Professors Still View MOOCs Skeptically
专家对大规模开放网络课程依旧持怀疑态度
The New York Times calls 2013 “the year of the MOOC.” But massive open online courses still fail to get high marks from most educators.
纽约时报将2013年称作“大规模开放网络课程之年”。但是大规模开放网络课程在大多数教育者中仍然没获得认可。
In a recent survey of more than 2,200 professors, only one in five thought that online courses could be as effective as classroom curricula. Their biggest concern: limited interaction between teachers and students. The survey was done by Gallup and the website Inside Higher Ed.
近期的一份调查中,参与调查的2200名教授中,只有五分之一认为网络课程跟传统教室效率一样。他们最大的担忧是,师生之间受限制的互动。调查是由Gallup和Inside Higher Ed网站联合进行的。
Respondents linked MOOC credibility to whether an online course was offered by an accredited school and to a student’s ability to receive credits.
调查对象担心课程是不是由未被认可的学校提供,学生是不是能得到认可。
Faculty skepticism isn’t surprising. New technologies often turn crafted products and services into bland commodities, something no teacher wants. On the other hand, resistance to change, especially when it involves computers, tends to be a losing strategy in most fields.
教师持怀疑态度并不令人吃惊。新技术经常将精心制作的产品和服务变成乏味的商品,这不是教师想要的。另一方面,拒绝改变,尤其是跟电脑相关的改变,是现在大多数领域失败的战略。
An important wrinkle in the data: much MOOC criticism comes from faculty who’ve never taught an online course. Of the 30 percent of professors polled who had taught a MOOC, most thought that online coursework can deliver roughly the same results as the classroom.
数据中重要的一点是大多数批评者从未教过网上课程。教过网上课程的30%的老师多数都认为网上课程跟教室授课相差无几。
—Larry Greenemeier