At first blush, the unassuming Bielefeld University of Applied Science — a small public technical college in a small German city — has little in common with the world-renowned Stanford University. Checking the Internet, however, one surprising similarity emerges: the long reach of some of their undergraduate lectures.
比勒費(fèi)爾德應(yīng)用科技大學(xué)是德國一家小型的公立學(xué)院。乍看之下，它與世界著名學(xué)府斯坦福大學(xué)似乎并無相似之處。但只要查查網(wǎng)頁，你就會發(fā)現(xiàn)二者有著驚人的相似之處：這兩所大學(xué)的本科生課程都輻及海外廣為傳播。

J?rn Loviscach, a professor of mathematics and computer science in Bielefeld, has been putting his lectures on YouTube since 2009. The German-language math and computer science courses have become smash hits.
比勒費(fèi)爾德應(yīng)用科技大學(xué)的數(shù)學(xué)與電子科學(xué)學(xué)院教授，J?rn Loviscach 從09年就開始將自己的課程發(fā)布到Y(jié)ouTube上。他用德語講授的數(shù)學(xué)與計算機(jī)科學(xué)課程獲得了極高的點(diǎn)擊率。

MOOCs have become highly popular in the last couple of years in the United States, where the concept evolved. The growth in the number of courses, providers, participating universities and online students has led to a debate among educators, with some arguing that these free virtual lectures could completely change the nature of post-secondary education, while others warn that the courses are not nearly as effective as real lectures.
MOOC在線學(xué)習(xí)平臺的概念誕生于美國，并在最近數(shù)十年中在美國掀起了一股在線學(xué)習(xí)熱潮。課程數(shù)量的增加、課程提供者的增多和參與學(xué)校的增多引起了教育界的一場爭議。一些學(xué)者認(rèn)為在線課程會徹底改變高中后教育的本質(zhì)。而另一些學(xué)者則認(rèn)為在線課程不如面授課程有效。

Now, after a cautious start, MOOCs are catching on in Europe, too, as universities and educators look for ways to save on teaching costs and reach out to a wider student audience, and as providers sense commercial opportunities.
如今，MOOC在線學(xué)習(xí)平臺經(jīng)過了謹(jǐn)慎的起步階段，已經(jīng)流行至歐洲，成為大學(xué)機(jī)構(gòu)和教育學(xué)者們節(jié)約教學(xué)成本、擴(kuò)大生源范圍的有效方式，也成為課程供應(yīng)者的有利商機(jī)。

Several distinct platforms have started operating in Europe this year, while a consortium of open universities has come together to provide a database of their MOOCs. Innovation is not only coming from entrepreneurs and educators: As part of a major education directive, the European Commission is set to launch an open education resource Web site later this week.
今年，歐洲成立了幾家不同的學(xué)習(xí)平臺，幾所開放式大學(xué)的聯(lián)合合作組織負(fù)責(zé)提供各自學(xué)院的MOOC課程數(shù)據(jù)庫。不止企業(yè)家和教育家在進(jìn)行革新。作為教育發(fā)展方向的重要引導(dǎo)因素，歐盟委員會也將在本周末發(fā)布一個公開的教育資源網(wǎng)站。

Often produced by well-known colleges or universities, MOOCs are frequently hosted on third party commercial platforms. Depending on the platform, students may be able to watch top-quality lectures and tutorials online, contribute to discussion boards and take computer-graded tests. There are no admission requirements, no scheduling clashes and no, or low, tuition costs.
MOOC在線學(xué)習(xí)平臺通常是由著名學(xué)府制作，并借助第三方商業(yè)網(wǎng)絡(luò)平臺加以推廣的。借助于在線網(wǎng)絡(luò)平臺，學(xué)生們可以學(xué)習(xí)最好的講座和課程，在討論簿上發(fā)言，并參加電腦評分的在線測試。在線學(xué)習(xí)平臺沒有任何入學(xué)門坎，不會產(chǎn)生任何課程安排沖突，學(xué)生只需支付少量學(xué)費(fèi)，甚至可以免費(fèi)學(xué)習(xí)。

“We are just as far from India as Stanford — namely, just one click,” said Sebastian Springer, a professor at the Jacobs University in Bremen who is preparing an English-language molecular biology MOOC.
不來梅雅各布大學(xué)Sebastian Springer教授正在準(zhǔn)備一場英授分子生物學(xué)MOOC課程，他說，“我們與全球各地的距離已經(jīng)無限拉近了——從這里到印度、或到斯坦福都只需輕擊鼠標(biāo)?！?/div>

Together with his teaching partner, Susanne Illenberger, Mr. Springer won one of 10 places in a European MOOC production competition in June.
在Springer教授與其助教Susanne Illenberger的通力合作之下，他的在線課程在六月舉辦的歐洲MOOC產(chǎn)品競賽中獲得了十佳的榮譽(yù)。

The competition won by Mr. Springer and Ms. Illenberger — which was partly decided by an online vote — was held by the Stifterverband, a German science foundation, and Iversity, one of Europe’s newest MOOC providers. The 10 finalists each received €25,000, or $33,000, to develop their MOOC in addition to technical help from Iversity to take the courses live, starting this autumn.
Springer先生和Illenberger女士參加的這個比賽由德國基金會聯(lián)盟和全歐最新的MOOC供應(yīng)商之一Iversity公司聯(lián)合舉辦，評選結(jié)果部分參考網(wǎng)友投票。從今年秋天開始，入選十佳的參賽課程，將獲得2.5萬歐元或3.3萬美元的課程平臺建設(shè)基金以及Iversity提供的在線技術(shù)支持。
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