同步大规模网络课程

Two professors at University of Texas at Austin launched their introductory psychology class from a makeshift studio， with a goal of eventually enrolling 10，000 students at $550 a person and bringing home millions for the school.

The professors have dubbed the class a SMOC—Synchronous Massive Online Class—and their effort falls somewhere between a MOOC， or Massive Open Online Course， a late-night television show and a real-time research experiment. The professors lecture into a camera and students watch on their computers or mobile devices in real time.

The class is emblematic of just how quickly the once-static business model of higher education is shifting as technology gives students more options and forces schools and professors to compete for their attention.

“Were not business people， were not entrepreneurs， but we know we have a first-rate class， and now the question is how we go out and sell our course，” said Prof. James Pennebaker， the chairman of the UT psychology department who is teaching the class with Samuel Gosling， also a tenured professor.

Unlike Massive Open Online Courses， which can be watched whenever， the SMOC requires students， professors and teaching assistants to be online at the same time.

MOOCS， which burst on the scene about two years ago and are generally free， have attracted more than 5 million students around the world and prompted dozens of top univer- sities to launch classes in conjunction with companies such as Coursera and EdX. However， no one has figured out how to monetize the model.

The class offered by Profs. Gosling and Pennebaker offers an alternative approach that draws from both traditional online education and modern MOOCS. The course is run entirely in house and any money generated from students outside the UT system will be split between the psychology department and the school. The cost is $550 for anyone not enrolled at UT. By comparison， full-time in-state students who are enrolled at UT would pay about $900 and out-of-state students would pay about $3，000 for attending a traditional， in-person version of the course.

The pair has a long way to go. On this， their first venture， the class has brought in about 1，000 UT undergraduates but fewer than 50 from beyond the campus—generating about $20，000. Reaching the goal of 10，000 non-UT students， the class would bring in $5.5 million.

Whether the model sticks， the class marks a new age of experimentation， said Clay Shirky， a professor at New York University and longtime observer of the Internets potential to disrupt higher education.

“I think were in for a pretty extraordinary next five or ten years，” Prof. Shirky said. “People are going to try a million new things； 990，000 wont work， but in the end well be left with 10，000 things that do.”

美国得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的两位教授推出了他们在临时摄影棚中拍摄的“心理学入门课程”。他们的最终目标是招收1万名学生，并向他们每人收取550美元的学费，以此为学校创收数百万美元。

两位教授将这种课程命名为“同步大规模网络课程”，课程建设将结合“大型开放式网络课程（MOOCS）”模式、夜间电视节目和实时研究实验的模式。工作人员用摄像机拍摄两位教授的课程，学生们就在电脑或移动设备上实时观看。

科技的飞速发展让学生们有了更多的选择，也迫使学校和教授们竞相争夺学生资源，这同时标志着曾经单一的高等教育盈利模式正在经历着快速转型。

作为得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校心理学系主任，詹姆斯·潘尼贝克教授指出：“我们不是商人或企业家，但我们知道我们拥有一流的课程。现在的问题是，我们如何走出去销售我们的课程。”他和终身教授萨缪尔·格斯林一起讲授这一网络课程。

同步大规模网络课程并不像“大型开放式网络课程”那样可以随时观看，它要求学生、教授和教学助理同时在线。

“大型开放式网络课程”早在两年前就已经出现，而且大多都免费，吸引了全球500多万学生用户，并且吸引了数所全球顶级高校陆续与Coursera和EdX等公司合作推出网络课程。不过，谁也没有找出将这一教育模式进行商业化的有效途径。

格斯林和潘尼贝克教授推出的课程总结了传统网络教育和现代“大规模公开网络课程”的经验，为学生提供了另外一种选择。该课程全部在室内拍摄，面向得克萨斯大学以外的学生开放，收取的学费将在心理学系和学校之间进行分配。非得克萨斯大学学生购买该网络课程的费用是每人550美元。与之相比，被得克萨斯大学录取的本州全日制学生接受该课程面授的费用约为每人900美元，而外州学生的面授费用更是高达每人约3000美元。

两位教授还有很多工作要做。作为两个人的首次尝试，该课程目前仅录取了约1000名得克萨斯大学的本科学生，其中校外学生还不到50名，由此带来的收入也不过2万美元。如果能够实现在线录取1万名非得州学生的目标，那么该课程将会带来550万美元的收入。

纽约大学教授克莱舍基指出，无论这一模式成功与否，该网络课程已经为高等教育实验翻开了崭新的一页。舍基同时也长期关注互联网对高等教育的潜在影响等问题。

舍基表示，我们将见证高等教育在未来五到十年里发生的伟大变革。人们将会尝试无数新事物，其中99%都不会成功，但我们最终将会成为那剩余的1%。