Electronic education

　　電子教學

　　THE 12-year-olds filing into Courtney Cadwells classroom at Egan Junior High in Los Altos, a leafy suburb of Silicon Valley, each take a white MacBook from a trolley, log on to a website called KhanAcademy.org and begin doing maths exercises. They will not get a lecture from Ms Cadwell, because they have already viewed, at home, various lectures as video clips on KhanAcademy . And Ms, logged in as a coach, can see exactly who has watched which. This means that class time is now free for something else: one-on-one instruction by Ms Cadwell, or what used to be known as tutoring.

　　Egan初中坐落于硅谷郊外郁郁蔥蔥的洛斯拉圖斯，那里12歲的孩子們選了Courtney Cadwell老師的課程，他們每個人都從手推車里拿一部白色筆記本電腦，然后登陸到KhanAcademy.org網站去做數學題。Cadwell老師用不著再給他們上課，因為學生們已經在家看過了Khan教育網站上的各種授課視頻。Cadwell老師以指導老師的身份登陸便可以對每位同學的學習進度了如指掌。這樣一來，課堂時間就可以留作他用，Cadwell老師可以給學生們作一對一的指導，也就是相當于平常說的家教。

　　So Ms Cadwell, in her own web browser, pulls up a dashboard where KhanAcademys software presents, through the internet, the data the children are producing at that instant. She can view information for the entire class or any individual pupil. Just then she sees two fields, representing modules, turning from green to red, one for Andrea, the other for Asia. Ms Cadwell sees that Andrea is struggling with exponents, Asia with fractions. Instead of having to guess where my students have gaps, I can see it, at that moment, and I walk over to that one student, says Ms Cadwell, as she arrives at Asias chair.

　　于是，Cadwell老師在自己的瀏覽器上調出了Khan教育軟件，它可以通過網絡即時傳輸孩子們的學習數據，這樣她就可以看到整個課堂或者每一個學生的信息。就在這時，代表教學模塊個兩個板塊的由綠變紅，分別顯示出了Andrea和Asia兩位同學。Cadwell老師發現Andrea不太會做代數題，而Asia的在做分數題時遇到了困難。我用不著去猜學生們哪里會有問題，我可以即時發現并走到學生的面前去做單獨輔導，Cadwell一邊說一邊走到了Asia的座位旁。

　　While the other pupils continue to work at their own pace and at different problems, Ms Cadwell now spends a few minutes just with Andrea and Asia. Soon Andrea has an epiphany and starts firing correct answers, getting, in KhanAcademys jargon, a badge, then going transonic. A few minutes later, Asia also gets a streak. She lets out a shriek. Ms Cadwell, with a big smile, is off to another pupil. The growth in these kids is just staggering, she says. This is the future. I dont see how it couldnt be.

　　其他同學繼續按照自己的節奏去攻克不同的難題，Cadwell老師則用幾分鐘的時間指導Andrea和Aisa。很快Andrea恍然大悟并火速的寫出了正確答案，用Khan網站上的話說，她得到了一個徽章，然后開始了超音速的進步。幾分鐘之后，Asia叫了一聲，她也突然靈光一閃。Cadwell老師笑容滿面并走向了其他學生。孩子們取得了驚人的進步，她說，將來用這用教育模式，在我看來未嘗不可。

　　This reversal of the traditional teaching methodswith lecturing done outside class time and tutoring during itis what Mr Khan calls theflip. A synonym for flip, of course, is revolution,and this experiment in Los Altos just might lead toone. For although only a handful of classes in thispublic-school district tried the method in the lastschool year, many other schools, private and public,are now expressing interest, and the methodologyis spreading.

　　這顛覆了傳統的教學方法，這種模式利用課下時間聽課，用上課時間作輔導或是做作業。Khan先生謂之曰反轉互換，它的近義詞就叫做革命，而洛斯拉圖斯的這次教學試驗有可能帶來一場革命。雖然上一個學年在這個公立學校校區內試用了這種方法的班級還在少數，但很多其他學校，不論公立私立都表示出了興趣，這一方式正在向外傳播。

　　Indeed, philanthropists such as Bill Gates have such high hopes for the new method that theyhave given money to KhanAcademy, a tiny non-profit organisation based in Mountain View, nextto Los Altos. This means that the more than 2,400 video lectures, on anything from arithmeticand finance to chemistry and history, will remain free for anybody.

