小规模网络数据公开数据
I took one of the first Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in 2011. Back then, everything was 100% free: the videos, the assignments, and the certificates. But in 2017, you can’t find this sort of free learning experience anymore.
我在2011年参加了第一批大规模在线公开课程(MOOC)。那时，所有内容都是100％免费的：视频，作业和证书。 但是在2017年，您再也找不到这种免费的学习体验了。
As MOOC providers focussed on finding a business model, they started putting certain aspects of the experience behind a paywall, hoping to get more people to pay. MOOCs went from “free” to “free to audit.”
当MOOC提供商专注于寻找业务模型时，他们开始将体验的某些方面放在付费墙后面，以希望吸引更多的人付费。 MOOC从“免费”变为“免费审核”。
Free certificates were the first items to be shifted from free to pay. Then the graded assignments were put behind paywalls. Now, all the major MOOC providers are making courses that are completely paid, with even video lectures locked away behind paywalls.
免费证书是第一个从免费支付转变为免费支付的项目。 然后，将评分作业分配到付费专区后面。 现在，所有主要的MOOC提供者都在制作完全付费的课程，甚至视频讲座也被封锁在付费墙后面。
This shift to a freemium model — with more and more chances to up-sell — seems to be working for the providers. The top three services earned more than $100 million combined last year.
向免费增值模式的这种转变-越来越多的向上销售机会-似乎正在对提供商起作用。 去年，前三大服务的总收入超过1亿美元 。
Each provider has a different model, and this can prove confusing for students. So here’s a summary of what “free” actually means for the four biggest MOOC players.
每个提供者都有不同的模型，这会使学生感到困惑。 因此，这里总结了“免费”实际上对四家最大的MOOC参与者的意义。
版 (EdX)
edX, started jointly by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the only major MOOC provider to still offer graded assignments for free. It was also the last major provider to do away free certificates (it held out till the end of 2015).
edX由哈佛大学和麻省理工学院联合创办，是唯一仍免费提供分级作业的主要MOOC供应商。 它也是最后一个免费提供证书的主要提供商(该证书一直持续到2015年底)。
edX also offers certain courses that are not free at all, which they call Professional Education. These typically cost hundreds of dollars.
edX还提供某些根本不免费的课程，它们称为专业教育。 这些通常要花费数百美元。
But beyond that, all the edX courses are completely free to take, and students only need to pay if they want to earn a certificate.
但除此之外，所有edX课程都是完全免费的，学生仅需获得证书就需要付费。
Coursera (Coursera)
Coursera aggressively tweaks its monetization model, which can lead to constant changes in how its courses work. Different courses have different policies — which sometimes depends on when they were launched and what the policies were at the time.
Coursera积极调整其获利模型，这可能导致其课程运作方式不断变化。 不同的课程有不同的政策-有时取决于课程的发布时间和当时的政策。
It will be difficult to cover every scenario, so let’s focus on policies that apply to most courses, which also reflects the direction Coursera wants to move into it.
很难涵盖所有情况，因此让我们集中讨论适用于大多数课程的政策，这也反映了Coursera希望进入的方向。
A good majority of the new courses on Coursera are part of a specialization, a series of short courses that lead a “microcredential.”
Coursera上的大部分新课程都是专业化课程的一部分，是一系列开设“微证书”的短期课程。
Last year, Coursera introduced subscriptions for their specializations. Instead of paying per course, students pay a monthly subscription as long as they want to access the premium aspects of the course. Under this model, the videos are free to watch, but students have to sign up for a subscription to get a certificate and access graded assignments.
去年，Coursera为其专业推出了订阅服务。 学生不必按课程付费，而是按月订阅，只要他们想访问该课程的高级课程即可。 在这种模式下，视频是免费观看的，但是学生必须注册订阅才能获得证书并访问分级作业。
Most recently, Coursera introduced a 7-day free trial for subscriptions. For students who want to access course videos for free, they need to click on the tiny “audit” link in the bottom right, as shown in the screenshot above. Many students probably don’t notice this link as an option — if they even know what “audit” means in the first place.
最近，Coursera推出了7天的免费订阅试用。 对于想要免费访问课程视频的学生，他们需要单击右下角的小“审核”链接，如上面的屏幕快照所示。 如果他们甚至一开始就知道“审核”的含义，那么许多学生可能不会注意到此链接是一个选择。
A small number of courses that are not part of any specializations will sometimes have the option to sign up for an “audit mode.” In these cases, even the graded assignments are free to take (though you can’t claim certificates).
少数不属于任何专业的课程有时会选择注册“审核模式”。 在这些情况下，即使是评分作业也可以自由参加(尽管您不能申领证书)。
For a long time, Coursera had a liberal financial-aid policy. Well, they recently clamped down on it. It now takes at least 15 days for them to respond to financial aid applications.
长期以来，Coursera实行宽松的财政援助政策。 好吧，他们最近压制了它 。 现在，他们至少需要15天才能回复经济援助申请。
未来学习 (FutureLearn)
FutureLearn is the UK-based MOOC provider wholly owned by The Open University. It has close to six million students, making it one of top 5 MOOC providers in the world.
