education.
第三點，可能也是最重要的一點是，科技公司正尋求聯(lián)合，在招聘流程中將這類證書與大學(xué)學(xué)位平等看待。雖然這一聯(lián)盟仍處于早期發(fā)展階段，但如果Coursera、Udacity等MOOC提供商能與Google、蘋果等公司合作，開發(fā)出某種標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，就將對高等教育產(chǎn)生重要影響。

In the future, we could see these platforms (and others that are sure to launch in the interim, like , for example) allow students to mix and match classes from MOOC and traditional universities, with MOOC providers offering some kind of paid certificate to its students.
未來，我們會看到這些平臺允許學(xué)生混搭MOOC 和傳統(tǒng)大學(xué)的課程，而MOOC提供商則會向?qū)W生提供某種付費認(rèn)證。

There are, of course, many very valid concerns that need to be discussed as MOOCs, tech companies, startups and schools themselves rush to integrate technology and tear down the ivory walls around traditional higher education. Questions like these are becoming increasingly important to ponder: Are MOOCs best used as a platform for continuing education — to re-train, brush up on subjects and for general edification purposes — or as a viable alternative (or even replacement) for the traditional college degree?
當(dāng)然，隨著MOOC提供商、科技公司、初創(chuàng)企業(yè)以及學(xué)校都在快速整合技術(shù)，拆除包圍傳統(tǒng)高等教育的象牙墻，肯定存在許多合理的擔(dān)憂。思考以下問題也變得越發(fā)重要：最好把MOOC當(dāng)做繼續(xù)教育平臺——再培訓(xùn)、復(fù)習(xí)科目、啟蒙——來使用？還是當(dāng)做傳統(tǒng)大學(xué)學(xué)位的可行替代品（乃或取代）更好？

For now, it’s the former, but as Coursera and others plow more time, resources and capital into their Signature Track-style programs, the more they will compete with campuses, institutions themselves — and the diploma. This is a great thing for education in the long run, as long as Coursera and MOOC providers aren’t just content with the bar set by traditional education, but look to push that bar higher. That’s what we want to pay for, and that’s what will shape the next big education technology business — not just a digital version of the same old thing.
目前而言，MOOC提供商的作用是前者，但隨著Coursera等向Signature Track類似項目投入更多時間、資源和資金，他們與校園、機構(gòu)以及學(xué)位的競爭也會越大。從長期來看，這對教育是好事，只要Coursera和MOOC提供商不只是滿足于傳統(tǒng)教育設(shè)置的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，而是尋求提高標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。這也是我們想要付費的地方。這將塑造下一項教育技術(shù)大業(yè)務(wù)，而不只是舊教育的數(shù)字版。