继续经济学人，依旧是终身学习专题的一部分
Learning and earning
慕课的回归
Alternative providers of education must solve the problems of cost and credentials
非传统教育提供者必须解决费用与资格证书的问题
THE HYPE OVER MOOCs peaked in 2012. Salman Khan, an investment analyst who had begun teaching bite-sized lessons to his cousin in New Orleans over the internet and turned that activity into a wildly popular educational resource called the Khan Academy, was splashed on the cover of Forbes. Sebastian Thrun, the founder of another MOOC called Udacity, predicted in an interview in Wired magazine that within 50 years the number of universities would collapse to just ten worldwide. The New York Times declared it the year of the MOOC.
对慕课（大型开放式网络课程）的炒作在 2012 年达到顶峰。Salman Khan 一位来自 New Orleans 的投资咨询师起先因为给自己的外甥通过网络进行碎片化的教育，随后将这一活动转变为一项世界范围内广受欢迎的被称为 Khan Academy 的教育事业，并由此登上 Forbes 杂志封面。另一个慕课机构 Udacity 的创始人 Sebastian Thrun 在接受 Wired 杂志专访时预测到
The sheer numbers of people flocking to some of the initial courses seemed to suggest that an entirely new model of open access, free university education was within reach. Now MOOC sceptics are more numerous than believers. Although lots of people still signup, drop-out rates are sky-high.
大量涌入一些基础课程开始学习的用户似乎预示了一种开放、免费的教育形式正在显现。现在对慕课持怀疑态度的人比对此持乐观态度的更多。尽管许多人仍在在注册使用，但退学的比例仍然突破天际。
Nonetheless, the MOOCs are on to something. Education, like health care, is a complex and fragmented industry, which makes it hard to gain scale. Despite those drop-out rates, the MOOCs have shown it can be done quickly and comparatively cheaply. The Khan Academy has 14m-15m users who conduct at least one learning activity with it each month; Coursera has 22m registered learners. Those numbers are only going to grow. Future Learn, a MOOC owned by Britain’s Open University, has big plans. Oxford University announced in November that it would be producing its first MOOC on the edX platform.
然而，慕课正在创造着变革。教育，正如医疗保健，一项复杂而又碎片化的事业，使得它很难形成规模。抛开退学率，慕课证明了教育可以更加便捷和相对的更加便宜。Khan Academy 中大约有 1400-1500 万用户完成了每月至少一次课程；Coursera 拥有2200万注册用户。这些数字只会不断增加。Future Learn 一个由英国开放大学组织的慕课机构则由更广大的计划。Oxford 大学声称在 11 月它将在 edX 平台上提供第一个课程教程。
In their search for a business model, some platforms are Now focusing much more squarely on employment (though others, like the Khan Academy, are not for profit). Udacity has launched a series of nanodegrees in tech-focused courses that range from the basic to the cutting-edge. It has done so, moreover, in partnership with employers. A course on Android was developed with Google; a nanodegree in self-driving cars uses instructors from Mercedes-Benz, Nvidia and others. Students pay $199-299 a month for as long as it takes them to finish the course (typically six to nine months) and get a 50% rebate if they complete it within a year. Udacity also offers a souped-up version of its nanodegree for an extra $100 a month, along with a money-back guarantee if graduates do not find a job within six months.
在寻找商业模型的过程中，许多平台直截了当地将重心放在就业上（而其他的慕课平台比如 Khan Academy 则是公益性的）。Udacity 在技术领域设置了一系列微学位，范围从最基础覆盖到最尖端的领域。甚至它还和一些招聘单位建立了合作伙伴关系。一项关于 Android 的课程是和 Google 合作的；在无人驾驶领域的一个微学位使用了来自 Mercedes-Benz, Nvidia 和其他企业的导师。学员需要花费 199 至 299 美元每月直至课程学习完毕（一个典型的课程需要 6-9 个月），如果在一年之内完成课程还可以返还 50% 的费用。Udacity 同样为这些微学位提供了需要每月额外支付 100 美元的升级版，同时保证如果在毕业后 6 个月内没有找到工作还可以全额退还费用。
Courseras content comes largely from universities, not specialist instructors; its range is much broader; and it is offering full degrees (one in computer science, the other an MBA) as well as shorter courses. But it, too, has shifted its emphasis to employability. Its boss, Rick Levin, a former president of Yale University, cites research showing that half of its learners took courses in order to advance their careers. Although its materials are available without charge, learners pay for assessment and accreditation at the end of the course ($300-400 for a four-course sequence that Coursera calls a “specialisation”). It has found that when money is changing hands, completion rates rise from 10% to 60% . It is increasingly working with companies, too. Firms can now integrate Coursera into their own learning portals, track employees’ participation and provide their desired menu of courses.
Courseras 的课程大部分来自大学而非专门的指导人员，拥有更大的范围；以及在短课程之外还提供了完整的学位（一个计算机工程，一个 ＭＢＡ）。同样，Courseras 也将中心转为强调就业性。Courseras 的老板Rick Levin曾是Yale 大学的院长，说道研究指出，参加学习的用户一半是为了方便未来的就业。尽管学习课程是免费的，学员需要为评定和认证付费（一个被Coursera 称为专业的四节课程的费用大约是３００－４００美元之间。他们发现当需要付费时，学员完成课程的比例从１０％上升到６０％。Coursera 同样在增加和公司的合作。企业可将Coursera 加入他们自己的培训计划中去，追踪雇员的参与程度并向其提供所需的课程。