问答题
2. The following two excerpts are about the Massive Online Open Course. The Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) is a massive open online course of study made accessible over the internet without charge. It differs from the traditional online course because it does not charge tuition, carry credits and limit enrollment. From the excerpts, you can find that MOOC has both advantages and disadvantages.
Write an article of NO LESS THAN 300 words, in which you should: 1. summarize the advantages and disadvantages of MOOC, and then
2. express your opinion towards this kind of courses.
Marks will be awarded for content relevance, content sufficiency, organization and language quality. Failure to follow the above instructions may result in a loss of marks. Write your article on ANSWER SHEET FOUR. Excerpt 1 The MOOC has many advantages that would help students benefit. One advantage includes that you are able to enroll in the massive open online course for free. Unlike traditional online courses, when enrolling in the MOOC no tuition is charged. Another advantage of the MOOC is that most professors come from elite campuses. For example, according to page 28, paragraph 24, Dr. Stavens says they pick instructors not because of their academic research, as universities do, but because of how they teach. Lastly, the MOOC provides students with tool sets that help them control the pace that they work in. This helps them decide whether they want to work fast or slow.
The popularity of MOOC in the world in recent years has its reasons and it should continues to be carried out in some universities in China such as Peking University and Zhejiang University.
Excerpt 2 The MOOC has many disadvantages that affect the way students think of the courses. One disadvantage includes that the MOOC does not provide credits. According to page 33, paragraph 41, Dr. Agarwal predicts that "a year from now, campuses will give credit for people with edX certificates". Another disadvantage is that providing instructors in the MOOC feedback is tricky. For example, page 27, paragraph 16 states, "What's frustrating in a MOOC is the instructor is not as available because there are tens of thousands of others in the class." In addition, students in the MOOC schedule meet-ups to complete the courses. However, paragraph 21 states, "No one showed up at the meet-up that Stacey Brown, an information technology manager at a Hartford insurance company..."
Traditional courses are more beneficial because students may receive additional treatment. Therefore, we would both prefer traditional courses instead of the MOOC.
【正确答案】[范文] My Views on MOOC
Recently, a new paradigm of education, MOOC, is carried out in universities and thus a debate concerning the advantages and disadvantages of MOOC arises. Supporters heap praise on its benefits. They say they can enroll in any course for free, have first-class professors and are able to decide the pace of learning themselves. In contrary, opponents believe that traditional courses are more beneficial and MOOC won't get long-term development. They say MOOC gives no credit, students may provide tricky feedback and have few meet-ups. From my point of view, I think the advantages of MOOC outweigh its disadvantages.
Firstly, MOOC enhances active learning. Research shows that students learn more through active learning than through listening to lectures. Students listen to lectures more attentively if they have been given a problem or task to solve before the lecture. In this regard the structure that MOOC has—short lectures alternating with assignments and quizzes—seems to be ideal. Of course, one could also do this in a classroom, but it would be more difficult to ensure that all students participate, because some might need more time to assimilate the content of the lecture and prefer to listen to it again before doing the assignment. Peer-to-peer contact facilitated by MOOC is more effective in triggering active learning.
Secondly, MOOC provides students with the opportunity to learn from world-class universities and from renowned instructors without the necessity of being a student of these universities. Rather than being restricted in classrooms, students can sign up for any course taught by any excellent professors from any famous universities, which enable students to acquire the best education.
In summary, there is no doubt that scientific revolution outshines everything and brings a great change to the traditional means of teaching. And as far as I'm concerned, with further development of the Internet, MOOC will become heated and more and more popular not only among the youth and teenagers but the workers as well.
【答案解析】 本篇的写作主题是对网络公开课的看法，文章可以支持也可以反对，只要言之有理即可。如果支持网络公开课，可以说网络公开课给学生带来了便利，通过网络就可以学习到各方面的知识，听世界上各个顶尖教授讲授的课程等；如果反对学校的做法，可以说网络公开课不能使学生对学习情况进行及时的反馈，减少师生互动等。以支持网络公开课为例，论证时可分别陈述其带来的各方面的好处。注意分点列举，这样才能做到内容充实，条理清晰。最后一段总结全文，重申观点。