　　像比爾蓋茨這樣的慈善家對這種新模式寄予厚望，他們為Khan學院募集資金。Khan學院很小，地處洛斯拉圖斯旁邊的山景城，是一個非盈利機構，也就是說囊括了從數學金融到化學歷史等學科的2400多個教學視頻會免費提供給所有學生。

　　If KhanAcademy were merely about those online lectures, of course, it would be in good butlarge company. Increasingly, teachers, professors and other experts make their talks availableonline: on iTunes, YouTube or university websites. Some, such as Michael Sandel at Harvardwith his philosophy lectures, have become minor celebrities. More and more sites exist purelyto spread learningsome free, such as AcademicEarth.org; others not, such asTheGreatCourses.com.

　　當然，若是Khan學院只僅僅提供網絡課程，那它就有一大幫的同行了。越來越多的老師教授和其他專家都在iTunes、YouTube或是大學網站上上傳了他們的講說。一些人已經小有名氣，比如哈佛大學的MichaelSandel教授。那些專為傳道授業的網站也與日俱增，有的是免費的，比如AcademicEarth.org網站，有的則是收費的，比如TheGreatCourses.com網站。

　　Watching lectures online, or on a smartphone or iPad on the go, has advantages, as Mr Khanhas discovered from the huge number of comments he gets on his site. Children need no longer feel ashamed when they have to review part or all of a lectureseveral times. So they can advance at their own pace.

　　在Khan先生瀏覽他的網站時，上面的諸多評論讓他發現，上網、用智能手機或是用iPad聆聽教學課程會有很多優勢。孩子們用不著因為要多看幾遍課程視頻而感到沒有面子。因此，他們可以按照自己的節奏來安排學習。

　　But lectures, whether online or in the flesh, play onlya limited role in education. Research shows that thehuman brain accepts new concepts largely throughconstant recall while interacting socially. Thissuggests that good teaching must de-emphasiselecture and emphasise active problem-solving, saysCarl Wieman, a winner of the Nobel prize in physicsand an adviser to Barack Obama.

　　然而，無論是在網上還是在課堂中，這些課程都只能起到有限的教育效果。研究表明，人腦主要是通過在互動中不斷回憶來接受新鮮概念。這也就是說高質量的教學必須像CarlWieman說的那樣，要弱化老師授課，著重鼓勵同學主動解決問題， Carl Wieman是物理學諾貝爾獎得主，也是奧巴馬總統的顧問。

　　To KhanAcademys fans, the flip that Mr Khan advocates helps to do just that. As a tool,KhanAcademy individualises teaching and makes it interactive and fun. Maths is social now,says Kami Thordarson, as the 10-year-olds in the 5th-grade class she teaches at Santa RitaElementary School huddle round their laptops to solve arithmetic problems as though theywere trading baseball cards or marbles.

　　對于Khan學院的粉絲們來說，Khan先生所倡導的轉變就是要增加互動。Khan學院將教學變得個性化、互動化和娛樂化。數學教學充滿了合作與互動， Kami Thordarson說道，在她教授的Santa Rita小學五年級的課堂上，一群10歲的小學生擠在電腦旁，他們做數學題的方式就好像在交換寶石或是棒球卡。

　　The system has its detractors. First, it may not be much use beyond numerate subjects suchas maths and the sciences; KhanAcademy does have a few history offerings, but they are lessconvincing than the huge number of maths and science ones. Second, even in these subjectsKhanAcademy implicitly reinforces the sit-and-get philosophy of teaching, thinks FrankNoschese, a high-school physics teacher in New York. That is, it still teaches to the test,without necessarily engaging pupils more deeply. Worse, says Mr Noschese, KhanAcademysdeliberate gamification of learningall those cute and addictive meteorite badgesmayhave the disastrous consequence of making pupils mechanically repeat lower-level exercisesto win awards, rather than formulating questions and applying concepts.

　　這種模式也招致了一些批評。首先，在除了數學和科學這樣屈指可數的學科之外，這種做法鮮有用武之地。比如比起大量的數學課和科學課來說，Khan學院網站雖然確實有一些歷史課程，但數量較少，難以證明這樣的方法對這個學科依然奏效。再者，紐約的高中物理老師Frank Noschese認為，即使對數學這樣的學科來說，Khan學院暗中強調了填鴨教育的教學思維，也就是說，它還是屬于應試教育，并沒有讓學生們參與到學科的更深層次。更有甚者，Noschese先生還說，Khan學院有意的使學習游戲化，這會產生災難性的后果，比方說所有那些既有趣又讓人上癮的彗星徽章會誘使孩子們為了贏得獎勵來不斷機械重復低水平的練習。

　　The teachers now using KhanAcademy counter that it is meant to be merely one, not the only,teaching tool, and that by freeing up class time it also makes possible other projects that doexactly what Mr Noschese promotes. In the fifth-grade class at Santa Rita, the children havemade a tile floor . When thiscorrespondent visited, they practised on KhanAcademy but then played SKUNK, a gameinvolving probability.

