Ivy League school officials suggest that one of the biggest impacts of massive online open courses – MOOCs – could be a renewed focus on teaching over research at elite American universities.
在美国精英大学中，常春藤联盟学校的官员认为，MOOC最大的影响之一是教学取代科研重新成为焦点。
“Coursera already is affecting our campus,” said Jeffrey Himpele, associate director of the McGraw Hill Center for Teaching and Learning at Princeton University, which aims to improve teaching at Princeton University. He’s also a documentary filmmaker, professor in media and anthropology and an author.
He says many faculty members have been more focused on research instead of teaching in the past. Open education classes are changing that. Because of MOOCs and Princeton’s upcoming participation in Coursera, “The conversations about teaching (at Princeton) have gone from 0 to 60 on our campus,” he says. Princeton faculty who used to brush off discussions geared toward improving their teaching are now eager to have such discussions, he says.
许多教工过去更加关注科研而不是教学，开放教育课程正在改变这一方向。正是由于MOOC和普林斯顿即将加入Coursera，普林斯顿大学的教工开始空前地讨论如何改进教学。
The first Coursera course launches in a month at Princeton and already has 20,000 students signed up for it.
面对成千上万的学生，确实是需要一种能力，这是教师在课堂中前所未有的角色。普林斯顿在Coursera上线的第一门课程在一个月时间已经有20000名学生注册。
Himpele says the MOOC courses are also forcing professors and universities to rethink the traditional 60 or 90 minute lecture structure for classes. Princeton’s upcoming Coursera course uses a 50 minute lecture format, broken into several 12-minute parts with quizzes in between.
MOOC课程还在让教授和学校重新思考传统60-90分钟课堂讲座的结构，普林斯顿即将上线的Coursera课程采用了50分钟的讲座形式，但是划分为多个12分钟的内容，每个内容之间穿插小问答。
“After 12 minutes in a lecture hall, student attention falls off a cliff,” he says. He said professors at Princeton are now radically rethinking how they teach this coming fall. “They are thinking about it from the point of view of their students.”
在12分钟听讲之后，学生的注意力会急剧下降，大学教授正在从学生的角度思考如何改进新学期的教学。
Some are considering ways to flip their lectures, having students go over some basic material at home and going with a more engaging, discussion-oriented setting in class. “A year ago, to flip a lecture would have required a lot of twisting of arms,” he said.
有些教授希望学生在家学习一些基础资料，在课堂上可以进行更加引人并以讨论为主的活动。
At the panel discussion on MOOC courses, other experts and faculty expressed more skepticism at the impact of MOOCs on top schools and the traditional college system.
在MOOC课程的讨论面板，对于MOOC对精英学校和传统学院系统的影响，其他专家和教工也表达了不同看法。
Dr. Peter Struck, an associate professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, is teaching a Coursera class on classics and mythology. He compares online teaching to hosting a TV show rather than a classroom, which functions more like a play. His upcoming Coursera class has 14,000 student signed up already and counting.
Dr. Peter Struck，宾州大学的助教，同时在Coursera授课，认为电视节目般的在线教学相比课堂教学，更像是一场演出，成为万众瞩目的焦点，那种感觉令人如此激动。
Kevin Carey, policy director at Education Sector in Washington DC, said the fact that Harvard University – which was absent from open educational resources for some time – recently teamed up with MIT on edX is significant. “I can only assume that Harvard University decided to do this because they felt they were being left behind,” he said. Competition among MOOC providers is a driving factor right now, he says.Kevin Carey
认为哈佛大学最近加入edX，是因为之前在开放教育资源上落后了，需要急起直追，竞争MOOC供应商现在是个驱动因素。他认为，美国东西海岸MOOC的竞争，西海岸是基于硅谷的技术派，而东海岸是基于常春藤联盟和精英学院，但是学院无法垄断专业知识。
Carey sees MOOCs setting up a power struggle between the two coasts of knowledge power – the West Coast, Silicon Valley-based tech sector and the DC to Boston
corridor of Ivy League and elite colleges. “I’m not sure who will end up running the place,” he says. “Colleges don’t have a monopoly on expertise.”
Joshua Kim对MOOC持怀疑看法，他认为这对于学院，尤其是精英学院，只是时髦的趋势和方式，是在加强公关。关注MOOC，会消耗大学的资源和关注，偏离应该做的事情。
University of Pennsylvania Professor Peter Struck shares his thoughts on what MOOCs will do, won’t do and might do:
宾州大学教授Peter Struck分享了MOOC能做到的、不能做到的和可能做到的事情：
What MOOCs Will do:
1) Will make the TV show class free to people.
2) It will allow professors and colleges to be better than the history channel at providing knowledge on history and other topics.
3) It will allow some real pedagogical advances, challenging the notion of a 50 minute lecture. While his Coursera segments range from 7 to 15 minutes in length, Struck notes, that “the long narrative arc is sometimes the critical component to convey in my class.”
MOOC能够做到的：
1) 免费向人们提供电视节目一样的课程教学
2) 让教授和学院在提供历史和其他主题的知识方面，比历史频道做得更出色
3) 促成真正的教学进步，挑战50分钟的传统宣讲教学。
MOOC不能做到的：
1) 不会像一些人所想的改变现有的高等教育
2) 不会完全扼杀讲座
3) 不会像一些人所想的让知识更加普及
What MOOCs Might Do:
1) Expand wisdom.
2) Broaden empathy – understanding of what other people are feeling.
3) I don’t know, if in the aggregate, it will make us smarter.
4) I’m not sure if it will make teaching a more important part of self definition.
5) It might add to the credentialing frenzy of high school students who want to go to a Princeton or University of Pennsylvania, who see MOOC badges as another way to demonstrate their achievement, similar to AP classes.
MOOC可能做到的：
1) 扩展学术
2) 拓宽换位思考 – 理解他人的感受
3) 总的来说，可能会让我们更加聪明
4) 可能会让教学成为自我定义中更加重要的部分
5) 对于希望进入普林斯顿或宾州大学的高中生，可能会掀起认证高潮，从MOOC获得的荣誉是展示其成就的另一种方式。
