繼續經濟學人，依舊是終身學習專題的一部分
Learning and earning
慕課的回歸
Alternative providers of education must solve the problems of cost and credentials
非傳統教育提供者必須解決費用與資格證書的問題
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.
對慕課（大型開放式網絡課程）的炒作在 2012 年達到頂峰。Salman Khan 一位來自 New Orleans 的投資咨詢師起先因為給自己的外甥通過網絡進行碎片化的教育，隨后將這一活動轉變為一項世界范圍內廣受歡迎的被稱為 Khan Academy 的教育事業，并由此登上 Forbes 雜志封面。另一個慕課機構 Udacity 的創始人 Sebastian Thrun 在接受 Wired 雜志專訪時預測到
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.
大量涌入一些基礎課程開始學習的用戶似乎預示了一種開放、免費的教育形式正在顯現。現在對慕課持懷疑態度的人比對此持樂觀態度的更多。盡管許多人仍在在注冊使用，但退學的比例仍然突破天際。
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，慕課正在創造著變革。教育，正如醫療保健，一項復雜而又碎片化的事業，使得它很難形成規模。拋開退學率，慕課證明了教育可以更加便捷和相對的更加便宜。Khan Academy 中大約有 1400-1500 萬用戶完成了每月至少一次課程；Coursera 擁有2200萬注冊用戶。這些數字只會不斷增加。Future Learn 一個由英國開放大學組織的慕課機構則由更廣大的計劃。Oxford 大學聲稱在 11 月它將在 edX 平臺上提供第一個課程教程。
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.
在尋找商業模型的過程中，許多平臺直截了當地將重心放在就業上（而其他的慕課平臺比如 Khan Academy 則是公益性的）。Udacity 在技術領域設置了一系列微學位，范圍從最基礎覆蓋到最尖端的領域。甚至它還和一些招聘單位建立了合作伙伴關系。一項關于 Android 的課程是和 Google 合作的；在無人駕駛領域的一個微學位使用了來自 Mercedes-Benz, Nvidia 和其他企業的導師。學員需要花費 199 至 299 美元每月直至課程學習完畢（一個典型的課程需要 6-9 個月），如果在一年之內完成課程還可以返還 50% 的費用。Udacity 同樣為這些微學位提供了需要每月額外支付 100 美元的升級版，同時保證如果在畢業后 6 個月內沒有找到工作還可以全額退還費用。
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 的課程大部分來自大學而非專門的指導人員，擁有更大的范圍；以及在短課程之外還提供了完整的學位（一個計算機工程，一個 ＭＢＡ）。同樣，Courseras 也將中心轉為強調就業性。Courseras 的老板Rick Levin曾是Yale 大學的院長，說道研究指出，參加學習的用戶一半是為了方便未來的就業。盡管學習課程是免費的，學員需要為評定和認證付費（一個被Coursera 稱為專業的四節課程的費用大約是３００－４００美元之間。他們發現當需要付費時，學員完成課程的比例從１０％上升到６０％。Coursera 同樣在增加和公司的合作。企業可將Coursera 加入他們自己的培訓計劃中去，追蹤雇員的參與程度并向其提供所需的課程。
