~这些年，我翻过的英文二三事儿~04~全球大学转战开源

原文地址：http://opensource.com/education/14/9/global-shift-open-source-university-studies

原文内容：

You've probably heard of MIT's OpenCourseWare program by now; or at least, you will have heard that some universities are offering versions of their courses online for free. But what does that even mean? That anybody with an Internet connection can now get a Bachelor's degree from MIT? The answer is still, more or less, "it's complicated."

Historically, universities were not inclusive places. While you can find free traditional university education (Norway's much-lauded education system comes to mind, as well as some other European countries), the vast majority of the world simply didn't have access to higher education before the emergence of online technologies. This made higher education largely an exercise in class and gender role reinforcement. In more recent decades, universities have been aggressively monetizing, which theoretically eliminates class and gender as exclusionary factors but more realistically simply acts to reinforce the exclusivity and inaccessibility of further study.

The idea of open sourcing university studies was initially seen in Germany in 1999, but was popularised by MIT launching OpenCourseWare (OCW) in 2002. The idea was to facilitate learning using the rapidly increasing power of the Internet; students could have access to a wealth of knowledge to supplement their studies, better prepare themselves for university and in some cases, get a leg up on difficult subjects. This wasn't anything like a full degree or even full subjects—it was more like access to reading materials and resources.

Fast forward to 2012 and the OCW program had exploded across America and all over the world. However, online learning had also become standard, with many universities offering online degrees that provided the same qualification as traditional classroom courses. Now, it's expected that universities will offer a wide range of supplementary online materials to accompany on-campus learning, and it's possible to gain full qualifications without ever setting foot on university grounds. OCW has subsequently evolved, with the concept of the "massive open online course", or MOOC, rapidly gaining traction.

 

Coursera, the most popular MOOC currently, has over 7.2 million users and connects a large group of higher education institutions with users, who can access course materials for free. This is a for-profit business model that adds value through various means such as offering certification for a nominal fee and providing professional recruitment connection services. edX is MIT's non-profit version of Coursera, which is built using open source software. Both organizations seek to redefine the way education is consumed, with the aim being lower cost and wider distribution.

Returning to the initial question of what this global shift represents, it is now possible to access a vast amount of study resources from universities and other higher learning institutions, both humble and prestigious. Some people have a knee-jerk reaction of questioning why they even paid for their degree, and how we should expect universities to remain successful if nobody pays. Those familiar with open source will recognise these arguments; people use the same rhetoric to dismiss the open source technology movement as a waste of time or even damaging to enterprise profitability. However, as explainedon the OCW website, universities are greatly enriched by involvement in open source education:

"Through OCW, educators improve courses and curricula, making their schools more effective; students find additional resources to help them succeed; and independent learners enrich their lives and use the content to tackle some of our world’s most difficult challenges, including sustainable development, climate change, and cancer eradication."

Basically, the argument is the same: MOOCs and OCW offer the resources, but not the support. Paying for a degree means you have access to the full array of educational support on offer. But just like other areas of open source, MOOC and OCW communities are full of a wide range of students, teachers, professionals, and practitioners working together. The same principles apply to education as they do everywhere else in open source. Get involved, be part of a community, be empowered, and contribute to the wider dissemination of knowledge for your own benefit as much as anybody else's.

 

以下是我的译文：

        你可能听说过现在麻省理工大学的开放式课程计划，或者至少，你会听过一些大学在提供免费的线上课程。但是这意味着什么呢？难道它意味着和互联网相连的任何人都可以得到麻省理工大学的学士学位吗？或多或少，这答案是“很复杂的”。

       从历史的角度看，大学没有多少包容的地方。尽管你可以找到免费的传统大学教育（挪威有备受称赞的教育系统，以及一些其他的欧洲国家），但是在线技术出现之前，世界上绝大多数人仍然无法获得高等教育。那只会使得高等教育在很大程度上扮演了强化种族和性别之分的角色。近几十年间，大学一直在不断地货币化，理论上说在消除种族和性别排他因素，但是这仅仅是更加实际性的简单行为来强化深造的排他性及难以获得性。

       开放大学的研究资源的想法最初1999年在德国提出，但是随后2002年麻省理工大学推出的开发课程使之大力推广。这一想法旨在促进人们学习使用发展迅猛的互联网；学生可以获取丰富的知识来丰盈他们的研究，更好地为大学准备以及在一些情况下轻松解决疑难学科。这并不像是完整的学位或学科，这更像是阅读材料和资源的途径。

        时间推到2012年，开发课程计划迅速席卷美国及世界各地。在线学习也逐渐被大众认可，许多大学纷纷提供与传统课堂课程相同资格的在线学位。现在，可以预见到未来大学将提供广泛的线上资源来辅助校园学习，并且不入校园也能获得完整的资格证也是可能的。开发课程随后也进化更新，以“海量开放线上课程”的理念迅速得到大批追随。

       目前最流行的海量开放线上课程网站Coursera已经拥有720万用户并且与大量的高等教育机构建立联系，使得用户能免费地获取课程资源。这是以营利为目的的商业模式，以提供认证收费和专业的招聘链接服务等各种方式增加盈利。edX是麻省理工大学做的非营利版本的Courera，是用开源软件构建的。这两个组织机构都试图重新定义教育消费，即通过更低廉的成本获取更广泛的资源分配。

       回到我们最初的问题，这一全球转变究竟代表了什么含义。当下，从不论是简陋的还是富有声望的大学和其他高等学习机构获取学习资源是可以实现的。有些人会下意识的质疑：那么他们为什么要为自己的学位付费呢？如果没有人愿意支付，我们该如何期待大学仍然保持其成功呢？熟悉开源的人会认同这些观点；人们使用同一论调想解散这一开源技术运动，因为他们觉得这是浪费时间并且损害到公司的盈利。但是，正如开发课程网站上所解释的，大学其实也很大程度上被这一开源教育所丰富。

      “通过开发课程，教育展可以提高改善课程质量，使校园事务更加高效化；学生可以找到额外的资源帮助他们成功；独立学习者通过运用课程的内容解决一些诸如可持续发展、气候变化和根除癌症等世界难题，丰富了他们的生活。”

      基本上，这些看法是一样的：海量开放线上课程和开发式课程提供的是资源而不是支持。为学位付费意味着你将获得完整一系列的教育支持。但就像开源的其他领域，海量开放线上课程和开放式课程社区里，学生、教师、专业人士和实践者一起工作。这一原则同样适用于教育之外的开源领域。参与成为社区的一部分，被赋予权力，然后奉献并传播更广泛的知识，不只是为了自己的利益，也是为了他人的利益。