As 2013 dawned, there remained a faint pro-MOOC glow following the “Year of the MOOC” in 2012 (as the New York Times described it). Times columnist Thomas Friedman, writing on Jan. 26, was still declaring that universities were in the midst of a “revolution” brought on by massive open online courses. A day later, Don Tapscott, writing for the Globe and Mail from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, gushed that this was “the week university (as we know it) ended.”
2012年曾被稱為“大規(guī)模在線開放課程之年” （引用《紐約時報》的說法）。2013年伊始之際，對大規(guī)模在線開放課程的贊譽(yù)之聲仍未停歇，《時代》周刊撰稿人托馬斯·弗萊德曼在1月26日的期刊上稱道，大型公開在線課程已經(jīng)引發(fā)了一場教育革命，這場教育革命正在各大高校中展開。第二天，在瑞士達(dá)沃斯參加世界經(jīng)濟(jì)論壇的唐·塔普斯科特在為《環(huán)球郵報》撰寫的稿件中稱，“周一到周五的傳統(tǒng)教育方式已經(jīng)走向了終結(jié)?！?

Taking these two as marking one bookend to the year, the other bookend would most certainly be Sebastian Thrun’s declaration in late November in Fast Company that the MOOC provider he founded, Udacity, doesn’t “educate people as others wished, or as I wished. We offer a lousy product.” Speaking about the quality of Udacity courses, he said, “We’re not doing anything as rich and powerful as what a traditional liberal-arts education would offer you.”
這兩個人的觀點(diǎn)標(biāo)志著人們對大規(guī)模在線開放課程2013年發(fā)展的一種評價趨向，而塞巴斯蒂安·特龍的觀點(diǎn)則代表著對大規(guī)模在線開放課程的另一種評價取向。他在11月下旬為《快速公司》雜志撰寫的稿件中稱，自己創(chuàng)建的大規(guī)模在線開放課程供應(yīng)商品牌Udacity“沒有如他人希望的，或我自己所期望的那樣完成傳道授業(yè)的使命。我們的產(chǎn)品是不盡人意的?！?談到Udacity大規(guī)模在線開放課程平臺上的網(wǎng)絡(luò)課程質(zhì)量，他說，“我們所提供的教育資源，遠(yuǎn)不及傳統(tǒng)的大學(xué)文科教育所能提供的教育資源那樣豐富多彩而影響深遠(yuǎn)?！?/div>

That, readers, was the sound of the MOOC bubble – as envisioned by Thrun and a coterie of venture capitalists – bursting. As 2012 was the year of the MOOC, 2013 was predictably the year of the MOOC backlash – or, at the very least, the end of the MOOC hype.
讀者們，特龍一語道出了大規(guī)模在線開放課程泡沫的破碎，他和一小群風(fēng)險投資家對此早有預(yù)感。如果說2012年是大規(guī)模在線開放課程之年，那么2013年可想而知應(yīng)是大規(guī)模在線開放課程短暫退潮的一年——或者用最保守的說法說，是大規(guī)模在線開放課程效應(yīng)減退的一年。

Having not just one year, but two years in a row, linked with MOOCs may seem a bit much to those of you in higher-ed whose daily working lives do not revolve around MOOCs – i.e., most of you. However, there is no denying how much oxygen the MOOC conversation has sucked up, not just in North America but globally, far beyond any other higher-ed topic. And while the MOOC hype was overblown, there remain dozens – likely hundreds – of examples of experimentation going on with open, online learning. Some of these projects, such as those funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation through its MOOC Research Initiative, aim to fill the research gap about the impact of MOOCs on teaching and learning and are leading to some very interesting conversations.
對于大多數(shù)高校教師和學(xué)生來說，他們的日常生活并不是以大規(guī)模在線開放課程為中心的，他們不大可能會花費(fèi)一年、乃至連續(xù)整整兩年的時間來使用大規(guī)模在線開放課程的服務(wù)。但不可否認(rèn)的是，大規(guī)模在線開放課程的發(fā)展仍是學(xué)界的熱門爭論話題，不僅在北美，而且在世界范圍內(nèi)，這一話題的熱度超過了任何其他相關(guān)話題。還有數(shù)十家，乃至數(shù)百家機(jī)構(gòu)正在致力于大型網(wǎng)絡(luò)公開課的相關(guān)實(shí)驗(yàn)項(xiàng)目。例如由比爾及梅林達(dá)·蓋茨基金會資助的大規(guī)模在線開放課程研究創(chuàng)業(yè)公司進(jìn)行的實(shí)驗(yàn)項(xiàng)目，他們旨在研究大規(guī)模在線開放課程對教學(xué)效果的影響、填補(bǔ)這方面的研究空缺，他們的研究成果引發(fā)了許多有意思的學(xué)術(shù)討論。

That, or course, barely scratches the surface of all that happened in the past 12 months. What were some of the major trends in postsecondary education for you this past year?
當(dāng)然，對于過去12個月里圍繞大規(guī)模在線開放課程展開的討論全局來說，上述概括僅僅是管中窺豹。你認(rèn)為過去一年里高等教育發(fā)展有哪些重大趨勢呢？