在网上攻读硕士学位

Master’s Degree Is New Frontier of Study Online
Virtual U.By TAMAR LEWINDecember 24, 2013
在网上攻读硕士学位
在线教育TAMAR LEWIN2013年12月24日
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佐治亚理工学院计算机学院院长兹维·加利尔。该学院计划通过大型开放式网络课程提供计算机科学硕士学位。
College of Computing at Georgia Tech
Next January, the Georgia Institute of Technology plans to offer a master’s degree in computer science through massive open online courses for a fraction of the on-campus cost, a first for an elite institution. If it even approaches its goal of drawing thousands of students, it could signal a change to the landscape of higher education.
明年1月，佐治亚理工学院(Georgia Institute of Technology)计划通过大型开放式网络课程提供计算机科学硕士学位，学费远远低于在校学生的费用，这是美国精英教育机构的首次尝试。如果能够实现每年吸引数千名学生的目标，这可能标志着美国高等教育领域的变革。
From their start two years ago, when a free artificial intelligence course from Stanford enrolled 170,000 students, free massive open online courses, or MOOCs, have drawn millions and yielded results like the perfect scores of Battushig, a 15-year-old Mongolian boy, in a tough electronics course offered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
从两年前开始，斯坦福大学(Stanford)开设的免费人工智能课程招收17万名学生以来，免费的大型开放式网络课程(MOOCs)已经吸引了数百万学生，获得了出色的成果，比如15岁的蒙古少年巴图希格(Battushig)，他以满分的成绩通过了麻省理工学院(Massachusetts Institute of Technology)提供的高难度电子课程。
But the courses have not yet produced profound change, partly because they offer no credit and do not lead to a degree. The disruption may be approaching, though, as Georgia Tech, which has one of the country’s top computer science programs, plans to offer a MOOC-based online master’s degree in computer science for $6,600 — far less than the $45,000 on-campus price.
但是这些网络课程尚未产生深远的变化，一方面是因为没有提供学分，而且不授予学位。然而佐治亚理工学院的举措可能带来变革，这所拥有全美顶尖计算机科学课程的大学计划提供以MOOC为基础的网上计算机科学硕士学位，学费仅为6600美元——远远低于在校学习的4.5万美元学费。
Zvi Galil, the dean of the university’s College of Computing, expects that in the coming years, the program could attract up to 10,000 students annually, many from outside the United States and some who would not complete the full master’s degree. “Online, there’s no visa problem,” he said.
佐治亚理工学院计算机学院院长兹维·加利尔(Zvi Galil)期望在未来几年，这项计划每年可吸引多达1万名学生就读，其中会有许多来自海外的学生和原本无法获得硕士学位的学生。他说，“网络课程不涉及签证问题。”
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硅谷开放式网络课程供应商Udacity公司创始人塞巴斯蒂安·特伦。他和加利尔博士合作提供在线学位，网校学生的学费只有6600美元，远低于在校生的4.5万美元学费。
Peter DaSilva for The New York Times
The program rests on an unusual partnership forged by Dr. Galil and Sebastian Thrun, a founder of Udacity, a Silicon Valley provider of the open online courses.
这个计划取决于加利尔博士和硅谷开放式网络课程供应商Udacity公司创始人塞巴斯蒂安·特伦(Sebastian Thrun)不同寻常的合作关系。
Although it is just one degree at one university, the prospect of a prestigious low-cost degree program has generated great interest. Some educators think the leap from individual noncredit courses to full degree programs could signal the next phase in the evolution of MOOCs — and bring real change to higher education.
尽管这只是一所大学的一个学位，但是著名大学提供低成本学位课程的前景，已经引发外界极大的兴趣。有些教育家认为，从单门非学分课程跨越到全面的学位课程，可能标志着MOOCs下一个阶段的演变——为高等教育带来真正的变革。
“Perhaps Zvi Galil and Sebastian Thrun will prove to be the Wright brothers of MOOCs,” said S. James Gates Jr., a University of Maryland physicist who serves on President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. “This is the first deliberate and thoughtful attempt to apply education technology to bringing instruction to scale. It could be epoch-***. If it really works, it could begin the process of lowering the cost of education, and lowering barriers for millions of Americans.”
