When Penn announced its partnership with massive open online course provider Coursera, in April 2012, administrators lauded the education startup as a way for the University to push its access agenda forward on a global scale. By making parts of a Penn education available to students worldwide, Coursera, administrators said, had the ability to revolutionize higher education.
2012年4月，賓夕法尼亞大學宣布與大規(guī)模開放在線課堂供應商Coursera合作。賓大的行政官員對這家教育行業(yè)創(chuàng)業(yè)公司贊不絕口，稱與Coursera的合作將使賓大的生源面積擴大到世界范圍。不僅如此，行政官員們還認為Coursera會將賓大的教育資源推廣到全世界，促使高等教育領域產(chǎn)生變革。

More than a year and a half later, Coursera is still a long way from realizing that goal.
一年半之后，Coursera要達到這一目標還任重而道遠。

A new study, published last week by Penn researchers in the journal Nature, shows that students who have taken MOOCs on Coursera are highly educated and career-oriented. The study’s findings, though not necessarily surprising, will do little to win over MOOC critics, who argue that the online education hype in higher education has been largely overblown.
《自然》期刊上周刊登了一篇賓大研究者發(fā)表的調查文章，該文章稱，在大規(guī)模開放在線課堂平臺上學習的學生大都具有高學歷，他們學習目的大都是以求職為導向的。這一研究結果并不讓人驚訝。但許多大規(guī)模開放在線課堂的批評者都宣稱在線教育浪潮已經(jīng)式微，這一研究成果似乎不足以反駁這些批評家的意見。

Researchers, led by Vice Provost for Global Initiatives Ezekiel Emanuel, conducted an online survey in July of nearly 35,000 students enrolled in at least one of the University’s 32 courses on Coursera.
一個由全球倡議機構副主任伊奇基爾·伊曼紐爾帶領的研究團隊，在今年7月對Coursera課程平臺上的3萬5千名學生作了調查研究。Coursera的教育平臺上有32門賓大提供的課程，接收調查的3萬5千名學生都至少報班學習了其中的一門課程。

Across all geographic regions, the study found that MOOC students have high levels of educational attainment: 83 percent of those who responded said they had earned either a two- or four-year post-secondary degree, far more than international averages. Educational attainment disparities were especially pronounced in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, where about 80 percent of MOOC students — compared to just 5 percent of the populations in those countries as a whole — had earned post-secondary degrees.
受調查的學生來自全球各地，研究結果顯示，他們都接受過較高等水平的教育：其中83%的受調查學生都有兩至四年的大專學歷，遠遠高出國際平均教育水平。教育水平差距在巴西、俄羅斯、印度、中國和南非等國尤為明顯。在這些國家，80%的大規(guī)模開放在線課堂平臺學員具有大專學歷，而這些國家人口總數(shù)中擁有大專學歷的人數(shù)比例只有5%。

The Coursera student population, in addition to being well-educated, also tends to be young, male and employed, according to the survey. More than 40 percent of MOOC students surveyed were younger than 30, and less than 10 percent were older than 60. About half of all students surveyed said they had enrolled in a MOOC because of “curiosity” or “for fun,” while 44 percent said they had made the decision to sign up in order to “gain specific skills to do my job better.”
據(jù)調查顯示，Coursera教育平臺上的學生不僅學歷高，而且大多為年輕職場男性。Coursera的學員中年齡不到30歲的人數(shù)比例超過40%，而超過60歲的學員人數(shù)不到10%。超過半數(shù)的受調查學員稱，他們報班學習網(wǎng)絡公開課是“出于好奇心”或“出于興趣”。而44%的學生稱他們報班學習是為了“獲得相關技能以便更好的適應職場”。

The study, though limited in its scope and generalizability, provides some of the first publicly available data on who is taking MOOCs, and why they are taking them.
盡管存在調查范圍較窄、普遍性較低等不足，這項調查研究還是為我們了解大規(guī)模開放在線課堂的學員身份以及學習目的提供了一手的公開資料。

Jonathan Moreno, a professor of ethics who has taught a Coursera course on neuroethics said that he would ideally like to have more data on who signs up for his MOOC. Moreno believes there is still a clear gap between an online course and a bricks-and-mortar classroom.
在Coursera平臺上教授神經(jīng)倫理學課程的倫理學教授喬納森·莫雷諾稱，他非常希望能夠對那些報名學習他的課程的學員有更多的了解，能夠掌握更多的關于他們的資料。莫雷諾教授相信，在線課程和現(xiàn)實中的面對面課堂之間仍然存在著明顯的差異。

“The best thing is still to have somebody in front of you,” he said. “No amount of demographic information I have on who’s taking my MOOC can replace the look that a student has on their face when they’re sitting in front of you.”
“有學生坐在你面前聽課還是最好的，”他說?！拔夷軗碛泻芏嚓P于在線網(wǎng)絡課程學員的個人資料，但再多的個人資料也比不上讓學生坐在我面前，我能看到他們臉上的表情?！?/div>