　　使用Khan學院網站的教師則表示反對，他們認為這只是其中一種教學手段，而非唯一的選擇，而且由此節省下來的課上時間恰恰可以投入到Noschese先生提倡的其他活動中去。利用這段時間，Santa Rita學校五年級的學生們完成了地板制作，這項活動要求同學們發揮想象巧用數學來計算板磚的大小、形狀及數量。在記者采訪時，孩子們正在做Khan學院的網上練習，隨后他們玩起了臭鼬游戲，這個游戲包含了概率的原理。

　　Americas standardised tests are now easy, a floor,not of interest, says Ms Thordarson. She feels thatthe tool thus allows her to teach better and godeeper. But You have to be more creative andmore flexible, which is challenging, she says. Itsnot for teachers who want to turn a page in abook, adds Kelly Rafferty, the co-teacher. Theythereby answer one common misconception aboutKhanAcademy: that it makes live teachers lessrelevant. Mr Khan, the teachers and Mr Gates allinsist that the opposite is the case. It can liberate agood teacher to become even better. Of course, it can also make it easy for a bad teacher tocop out.

　　按Thordarson老師的話說，如今美國的標準考試簡單，低級又無聊。她感到這樣的教學工具可以提高教學質量并深化學生們的理解。但是她說：這就要求你要創新，要更靈活，而這就是挑戰。 與她一塊任教的KellyRafferty老師認為這不并適合照本宣科的老師。由此看來，她們反駁了一個關于Khan學院的普遍誤解：該網站讓現實的老師變得無足輕重。Khan先生、其他老師和比爾蓋茨都認為實際上恰恰相反，這種教育手段能使一個好老師擺脫束縛因而更加優秀，當然，同樣也能讓較差的老師投機取巧。

　　Electronic education

　　電子教學

　　THE 12-year-olds filing into Courtney Cadwells classroom at Egan Junior High in Los Altos, a leafy suburb of Silicon Valley, each take a white MacBook from a trolley, log on to a website called KhanAcademy.org and begin doing maths exercises. They will not get a lecture from Ms Cadwell, because they have already viewed, at home, various lectures as video clips on KhanAcademy . And Ms, logged in as a coach, can see exactly who has watched which. This means that class time is now free for something else: one-on-one instruction by Ms Cadwell, or what used to be known as tutoring.

　　Egan初中坐落于硅谷郊外郁郁蔥蔥的洛斯拉圖斯，那里12歲的孩子們選了Courtney Cadwell老師的課程，他們每個人都從手推車里拿一部白色筆記本電腦，然后登陸到KhanAcademy.org網站去做數學題。Cadwell老師用不著再給他們上課，因為學生們已經在家看過了Khan教育網站上的各種授課視頻。Cadwell老師以指導老師的身份登陸便可以對每位同學的學習進度了如指掌。這樣一來，課堂時間就可以留作他用，Cadwell老師可以給學生們作一對一的指導，也就是相當于平常說的家教。

　　So Ms Cadwell, in her own web browser, pulls up a dashboard where KhanAcademys software presents, through the internet, the data the children are producing at that instant. She can view information for the entire class or any individual pupil. Just then she sees two fields, representing modules, turning from green to red, one for Andrea, the other for Asia. Ms Cadwell sees that Andrea is struggling with exponents, Asia with fractions. Instead of having to guess where my students have gaps, I can see it, at that moment, and I walk over to that one student, says Ms Cadwell, as she arrives at Asias chair.