FutureLearn是开放大学全资拥有的英国MOOC提供商。 它拥有近六百万名学生，使其成为全球排名前五的MOOC提供者之一。
FutureLearn never offered free certificates to begin with. But recently, FutureLearn introduced a new pricing model that limits access to the course contents once the course is over.
FutureLearn从未提供免费证书。 但是最近，FutureLearn引入了一种新的定价模型 ，该模型在课程结束后限制对课程内容的访问。
Under the new pricing model, the exams sit behind a paywall (similar to the way Coursera operates). The course content is still free to access, but it’s only available for the duration of the course, and for two weeks after it ends.
在新的定价模式下，考试位于付费墙后面(类似于Coursera的运作方式)。 课程内容仍然可以免费访问，但是仅在课程期间以及结束后的两周内可用。
For unlimited access to the course (caveat: as long as it exists on FutureLearn), learners needs to upgrade. That costs about $30 to $90.
要无限制地访问课程(注意：只要FutureLearn中存在)，学习者就需要升级。 费用约为30到90美元。
At the end of 2016, FutureLearn announced that it will offer six postgraduate degrees completely online in partnership with Deakin University. A majority of the courses created for the degree will not be free.
2016年底，FutureLearn 宣布将与迪肯大学合作，完全在线提供六个研究生学位。 为该学位创建的大多数课程都不是免费的。
Udacity (Udacity)
Unlike the other MOOC providers listed above, Udacity does not partner with colleges. Instead, it prefers to partner with tech companies. Udacity also create their own courses, which are sometimes taught by people at these partner tech companies.
与上面列出的其他MOOC提供者不同，Udacity不与大学合作。 相反，它更愿意与科技公司合作。 Udacity还创建自己的课程，这些课程有时由这些合作伙伴技术公司的人员教授。
Udacity was the first MOOC provider to stop providing free certificates, way back in May 2014. It doesn’t give out certificates for individual courses, either. Instead, Udacity offers its own proprietary micro-credential known as Nanodegrees. Nanodegrees can take months to finish, and they usually consist of online courses, human-graded projects, and some mentorship.
Udacity最早是在2014年5月停止提供免费证书的MOOC提供者。它也没有为单个课程颁发证书。 取而代之的是，Udacity提供了自己的专有微凭证，称为Nanodegrees 。 纳米学位可能需要数月才能完成，并且通常包括在线课程，人工分级项目和一些指导。
The courses that are part of Nanodegree are usually free to take (though getting the certificate requires payment). They also contain some basic quizzes and interactive coding assignments (mostly in Python).
通常，纳米学位课程的一部分是免费的(尽管获得证书需要付费)。 它们还包含一些基本测验和交互式编码分配(主要在Python中)。
Udacity recently acquired Terminal.com, and will integrate Terminal.com’s interactive coding environment into its Nanodegrees. It probably won’t be part of free courses.
Udacity最近收购了Terminal.com ，并将把Terminal.com的交互式编码环境集成到其Nanodegrees中。 它可能不会成为免费课程的一部分。
The fact that MOOCs were free sparked widespread interest in them. Students got excited because they were getting to learn from the best teachers in the world for free.
MOOC是免费的，这引起了人们的广泛兴趣。 学生之所以兴奋，是因为他们可以免费向世界上最好的老师学习。
In fact, this is what inspired me to build Class Central — so I could personally keep track of all of these new courses.
实际上，这就是促使我建立Class Central的原因 -因此我可以亲自跟踪所有这些新课程。
Then the media got all excited because they got to write clickbait titles about the imminent death of universities.
然后，媒体为之激动不已，因为他们不得不撰写有关大学即将死亡的clickbait标题。
But once the hype died down and MOOC providers tried to monetize, they found it difficult to do so without charging for content.
但是，一旦炒作消失了，MOOC提供商试图通过货币获利，他们发现不收取内容费用就很难做到这一点。
Matt Walton, chief product officer at FutureLearn, said this about their recent pricing change: “Research we carried out showed that a certificate on its own doesn’t offer enough value for money and that some people don’t want or need a certificate.”
马特·沃尔顿，在FutureLearn首席产品官， 说这个研究”我们进行了显示自身的证书不提供足够的金钱价值，有些人不想要或需要的证书：他们近期的价格变化。 ”
So the MOOC paywall had to expand to include parts of the content.
因此，MOOC付费专区必须扩展以包括部分内容。
Every MOOC provider has expanded their product lines to target multiple price points, from tens of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. What’s free in MOOCs has been constantly shrinking.
每个MOOC提供商都将其产品线扩展到多个价格点，从数万美元到数万美元不等 。 MOOC中的免费内容一直在不断缩小。
Without true innovation in pricing, it will be difficult for MOOCs to reach the people who could benefit from them the most.
没有真正的定价创新，MOOC将很难接触到可以从中受益最大的人。
My post first appeared on EdSurge. Sign up for EdSurge’s Weekly Higher Ed Newsletter for weekly news updates, interviews, and debates on edtech and the future of education.
我的帖子最初出现在EdSurge上 。 订阅EdSurge的每周高级Ed Newsletter，以获取有关edtech和教育的未来的每周新闻更新，采访和辩论。
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