马里兰大学(University of Maryland)物理学家詹姆斯·盖茨(S. James Gates Jr.)任职于奥巴马总统(President Obama)的科学和技术顾问委员会(Council of Advisors on Science and Technology)，他表示，“也许兹维·加利尔和塞巴斯蒂安·特伦将被证明是MOOCs领域的莱特兄弟。对教育技术应用于扩大教学规模来说，这是首个深思熟虑、考虑周到的举措。这可能具有划时代的意义。如果切实有效的话，网络课程可能会开启减少教育成本、降低数百万美国人教育门槛的过程。”
The plan is for Georgia Tech to provide the content and professors and to get 60 percent of the revenue, and for Udacity to offer the computer platform, provide course assistants and receive the other 40 percent. The projected budget for the test run starting in January is $3.1 million — including $2 million donated by AT&T, which will use the program to train employees and find potential hires — with $240,000 in profits. By the third year, the projection is for $14.3 million in costs and $4.7 million in profits.
佐治亚理工学院为这项计划提供课程内容和授课教授，获得60%的收入，Udacity公司提供电脑平台和授课助理，获得其他40%的收入。明年1月该计划开始试运行，项目预算为310万美元——包括美国电话电报公司(AT&T)捐赠的200万美元，该公司将利用这项计划培训员工和招聘潜在雇员——利润为24万美元。预计到第三年，运营成本将达到1430万美元，利润为470万美元。
The courses will be online and free for those not seeking a degree; those in the degree program will take proctored exams and have access to tutoring, online office hours and other support services. Students who cannot meet the program’s stringent admission standards may be admitted provisionally and allowed to transfer in if they do well in their first two courses. And students who complete only a few courses would get a certificate.
对于那些不攻读学位的学生，这些课程将在线免费提供；攻读学位课程的学生将接受监考考试，可以获得辅导、在线办公时间和其他支持服务。如果学生无法达到课程严格的录取标准，可以获得临时录取资格，如果前两门课程的成绩优异，他们可以转为正式入学。仅完成几门课程的学生也会获得证书。
“This is all uncharted territory, so no one really knows if it will go to scale,” Dr. Galil said. “We just want to prove that it can be done, to make a high-quality degree program available for a low cost.”
加利尔博士说，“这完全是未知的领域，所以没有人真正知道未来能否扩大规模。我们只想证明这是可以实现的计划，能够以低成本提供高质量的学位课程。 ”
Would such a program cannibalize campus enrollment? “Frankly,” he said, “nobody knows.”
这项计划会蚕食校内招生吗？他回应说，“坦率地讲，没有人知道。”
Not everyone believes that such a degree program will be sustainable, or that it would even be a step forward.
不是所有人都认为这样的学位课程会持续下去，或者说甚至更进一步。
“The whole MOOC mania has got everyone buzzing in academia, but scaling is a great challenge,” said Bruce Chaloux, the executive director of the Sloan Consortium, an advocacy group for online education. “I have to believe that at some point, when the underwriting ends, to keep high quality, Georgia Tech would have to float to more traditional tuition rates.”
网上教育倡导机构斯隆联盟(Sloan Consortium)执行董事布鲁斯·沙洛克斯(Bruce Chaloux)说，“整个MOOC热潮在学术界引起广泛议论，但是规模依然是巨大的挑战。我不得不相信，等到宣传热潮结束后，为了保持高质量的教学，佐治亚理工学院将被迫回归更传统的收费标准。
Some faculty members worry that despite Dr. Galil’s pledge that the program will match the quality and standards of the on-campus master’s program, it could dilute the value of a Georgia Tech degree. And as in California, where Udacity has worked with San Jose State University to offer three basic math courses — now paused because of underwhelming student performance — some object to the idea of outsourcing part of their work to a for-profit company like Udacity.
有些教职员工担心，尽管加利尔博士承诺这项计划将达到在校硕士课程的同等质量和标准， 但是可能降低佐治亚理工学院学位的含金量。在加利福尼亚州，Udacity公司和圣何塞州立大学(San Jose State University)合作提供的三项基础数学课程——现在已经暂停，因为学生表现欠佳——有人反对把他们的部分工作外包给Udacity这样的盈利性公司。
“If you spend a lot of money, you can make online great, and this will probably be a showcase program,” said Chris Newfield, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who is studying online education. “But we in universities could do that ourselves if we had that money, and the whole history of private involvement in public education has been one of extracting resources. However well-intentioned, we don’t need a Trojan horse product that will take money out of the system.”
