同步大規模網絡課程

Two professors at University of Texas at Austin launched their introductory psychology class from a makeshift studio， with a goal of eventually enrolling 10，000 students at $550 a person and bringing home millions for the school.

The professors have dubbed the class a SMOC—Synchronous Massive Online Class—and their effort falls somewhere between a MOOC， or Massive Open Online Course， a late-night television show and a real-time research experiment. The professors lecture into a camera and students watch on their computers or mobile devices in real time.

The class is emblematic of just how quickly the once-static business model of higher education is shifting as technology gives students more options and forces schools and professors to compete for their attention.

“Were not business people， were not entrepreneurs， but we know we have a first-rate class， and now the question is how we go out and sell our course，” said Prof. James Pennebaker， the chairman of the UT psychology department who is teaching the class with Samuel Gosling， also a tenured professor.

Unlike Massive Open Online Courses， which can be watched whenever， the SMOC requires students， professors and teaching assistants to be online at the same time.

MOOCS， which burst on the scene about two years ago and are generally free， have attracted more than 5 million students around the world and prompted dozens of top univer- sities to launch classes in conjunction with companies such as Coursera and EdX. However， no one has figured out how to monetize the model.

The class offered by Profs. Gosling and Pennebaker offers an alternative approach that draws from both traditional online education and modern MOOCS. The course is run entirely in house and any money generated from students outside the UT system will be split between the psychology department and the school. The cost is $550 for anyone not enrolled at UT. By comparison， full-time in-state students who are enrolled at UT would pay about $900 and out-of-state students would pay about $3，000 for attending a traditional， in-person version of the course.

The pair has a long way to go. On this， their first venture， the class has brought in about 1，000 UT undergraduates but fewer than 50 from beyond the campus—generating about $20，000. Reaching the goal of 10，000 non-UT students， the class would bring in $5.5 million.

Whether the model sticks， the class marks a new age of experimentation， said Clay Shirky， a professor at New York University and longtime observer of the Internets potential to disrupt higher education.

“I think were in for a pretty extraordinary next five or ten years，” Prof. Shirky said. “People are going to try a million new things； 990，000 wont work， but in the end well be left with 10，000 things that do.”

美國得克薩斯大學奧斯汀分校的兩位教授推出了他們在臨時攝影棚中拍攝的“心理學入門課程”。他們的最終目標是招收1萬名學生，并向他們每人收取550美元的學費，以此為學校創收數百萬美元。

兩位教授將這種課程命名為“同步大規模網絡課程”，課程建設將結合“大型開放式網絡課程（MOOCS）”模式、夜間電視節目和實時研究實驗的模式。工作人員用攝像機拍攝兩位教授的課程，學生們就在電腦或移動設備上實時觀看。

科技的飛速發展讓學生們有了更多的選擇，也迫使學校和教授們競相爭奪學生資源，這同時標志著曾經單一的高等教育盈利模式正在經歷著快速轉型。

作為得克薩斯大學奧斯汀分校心理學系主任，詹姆斯·潘尼貝克教授指出：“我們不是商人或企業家，但我們知道我們擁有一流的課程。現在的問題是，我們如何走出去銷售我們的課程。”他和終身教授薩繆爾·格斯林一起講授這一網絡課程。

同步大規模網絡課程并不像“大型開放式網絡課程”那樣可以隨時觀看，它要求學生、教授和教學助理同時在線。

“大型開放式網絡課程”早在兩年前就已經出現，而且大多都免費，吸引了全球500多萬學生用戶，并且吸引了數所全球頂級高校陸續與Coursera和EdX等公司合作推出網絡課程。不過，誰也沒有找出將這一教育模式進行商業化的有效途徑。

格斯林和潘尼貝克教授推出的課程總結了傳統網絡教育和現代“大規模公開網絡課程”的經驗，為學生提供了另外一種選擇。該課程全部在室內拍攝，面向得克薩斯大學以外的學生開放，收取的學費將在心理學系和學校之間進行分配。非得克薩斯大學學生購買該網絡課程的費用是每人550美元。與之相比，被得克薩斯大學錄取的本州全日制學生接受該課程面授的費用約為每人900美元，而外州學生的面授費用更是高達每人約3000美元。

兩位教授還有很多工作要做。作為兩個人的首次嘗試，該課程目前僅錄取了約1000名得克薩斯大學的本科學生，其中校外學生還不到50名，由此帶來的收入也不過2萬美元。如果能夠實現在線錄取1萬名非得州學生的目標，那么該課程將會帶來550萬美元的收入。

紐約大學教授克萊舍基指出，無論這一模式成功與否，該網絡課程已經為高等教育實驗翻開了嶄新的一頁。舍基同時也長期關注互聯網對高等教育的潛在影響等問題。

舍基表示，我們將見證高等教育在未來五到十年里發生的偉大變革。人們將會嘗試無數新事物，其中99%都不會成功，但我們最終將會成為那剩余的1%。