　　于是，Cadwell老師在自己的瀏覽器上調出了Khan教育軟件，它可以通過網絡即時傳輸孩子們的學習數據，這樣她就可以看到整個課堂或者每一個學生的信息。就在這時，代表教學模塊個兩個板塊的由綠變紅，分別顯示出了Andrea和Asia兩位同學。Cadwell老師發現Andrea不太會做代數題，而Asia的在做分數題時遇到了困難。我用不著去猜學生們哪里會有問題，我可以即時發現并走到學生的面前去做單獨輔導，Cadwell一邊說一邊走到了Asia的座位旁。

　　While the other pupils continue to work at their own pace and at different problems, Ms Cadwell now spends a few minutes just with Andrea and Asia. Soon Andrea has an epiphany and starts firing correct answers, getting, in KhanAcademys jargon, a badge, then going transonic. A few minutes later, Asia also gets a streak. She lets out a shriek. Ms Cadwell, with a big smile, is off to another pupil. The growth in these kids is just staggering, she says. This is the future. I dont see how it couldnt be.

　　其他同學繼續按照自己的節奏去攻克不同的難題，Cadwell老師則用幾分鐘的時間指導Andrea和Aisa。很快Andrea恍然大悟并火速的寫出了正確答案，用Khan網站上的話說，她得到了一個徽章，然后開始了超音速的進步。幾分鐘之后，Asia叫了一聲，她也突然靈光一閃。Cadwell老師笑容滿面并走向了其他學生。孩子們取得了驚人的進步，她說，將來用這用教育模式，在我看來未嘗不可。

　　This reversal of the traditional teaching methodswith lecturing done outside class time and tutoring during itis what Mr Khan calls theflip. A synonym for flip, of course, is revolution,and this experiment in Los Altos just might lead toone. For although only a handful of classes in thispublic-school district tried the method in the lastschool year, many other schools, private and public,are now expressing interest, and the methodologyis spreading.

　　這顛覆了傳統的教學方法，這種模式利用課下時間聽課，用上課時間作輔導或是做作業。Khan先生謂之曰反轉互換，它的近義詞就叫做革命，而洛斯拉圖斯的這次教學試驗有可能帶來一場革命。雖然上一個學年在這個公立學校校區內試用了這種方法的班級還在少數，但很多其他學校，不論公立私立都表示出了興趣，這一方式正在向外傳播。

　　Indeed, philanthropists such as Bill Gates have such high hopes for the new method that theyhave given money to KhanAcademy, a tiny non-profit organisation based in Mountain View, nextto Los Altos. This means that the more than 2,400 video lectures, on anything from arithmeticand finance to chemistry and history, will remain free for anybody.

　　像比爾蓋茨這樣的慈善家對這種新模式寄予厚望，他們為Khan學院募集資金。Khan學院很小，地處洛斯拉圖斯旁邊的山景城，是一個非盈利機構，也就是說囊括了從數學金融到化學歷史等學科的2400多個教學視頻會免費提供給所有學生。

　　If KhanAcademy were merely about those online lectures, of course, it would be in good butlarge company. Increasingly, teachers, professors and other experts make their talks availableonline: on iTunes, YouTube or university websites. Some, such as Michael Sandel at Harvardwith his philosophy lectures, have become minor celebrities. More and more sites exist purelyto spread learningsome free, such as AcademicEarth.org; others not, such asTheGreatCourses.com.

　　當然，若是Khan學院只僅僅提供網絡課程，那它就有一大幫的同行了。越來越多的老師教授和其他專家都在iTunes、YouTube或是大學網站上上傳了他們的講說。一些人已經小有名氣，比如哈佛大學的MichaelSandel教授。那些專為傳道授業的網站也與日俱增，有的是免費的，比如AcademicEarth.org網站，有的則是收費的，比如TheGreatCourses.com網站。

　　Watching lectures online, or on a smartphone or iPad on the go, has advantages, as Mr Khanhas discovered from the huge number of comments he gets on his site. Children need no longer feel ashamed when they have to review part or all of a lectureseveral times. So they can advance at their own pace.

　　在Khan先生瀏覽他的網站時，上面的諸多評論讓他發現，上網、用智能手機或是用iPad聆聽教學課程會有很多優勢。孩子們用不著因為要多看幾遍課程視頻而感到沒有面子。因此，他們可以按照自己的節奏來安排學習。

　　But lectures, whether online or in the flesh, play onlya limited role in education. Research shows that thehuman brain accepts new concepts largely throughconstant recall while interacting socially. Thissuggests that good teaching must de-emphasiselecture and emphasise active problem-solving, saysCarl Wieman, a winner of the Nobel prize in physicsand an adviser to Barack Obama.

