网络教育的变革与反思

    这只是梦想。现实是：要使网络教育在全球范围带来变革，我们必须从更广泛的角度考虑学生的切实需求。我们需要考虑他们的整个教育历程，而不仅仅是提供教学内容或学习课程。

    每个学生都需要以下三点：

    第一，学习计划。试想，身在非洲的一个孩子正想方设法地从一大堆网络课程中胡乱拼凑出一个学习计划。这是不可能完成的。再来看看这个，哈佛大学（Harvard）和麻省理工学院已联手投资6,000万美元推广网络教育。除开设网络课程外，这些资金还将用于帮助学生制订学习计划，由教研人员或现有学生为他们提供咨询建议。这两家学府正通过努力帮助世界各地的学生制订教育计划，试问，还有谁比它们做得更好？

    第二，同龄群体。如果没有同龄群体一起学习、一起奋斗，他们会感到疏离和无望。在Piazza平台，每每开设大班学习课程时，我们总能看到学生们自发组成学习小组。网络教育软件必须越来越社会化、即时化和趣味化。试想，要是印度农村的小女孩能与世界上其他地方的小女孩一起学习同样的内容，那该是怎样的惠益啊。

    第三，导师。去年秋天，我创建了网络社区WitsOn，为500位职业女性和上千名大学生搭建了沟通的桥梁。学生们踊跃提问，了解如何平衡自己的生活和工作。有趣的是，这些职场女性中有很多人热切地向学生们学习，她们发现很多学生在某些科技领域比她们更有作为。这就是一个庞大的学习者网络。三人行必有我师，大家自发地相互学习。

    我非常热衷于网络学习。但是，我们的目标不够远大。试想，在发达国家，如果有孩子脱离了教育的轨道，那么对大多数这样的孩子来说，仅为他们提供电脑是不足以帮助他们的。教育不只是听课、作业和考试。教育是憧憬未来、改变现有生存状态的一种方式。就让我们为每个学生都提供一次这样的机会吧。

    That's the dream. The reality is: If online education is going to change outcomes on a global scale, we must think more broadly about students' actual needs. We need to think about their entire educational journey, not just the content or the classes we provide.

    Every student needs three things:

    First, the plan. Imagine a child in Africa trying to cobble together an educational plan out of a series of online courses. It's impossible. Consider that Harvard and MIT have pledged $60 million for online education. In addition to building online classes, some of that money should go toward helping students make iterative plans for their education, with help from advisory staff or current students. Who better than Harvard and MIT to help students around the world put together educational plans?

    Second, the peer group. If students don't have peers struggling with the same material at the same time, they're likely to feel alienated and hopeless. At Piazza, we see spontaneous peer group formation every time we run large online classes. Online educational software must become more social and immediate and fun. Imagine what a gift it would be to a girl in rural India to connect with other girls studying the same material in other parts of the world.

    Third. the mentors. Last fall, I helped create WitsOn, an online community connecting 500 professional women with thousands of college students. Students asked the women questions about how they had managed their lives and careers. Interestingly, we saw many of the professionals eagerly learning from the students, many of whom were more accomplished than they were in certain facets of technology. This suggests a giant network of learners, with mentors and mentees learning simultaneously.

    I'm a big fan of learning online. But we aren't being ambitious enough. If children in the developed world fall off the educational track, giving them computers is not going to help most of them. Education is more than lectures, assignments, and exams. It's a means to envision a different life from the one you're living. Let's give every student a shot at that.