MOOC与终身学习者：互联网在为谁提供教育资源？

In many of the backlash stories recently, a certain argument seems to be repeated that asks why schools and investors should be sinking millions into creating educational resources (i.e., MOOCs) that we all know just benefit older, educated, professional lifelong learners who already have so much, vs. using those same resources to advance the education of the neediest. Over time people become increasingly impatient with this charge and have only just started to figure out why.在最近出现的许多关于大规模在线开放课程退潮的文章中，有一个备受关注的争论话题，即为什么高校和投资商要耗资数百万，为那些中老年的、受过良好教育的、专业的终身学习者创造更多的教育资源（即大规模在线开放课程）——既然他们已经享受了足够多的教育资源，而不是为那些最需要进一步接受教育的人创造教育资源。如今人们已经对这种质疑感到厌烦，开始试着解释其中的原因。For starters, let's take as a given that the upwards of 75-80 percent of people who currently take MOOC classes already have a degree (sometimes more than one) and could probably find other ways to learn some of the things they've been studying even if MOOCs didn't exist. 首先，让我们假设在当今大规模在线开放课程平台上的学员中有超过75%-80%已经获得了一种（乃至两种）学位，即使没有在线课程平台，他们也可以通过其他途径学习。At the very least, this means that one-fifth to one-quarter of students enrolled in a MOOC do not fit this demographic. Now as a fraction, that's pretty small. But if you apply it to the number of people taking a massive online course, that means we're talking about thousands and thousands of young students who are taking advantage of the educational opportunities they might not otherwise have access to.这至少意味着，有五分之一到四分之一的学员并不属于上述的学究范畴。这些人所占的比例或许很小，但是如果你将这一比例换算成学习在线课程的实际人数，这意味着成千上万的青年学子在享受着在线学习的裨益，而这可能是他们接受高等教育的唯一途径。Then there is the fallacy of assuming whatever MOOCs are today is what they must always be. But just because today's student body is mostly older and better educated than the people the MOOC makers thought they would originally be serving, that doesn't mean more younger people won't gravitate to them over time.其次，认为大规模在线开放课程的当今发展现状会一成不变，这是一种谬误。虽然当前在线课程平台上的学员大多是受过高等教育的中老年学究，而不像课程平台供应商们最初设想的那样更多的为急需教育资源的青年学子服务。这并不意味着，将来不会有更多的青年学子被在线课程所吸引。In the meantime, who is better to serve as a beta tester for these programs than a student using them as the only means they will ever have to learn a subject.同时，对于大规模在线开放课程的诸多实验项目来说，最合适的测试员莫过于那些只能通过在线平台才能学习相关知识的青年学生。As a final thought, I'm also not convinced that the number of self-directed learners who can benefit from MOOCs is finite or static. In fact, if the MOOC experiment yields nothing more than a better understanding of what kind of people succeed in these independent learning environments, perhaps that insight can be boiled down into a set of resources and tools that could improve educational outcomes across all grade and income levels. 最后作为总结，我认为那些通过在线课程平台自主学习的学生人数还会不断增加，不断变化。事实上，如果说大规模在线课程平台正是这样一块试金石，通过它人们能更清楚的了解到什么样的人才能在自主的学习环境中取得成功，那么，为了使更多的人具备成功的素质，人们更应该大力开发各种能全面提升各社会阶层受教育水平的在线教育资源和教育手段。