　　然而，無論是在網上還是在課堂中，這些課程都只能起到有限的教育效果。研究表明，人腦主要是通過在互動中不斷回憶來接受新鮮概念。這也就是說高質量的教學必須像CarlWieman說的那樣，要弱化老師授課，著重鼓勵同學主動解決問題， Carl Wieman是物理學諾貝爾獎得主，也是奧巴馬總統的顧問。

　　To KhanAcademys fans, the flip that Mr Khan advocates helps to do just that. As a tool,KhanAcademy individualises teaching and makes it interactive and fun. Maths is social now,says Kami Thordarson, as the 10-year-olds in the 5th-grade class she teaches at Santa RitaElementary School huddle round their laptops to solve arithmetic problems as though theywere trading baseball cards or marbles.

　　對于Khan學院的粉絲們來說，Khan先生所倡導的轉變就是要增加互動。Khan學院將教學變得個性化、互動化和娛樂化。數學教學充滿了合作與互動， Kami Thordarson說道，在她教授的Santa Rita小學五年級的課堂上，一群10歲的小學生擠在電腦旁，他們做數學題的方式就好像在交換寶石或是棒球卡。

　　The system has its detractors. First, it may not be much use beyond numerate subjects suchas maths and the sciences; KhanAcademy does have a few history offerings, but they are lessconvincing than the huge number of maths and science ones. Second, even in these subjectsKhanAcademy implicitly reinforces the sit-and-get philosophy of teaching, thinks FrankNoschese, a high-school physics teacher in New York. That is, it still teaches to the test,without necessarily engaging pupils more deeply. Worse, says Mr Noschese, KhanAcademysdeliberate gamification of learningall those cute and addictive meteorite badgesmayhave the disastrous consequence of making pupils mechanically repeat lower-level exercisesto win awards, rather than formulating questions and applying concepts.

　　這種模式也招致了一些批評。首先，在除了數學和科學這樣屈指可數的學科之外，這種做法鮮有用武之地。比如比起大量的數學課和科學課來說，Khan學院網站雖然確實有一些歷史課程，但數量較少，難以證明這樣的方法對這個學科依然奏效。再者，紐約的高中物理老師Frank Noschese認為，即使對數學這樣的學科來說，Khan學院暗中強調了填鴨教育的教學思維，也就是說，它還是屬于應試教育，并沒有讓學生們參與到學科的更深層次。更有甚者，Noschese先生還說，Khan學院有意的使學習游戲化，這會產生災難性的后果，比方說所有那些既有趣又讓人上癮的彗星徽章會誘使孩子們為了贏得獎勵來不斷機械重復低水平的練習。

　　The teachers now using KhanAcademy counter that it is meant to be merely one, not the only,teaching tool, and that by freeing up class time it also makes possible other projects that doexactly what Mr Noschese promotes. In the fifth-grade class at Santa Rita, the children havemade a tile floor . When thiscorrespondent visited, they practised on KhanAcademy but then played SKUNK, a gameinvolving probability.

　　使用Khan學院網站的教師則表示反對，他們認為這只是其中一種教學手段，而非唯一的選擇，而且由此節省下來的課上時間恰恰可以投入到Noschese先生提倡的其他活動中去。利用這段時間，Santa Rita學校五年級的學生們完成了地板制作，這項活動要求同學們發揮想象巧用數學來計算板磚的大小、形狀及數量。在記者采訪時，孩子們正在做Khan學院的網上練習，隨后他們玩起了臭鼬游戲，這個游戲包含了概率的原理。

　　Americas standardised tests are now easy, a floor,not of interest, says Ms Thordarson. She feels thatthe tool thus allows her to teach better and godeeper. But You have to be more creative andmore flexible, which is challenging, she says. Itsnot for teachers who want to turn a page in abook, adds Kelly Rafferty, the co-teacher. Theythereby answer one common misconception aboutKhanAcademy: that it makes live teachers lessrelevant. Mr Khan, the teachers and Mr Gates allinsist that the opposite is the case. It can liberate agood teacher to become even better. Of course, it can also make it easy for a bad teacher tocop out.

　　按Thordarson老師的話說，如今美國的標準考試簡單，低級又無聊。她感到這樣的教學工具可以提高教學質量并深化學生們的理解。但是她說：這就要求你要創新，要更靈活，而這就是挑戰。 與她一塊任教的KellyRafferty老師認為這不并適合照本宣科的老師。由此看來，她們反駁了一個關于Khan學院的普遍誤解：該網站讓現實的老師變得無足輕重。Khan先生、其他老師和比爾蓋茨都認為實際上恰恰相反，這種教育手段能使一個好老師擺脫束縛因而更加優秀，當然，同樣也能讓較差的老師投機取巧。