You may be familiar with massive open online courses (MOOCs) delivered by professors from prestigious universities. But a new open course provider has a slightly different approach - its lecturers are all students.
名校教授大型网络公开课(又被称为“慕课”)你可能已经很熟悉了。而一种新型公开课则另辟蹊径:全部讲师都是学生。
Its name is One-man University. The online college in China offers a wide range of interesting teaching programs that convey knowledge in an accessible way. It’s worthwhile taking time in this winter vacation to experience it.
这就是“万门大学”。这所中国的网络大学提供许多不同的趣味教学课程,降低了传授知识的门槛。寒假里,还是很值得去花时间体验一下的。
Offering alternatives
多重选择
Students teaching students may sound absurd, but this mechanism has been welcomed by One-man University’s tens of thousands of followers.
尽管学生教学生可能听起来有些不可思议,但是这种教学方法已经受到万门大学数万学员的欢迎。
They believe that the core competitiveness of One-man University comes from allowing student lecturers to inspire other students to learn. Besides, student lecturers teach and explain knowledge in a way that may be more understandable than professors in universities.
他们认为万门大学的核心竞争力在于让学生讲师激励其他学生去学习。此外,同大学教授相比,学生授课和讲解知识的方式更清晰易懂。
“One-man University encourages participants to learn things through their own efforts. On the way, they’ll find they have infinite possibilities,” says Tong Zhe, 26, the founder of One-man University.
万门大学创始人、26岁的童哲说:“万门大学鼓励学员们通过自学来获取知识。在学习过程中,他们会发掘出无限的潜能。”
Bringing inspiration
启发式教育
The online college is an open platform for both lecturers and receivers.
对于授课者和学习者来说,万门大学是一个开放式平台。
If students are interested in a course, they can either take offline classes or watch online course videos for free. But the former requires registration.
如果学员对某一课程感兴趣,他们可以参加线下课程或者观看在线课程的免费视频,而线下课程则需要注册。
According to Tong, the knowledge content of a course provided by One-man University is equal to that of a university course in one semester.
童哲表示,万门大学的课程知识内容同大学是一样的。
Fu Zhengcheng, 22, a physics major at Zhejiang Normal University, is one of the student followers of Tong’s online college. He thinks the beauty of the platform is the well-structured courses that allow knowledge to be logically explained.
浙江师范大学物理系学生、22岁的付正成(音译)便是万门大学的支持者之一。他认为这一平台的魅力在于合理的课程结构以及对于知识的逻辑性说明。
“Each course takes 16 hours to complete,” says Tong. “It is divided into several sessions, with each session taking about 20 minutes to cover one knowledge point.”
童哲说:“每门课程需要16学时。课程学习分成几个部分,每个部分会要用20分钟来教授一个知识点。”
Though students’ positive feedback shows that One-man University’s courses are a success, Tong believes the main value of One-man University lies in the message it conveys.
尽管学生的正面反馈证明了万门大学课程的成功,但童哲认为该校的主要价值在于传递信息。
“It makes students believe that self-study is not difficult and they can learn a subject that’s different from their college major,” says Tong. “After that, they can search for more quality online resources, such as on Coursera, edX and Khan Academy (various platforms that offer MOOCs to students worldwide).”
童哲说:“万门大学让学生觉得自学并不难,他们可以学到不同于大学本专业的学科。完成课程学习后,学生还可以搜索更多网络精品资源,比如Coursera, edX和可汗学院等全球性“慕课”资源平台。
Open stage
心有多大,舞台就有多大
As for students who want to share knowledge with others, One-man University offers them a stage.
对于那些想要与他人分享知识的学生而言,万门大学也为他们提供了舞台。
“We select lecturers based on the following two criteria: First, they should be academically qualified. Second, they need to deliver understandable lectures,” says Tong. To be more specific, if someone wants to teach mathematics at One-man University, their audition lectures must be approved by a student panel consisting both of mathematics majors and non-mathematics majors invited by Tong.
童哲表示:“我们依据以下两个标准选择授课者:首先,学术资质;其次,他们的授课方式要清晰易懂。”具体来说,如果有人想在万门大学教数学课,那么试讲课程必须得到童哲邀请的由数学系与非数学系学生观摩小组的认可。
Easy as it seems, only few meet these requirements. According to Tong, One-man University only has a few dozen lecturers, all of whom have graduated from foreign postgraduate programs. However, he maintains a positive attitude.
这看似容易,实则能够达标的人可谓是凤毛麟角。童哲表示万门大学只有几十名讲师,全部是毕业于国外大学的硕士生。但他仍然很乐观。
“As long as we stick to our standards, we will attract more students and qualified lecturers. There’s a long way to go for One-man University,” he says.
他说:“只要我们坚守准则,一定可以吸引更多学生和优秀讲师加入我们。万门大学还有很长的路要走。”