脱胎换骨的远程教育

By Sumi Das

Thanks to widespread and high-speed broadband and robust video sharing sites， distance learning is being reinvented once more.

Voice in Video： They make peace with the French in October of 1797， the Italian campaign…

This is Khan Academy. OK， so the tuition lacks visual 1）flare， but theyre proving wildly， almost unimaginably popular， with more than 600 lessons watched each and every minute. Its the brainchild of Salmon Khan， a former banker， who turned his back on financial gain to profit the world of childrens education instead. What began with sending out online tutorials to family members， soon mushroomed.

多亏了无处不在且高速的宽带，还有功能强大的视频分享网站，如今远距离学习再一次脱胎换骨。

视频里的声音：他们在1797年与法国达成和平协议，意大利战役……

这就是可汗学院的视频。是的，它的教学授课并不花哨，但这些课程却非常受欢迎，其程度让人难以置信。在每一分钟里，都会有超过六百个可汗学院的视频教程被在线收看。可汗学院由萨蒙·可汗一手打造。他以前是一名银行家，他放弃了金钱收益，转向造福于世界儿童的教育事业。一开始，他只不过是为家人发送在线的课外辅导课程，但很快，它就迅速地传开了。

Khan： This， you know， is reaching 100，000 students a month right now. It could be reaching a hundred million students a month， and it could do that forever，cause this stuff doesnt really get old. And so I thought this is an infinite social return on investment.

Today Khan Academy offers over 3，200 videos for primary school pupils， 2nd-year university students and every level in between. Initially seen as an afterschool study tool， its now being implemented in traditional classrooms. The library of videos emphasize maths and science， but Khan says in a couple years theyll cover a broad curriculum. And almost every video is taught by Khan himself in his unscripted but exhaustively researched “guy-next-door” style.

Khan（in video）： Pick five balls out of this bin of 56 without replacing them and not caring about order.

Alongside the videos， a software platform generates quizzes and uses 2）gamification to engage students， making math problems more like games by using incentives and reward badges. Its a clever combo. The exercises confirm users fully grasp a concept before moving on， and the videos are far less 3）daunting than a live teacher.

可汗：你知道吗，现在一个月就会有十万学生使用这些课程，它一个月可以影响到一亿学生，而且可以永远地做下去，因为课程的内容基本上不会过时。因此，我想这笔投资能带来无限的社会效益。

如今，可汗学院为从小学到大二的各年级学生提供超过三千两百个课程视频。当初，人们只是把这些视为课后的辅导工具，现如今，在传统的课堂里，它也有了一席之地。课程视频的数据库中以数学和科学课程为主，不过可汗说，在几年内，他们会提供内容更宽泛的课程视频。几乎所有的视频都是由可汗一人教授，他授课不用讲稿，但内容都经过认真彻底的研究，以一种平易亲切的方式呈现。

可汗（在视频里）：桶里有56个球，拿出5个，不替换它们，也不用管它们的顺序。

除了课程视频外，可汗学院还提供一个软件平台生成各种测验，通过用一些激励手段和奖励奖章等方式，用游戏化的手段把数学习题设计得更像游戏，鼓励学生参与其中。这是一种非常明智的组合教学方式。习题可以让使用者在学习新内容之前确保自己已经完全掌握了旧知识，而且视频又不像真人老师那么让人生畏。

Oakland Unity High School is one of 25 California schools participating in Khan Academys pilot program， which brings the platform into the classroom.

You remember what its like to be in a typical classroom， right？ A teacher standing at the front of the room lecturing， you sitting at your desk listening attentively， or at least pretending to be. Then after school you went home and did your homework. But online learning tools have flipped the classroom. Students watch the lectures online at home and class time is mostly spent working through problems with the help of teachers and classmates.

Kallie Berg （Unity High School Teacher）： Its very different than a traditional classroom. Its not me driving the class， telling everybody where to go next. Im more of a support-person for the students， guiding them， helping them figure out what direction they should be going in， but theyre definitely in the drivers seat， and theyre definitely deciding what to do next.

奥克兰联合高中是美国加利福尼亚州25所参加了可汗学院试点项目的学校之一，这个项目把视频教学这个平台引入了课堂。

你还记得典型的课堂是什么样子的，对吧？老师站在课室前面授课，你坐在位子上专心听讲，起码你会装出一副专心的样子。放学后，你就回家做作业。但在线学习工具让课室模式完全倒转过来。现在是学生在家里看在线的授课课程，而在课堂的大部分时间则是在老师和同学的帮助下做习题。

卡莉·伯格（联合高中老师）：这与传统的课堂很不一样。如今再也不是由我主导课程，告诉学生下一步要学什么。我扮演的更多是学生支持者的角色，指导他们，帮他们弄明白他们的学习方向，但毫无疑问的是，他们有主动权，他们当然可以决定下一步要做什么。

Berg can get an instant read on who is and isnt thriving thanks to another Khan Academy tool—learning data. At a glance， teachers know whos mastered the concept and who needs help. They can then work with struggling students in small groups， or pair them up with a student whos ahead. After all， to teach is to learn， right？

Its too soon to tell if the online program will have a lasting impact， but teachers at Unity High have seen a 42% boost in maths test scores from Khan Academy.

The site is also having an impact elsewhere around the world. A third of the sites eight million monthly users live outside North America， mainly in the developing world， where skilled teachers and classrooms are thin on the ground. Khan， himself， admits a lot of work remains， but with funding from heavyweights like Google and the Gates Foundation， hes pretty motivated.

Khan： You have this set of knowledge that people viewed as best for the ivory tower—you have to get in， then you get access to it and you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in for it， you know. That…that knowledge is now going to be commonplace.

由于可汗学院提供了显示学生学习数据的工具，伯格可以马上知道哪个学生学得好，哪个不行。老师只要稍微看一下，就知道哪个学生已经熟练掌握了概念，哪个还需要帮助。然后可以通过学习小组的形式帮助有困难的学生，或者把他们与学习得好的学生配对。说到底，教授知识就是学习知识，对吧？

要现在判断这些在线课程是否会对教学有一个长久的影响还为时过早，但联合高中的老师们已经通过使用可汗学院的课程，使学生的数学成绩有了42%的提高。

可汗学院对世界各地的其他地方也产生了影响，其每月八百万用户的三分之一来自北美以外地区，主要集中在熟练的师资力量和课室稀缺的发展中国家。而可汗本人也承认，要做的工作还很多，但由于找到了像谷歌和盖茨基金会这些重量级的赞助方，他信心倍增。

可汗：有些知识被视为适合在象牙塔里传授，不过你得想办法被录取，然后你才有机会学到这些知识，而且你也知道，你还得花好多钱。但现在这些知识已经变成大家唾手可得的平常东西了。