加州大学圣巴巴拉分校(University of California, Santa Barbara)教授克里斯·纽菲尔德(Chris Newfield)致力于研究网络教育，他说，“如果你花了很多钱，你可以把网络课程做得很好，这可能是个示范课程。但是如果我们有这笔钱的话，在大学里也能做得不错，私营部门参与公立教育的整个历史一直在提取资源。尽管出发点很好，可是我们不需要特洛伊木马式的产品，这会导致教育体系的收入流失。”
The three leading MOOC providers, Udacity, Coursera and edX, have grown at a remarkable rate, adding hundreds of courses with dozens of college and university partners. But the path ahead is less clear, and all three are working with universities to find ways in which their courses can be used for credit. Some state universities, leery of ceding control to outside organizations, lean toward developing their own programs and platforms.
作为大型开放式网络课程的三大供应商，Udacity、Coursera和edX以惊人的速度增长，他们和数十家大学建立了合作关系，增加数百门课程。但是前方的道路并不明确，三家公司都在和大学合作，寻找让他们的课程作为学分使用的方法。有些州立大学对于把控制权让给外部组织持怀疑态度，更倾向于发展自己的项目和平台。
For-profit colleges like the University of Phoenix, whose tuition generally falls between state institutions and private not-for-profit universities, were the first to offer large online degree programs. But for-profit enrollment has declined because of the recession, increased government scrutiny and Congressional hearings finding that their students had low graduation rates and high loan default rates. And with so many traditional institutions now offering online degrees, the for-profit colleges may have a tougher time attracting students.
凤凰城大学(University of Phoenix)等盈利性大学的学费通常介于州立大学和私立非盈利性大学之间，这些大学是首批提供大型网上学位课程的教育机构。但是由于经济衰退，政府加强审查，国会听证会发现他们的学生有低毕业率和高贷款违约率的现象，这些大学的盈利性招生人数有所下降。目前随着众多传统教育机构提供网上学位，盈利性大学可能面临更难吸引学生的时期。
Many public universities have recently expanded online degree programs costing as much as their on-campus programs. But if the Georgia Tech program attracts thousands of students — a big if — that pricing model may be vulnerable.
许多公立大学最近提高了网络学位课程的费用，不亚于他们的校内课程学费。但是如果佐治亚理工学院能够吸引成千上万的学生——这是个巨大的数字——那么定价模式也许会受到冲击。
The Florida Legislature has directed the University of Florida to start fully online bachelor’s degree programs and set the price for residents at three-quarters of the campus in-state tuition, or about $4,700. But Bernie Machen, the university’s president, said he had not yet decided whether to charge out-of-state online students the full $28,000 tuition they would pay on campus, in part because he wondered if online pricing models were changing.
佛罗里达州议会已经指定佛罗里达大学(University of Florida)开设全面的网上学士学位课程，本州居民的费用定为州内学费的四分之三，即4700美元左右。但是该校校长伯尼·梅琴(Bernie Machen)表示，他尚未决定是否向外州的网上课程学生收取2.8万美元的全额在校学费，一方面是因为他不确定网上定价模式是否会改变。
“Most of us got into online graduate programs more from the revenue side than the service side,” said Mr. Machen, whose university brings in $75 million annually from its more than 70 online graduate degree programs. “It was an untapped market.”
梅琴校长说，“我们多数人是从收入方面看待网上研究生课程，而不是从服务方面考虑。这是个尚未开发的市场。”他所在的佛罗里达大学每年从70多个网上研究生学位课程中获得7500万美元的收入。
Mr. Machen, like others, said he was puzzled by Georgia Tech’s optimistic financial estimates for its program, and was not sure they would work out.
像其他人一样，梅琴校长对佐治亚理工学院网络课程的乐观财务预计感到疑惑，他不确定这些预期会实现。
Higher education officials say they will be watching closely.
高等教育官员表示，他们将密切关注此事。
“Georgia Tech is exceptionally important because it’s a prestigious institution offering an important degree at very low cost with a direct connection to a Fortune 100 corporation that will use it to fill their pipeline,” said Terry W. Hartle, the senior vice president of the American Council on Education. “It addresses a lot of the issues about universities that the public cares about. But how good and how transferable it is remain to be seen.”
美国教育委员会(American Council on Education)的高级副总裁特里·哈特尔(Terry W. Hartle)说，“佐治亚理工学院显得尤为重要，因为这所知名大学以极低的成本提供重要的学位课程，与一家财富100强公司建立直接联系，利用这项计划满足他们的现金流。这解决了很多公众关心的大学问题。但是结果好坏和如何转型依然有待观察。”