身在线上课堂上 每人都可以前排坐

I went to Arizona earlier this month to see what the college of the future might look like. What I found taking shape is an exciting new era of higher education that will help more students get a great, personalized education at an affordable price.
这个月早些时候，我去了趟亚利桑那州，为的是一睹未来的大学会是什么样子。我看到了一个振奋人心的高等教育新时代正逐步成型，届时，更多的学生将获得良好的，个性化的 教育，代价也是他们可接受的。

This future may not always include the lecture halls, dormitories, football teams and other features of the traditional college experience. Instead, the colleges I visited are experimenting with ways for students to get their degrees online, allowing them to take courses anyplace and at any time.
在这个未来的教育世界中，或许不一定有讲课礼堂、学生宿舍、足球队以及传统大学生活中的一些其他特色。在我访问的大学里，恰恰是学校想方设法让学生通过在线学习来获得 学位，让他们能够随时随地地上课。

These “colleges without walls,” as they are sometimes called, are at the forefront of the effort to broaden access to higher education, especially for low-income students juggling their studies with full-time jobs and families. During my visit, I heard inspiring stories of students who are taking advantage of these flexible learning models to pursue degrees that can put them on paths to new careers.
这些大学，——有些人称之为“没有围墙的大学”，是普及高等教育工作的前沿阵地，尤其对于那些要依靠全职工作来养家糊口的低收入学生来说，更是这样。在我访问期间，我 听到了一些激动人心的故事，学生们利用这些弹性的学习模式来读取学位，这样他们便能踏上新的职业征途。

One of those students is Shawn Lee, a student at Rio Salado College in Tempe. He has a compelling story: After dropping out of college decades ago, he found himself in a series of low-paying, often back-breaking jobs. He recently decided to get his degree—and I’ve found this is a pretty common refrain at community colleges—when he had his first child and wanted to start building a better life.
有一位名叫Shawn Lee的同学，他在滕比市的Rio Salado学院读书，他的故事非常动人。十几年前，他从大学辍学，之后做了好几份低收入、重体力的工作。 前不久，他决定要读一个大学学位，这时候的他已有了第一个子女，而且希望缔造一份更好的生活——我发现这是一个在社区大学很常见的畏惧心态。

Tucked away in an industrial park in Tempe, Rio Salado doesn’t look much like a traditional institute of higher education. There were no students running to class. No ivy-covered walls. Just a couple of glass-faced office buildings.
Rio Salado学院深藏在滕比市的工业园区中，她与传统的高校看起来不太一样。这里看不到学生匆忙赶课，没有长满常青藤的围墙，只有几栋玻璃外饰的办公楼。

As we walked inside for a tour, there was an even bigger surprise.
当我们步入校园游览后，还有更多想不到的事。

The college has just 22 full-time faculty serving 60,000 students, with more than half of them attending their classes online. (The full-time faculty depend on 1,400 part-time teachers who manage individual class sections, review/grade assignments, and consult with students.) Students can start any of the school’s 1,000 courses almost any Monday of the year. Classes cost $84 per credit hour, far less than what other colleges charge.
学院只有22位全职教师，却有6万名学生就读，一半以上的人通过网上上课。（全职教师队伍由1400位兼职教师组成，他们管理各自的课程组成，自主打分评定作业，并指 导学生。）学生可以从学校开设的1000门课中选课，几乎全年中的任何一个周一都可以选。每学时只收取84美元，远比其他大学便宜。

I also visited the University of Phoenix, a for-profit institution with more than 300,000 students, where teachers and staff are working to make online learning even more flexible. One of the most popular innovations is a mobile app that gives students the freedom to study virtually anywhere. With the app they can keep track of their grades and assignments, participate in class discussions, and receive alerts from their teachers about their courses.
我也访问了菲尼克斯大学，这是一所拥有30多万学生的私立学校。这所大学的教职员工正努力使得在线学习更具弹性。其中一项最受欢迎的创新是一个基于移动端的app，这 个程序让学生真正获得了移动学习的自由。通过这个程序，学生们可以及时知晓他们的成绩和作业，参与课堂讨论，还可以收到老师的课程提醒。

If your idea of college is a professor lecturing in front of a classroom full of students, some of these innovations may be surprising, even a little unsettling. But this kind of out-of-the-box thinking is needed to address the challenge facing higher education. College tuition is rising faster than any other cost in the U.S.—pricing many students out of a degree. More than 40 percent of college students drop out, depriving them of the chance to earn more money and leaving the U.S. without the highly-trained workers we need for economic growth. The fact is, we face a real dilemma. We need to educate people in a better way without increasing cost.
如果你对大学的认识还停留在一个教授面对满堂学生讲课的层面上，那么有些创新对你来说或许是很意外的，甚至让你感到不安。但我们应对高等教育的挑战时急需这种不落窠臼 的思维。在美国，大学的学费比任何其他费用都长得快，高学费让学生对学位望洋兴叹。大学的辍学率高达40%多，这剥夺了他们挣更多钱的机会，也让美国丧失了本可以促进 经济增长的高素质工人。实际上，我们有一个很现实的难题——我们需要在不增加花费的基础上，以一种更好的方式使人接受教育。