VOA慢速英语:More Universities Offer Free Online Courses

Earlier this year, we reported on the growth of massive open online courses, or MOOCs. These higher education courses are mostly free and, so far, largely in technical areas like computer science. MOOCs are usually open to anyone and can have thousands of students around the world.
今年早些时候，我们报道了大规模在线公开课程(MOOCs)的增长情况，这种高等教育课程多为免费的，到目前为止主要是诸如计算机科学等技术领域的课程。MOOCs课程向所有人开放，目前在全世界有数千名学生。

Entrepreneurs and educators are studying the different business possibilities. One idea is to make money by offering credits or certificates to students willing to pay. Another is to charge employers for connecting them with students who get top scores on online tests.
企业家和教育家们研究了各种可能的商机，一个想法就是为愿意付费的学生提供学分或证书，另一个想法就是为雇主联系在线测试最高分的学生，并向雇主收费。

Some top universities are starting to offer their own MOOCs. For example, this week the University of California, Berkeley, announced it has joined a noNPRofit enterprise called edX. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology started edX and have each invested thirty million dollars.
一些著名大学开始提供自己的MOOCs课程，比如，本周加州大学伯克利分校就宣布加入了名为edX的非盈利组织，edX由哈佛大学和麻省理工学院合办，已分别投资了三千万美元。

This fall, Berkeley will offer two of the seven free courses on the edX platform: Artificial Intelligence and Software as a Service. Berkeley will also work with edX to get more universities involved. Schools that offer courses on the edX platform will be called "X Universities."
今年秋季，伯克利将在edX的平台上提供7门免费课程中的两门，人工智能和软件服务。伯克利还将与edX合作让更多大学参与进来，在edX平台上提供课程的学校被称为"X大学"。

MIT professor Anant Agarwal is the president of edX, and he helped develop an electrical engineering course for the fall. He says the goal is to reinvent education worldwide and on campus. Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau made similar comments as he expressed a commitment to "excellence in online education." He says the goals are to bring higher education to more people and to enrich the quality of campus-based education. And he said he believes that working with the not-for-profit model of edX is the best way to do that. 
麻省理工学院教授阿纳特•阿加瓦尔是edX组织的主席，他帮助开发了秋季开课的电气工程课，他说目标是重塑全球教育和课程。伯克利分校校长罗伯特•伯格诺看法类似，他承诺要提供“一流的在线教育”。他说目标是为更多人提供高等教育，丰富大学教育的质量。他说，相信与非盈利组织edX的合作是最好的途径。

EdX faces for-profit competitors. One is Udacity, co-founded by Sebastian Thrun at Stanford University. Another is Coursera, started by two other Stanford computer scientists, Daphne Koller and Andrew Ng. In fact, some Berkeley professors have been teaching free courses through Coursera. Coursera started with four universities and last week announced a big expansion for the fall.
edX面临着盈利组织的竞争，一个就是斯坦福大学塞巴斯蒂安•史朗合办的Udacity，另一家是斯坦福大学两名计算机科学家达芙妮•科勒和安德鲁•恩格创办的Coursera。事实上，伯克利分校的一些教授开始通过Coursera来讲授免费在线课程。Coursera与4所大学进行合作，上周宣布秋季将开始大规模扩展。

One of the new partners is the University of Virginia. Just last month its popular president, Teresa Sullivan, had to resign. The governing board forced her out in part over suggestions that she was not moving fast enough into this new world of online education. But two weeks later, after campus protests, the board rehired her.
新的合作伙伴之一是弗吉尼亚大学，就在上月，该校受欢迎的校长特瑞萨•沙利文被迫辞职。董事会撤掉沙利文，部分因为她没有尽快适应在线课程这一新领域。但两周后，校园抗议活动过后，董事会再次雇佣了她。