传统课堂的消亡与重生 2017-05-15

文章来源：https://www.wired.com/2017/05/the-mechanical-universe/

The Traditional Lecture Is Dead. I Would Know—I’m a Professor

by Rhett Allai

date: 05.11.17 11:30 am

Now that the internet exists, you can find The Mechanical Universe on YouTube, and you ought to check it out. Beyond being awesome, it shows why the traditional college lecture is dead.

What is the traditional lecture? It is a model of learning in which a teacher possesses the knowledge on a given topic and disseminates it to students. This model dates to the beginning of education, when it was the only way of sharing information. In fact, you occasionally still see the person presenting the lecture called a reader, because way back before the internet and even the printing press, a teacher would literally read from a book so students could copy it all down.

在互联网盛行的时代资讯爆炸，例如作者提及了早在1985年开始制作的一档介绍物理概念和物理史的视频集可以反映了传统课堂正在消亡。

You may think by now that I think most physics professors are dolts. I promise that’s not the case. But traditional lectures simply aren’t effective. Research shows students don’t learn by hearing or seeing, they learn by doing, a model often called active learning.

Another easy change? Start using a student response system. As you discuss a topic, present the class with a multiple choice question and let students discuss it and vote on the answer. If they answer correctly, great, move on. If not, explain why the answer is incorrect and let them try again. I find that the most productive lessons come when the class is split between two answers and everyone tries to convince the other side. For example, if you ask students what happens to the motion of an object under a constant force? Some students might say it will move at a constant speed, while others say it will change speed. Trying to convince their peers leads to great discussions. You might think that sounds like chaos, but in my experience it works terrifically.

但是传统课堂其实还是有其存在的意义，虽然传统「传教式」的课堂融入了一些富文本（ppt、视频等）素材但是这是不足够的。作者认为传统课堂的优势是激发学生进行讨论进而主动学习，而非如「传教式」般的课堂，这样的辩论式的课堂虽然很费精力，但是体验却是出奇的好。

（其实传统的课堂是高效的，但是在互联网和资讯膨胀的时代却是相对低效，因此出路或许是将「传教式」的教育模式让位给互联网在线教育，而面对面的教育转型为一种基于探讨问题及个性化辅导的模式，但是在中国教育资源不足下，这种转型很难实现）

延伸阅读

文章来源：https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2015/10/192385-life-after-moocs/fulltext

Life After MOOCs

by Phillip Compeau, Pavel A. Pevzner

date: October 2015

At the same time, we feel much of the criticism of MOOCs stems from the fact that truly disruptive scalable educational resources have not yet been developed. For this reason, if we had a wand, we would not wish away MOOCs but rather transform them into a more effective educational product called a massive adaptive interactive text (MAIT) that can compete with a professor in a classroom. We further argue that computer science is a discipline in which this transition is about to happen.

中文里所说的慕课其实是massive open online courses (MOOCs)的音译，其基于视频的课程体系可以将教育对象从传统的一个小班扩大到无数人，但是教学质量被诟病。作者提出一个更有效的方案：massive adaptive interactive text(MAIT)，即大量自适应交互文本，来改善MOOCs的不足。

When Will Massive Open Online Courses Disappear?

Was the printing press a worthwhile invention? This may seem like a silly question, but some of the backlash against early MOOCs reminds us of a criticism of the printing press made by the prominent 15th-century polymath Johannes Trithemius. Believing printed books were inferior to hand-copied manuscripts, Trithemius wrote, "The printed book is made of paper and, like paper, will quickly disappear."

Anyone who has witnessed the beauty of a Renaissance illuminated manuscript can sympathize with Trithemius. Likewise, anyone who has attended a lecture delivered by a brilliant teacher in a small classroom can sympathize with Vardi. Yet in reality, contemporary higher education often falls short of this ideal.

其实MOOCs是不可阻挡的，由于其基于互联网和开放性使得其普及速度极快，作者举了一个印刷术与人工手抄本的例子，正是印刷术的出现促进了文艺复兴的发生。

Efforts in intelligent tutoring systems(ITS) research have attempted to address certain inherent limitations of the traditional classroom, such as: most instructors teach to only a certain percentile of the class; most students do not receive the immediate feedback necessary to prevent learning breakdowns; and most instructors lack information about the many different learning breakdowns experienced by individual students. Yet despite the promise of ITSs, as Mazoue noticed, hardly any MOOCs have adopted ITSs. In light of the limited success of ITSs with the current generation of MOOCs, this Viewpoint defines a clear plan for how to make MOOCs truly disruptive by transforming them into MAITs.

智能教育系统（ITS）可以解决传统课堂的不足，例如：传统课堂教育往往只能针对一定比例的同学（基础水平和接受能力存在差异）；很多同学都难以及时获得必要的反馈以避免出现学习「断层」；大部分的授课并不能针对个人学习中的困难进行。虽然ITS很有前景，但是现在MOOCs却难以适应这套系统，考虑到这点则需要MAITs。

A MAIT is defined by the following characteristics:

• Automated, individualized assessments;
• Interactivity;
• Adaptivity; and
• Modularity

MAIT其特点如下：

• 自动化、基于个体的评价体系（个性化）
• 可交互
• 自适应
• 模块化