Part A   Online Universities Offer FreeClasses to Millions

 

 

Vocabulary Preparation:

 

enroll  v. to officially arrange to join aschool, university, or course, or to arrange for someone else to do this; toresister 注册；登记

rewarding  adj. worth doing; making you feel happy and satisfied because you feel you are doingsomething useful or important 值得做的；有益的

provost  n. an importantofficial at a university in the US 教务长

entice   v. to persuade somebody to dosomething by offering something pleasant 说服；诱导

determined  adj. having a strong desire to do something, so that you will notlet anyone stop you 决断的；意志坚定的

mold  n. a particularstyle showing the characteristics, attitudes or behavior that are typical ofsomebody or something 类型；个性；风格

specifically   adj. relating to orintended for one particular type of person or thing only 特意地；专门地

peer   n. the people who arethe same age as you, or who have the same type of job, social class etc 同辈；同侪

recruit  v.to persuade someone to work for a company or become a new member of anorganization 招募；吸收（新成员）

donor   n. a person, group etc that gives something, especially money, tohelp an organization or country 捐款人；捐赠者；赠与者

incremental   adj. in a series of amounts 增加的

flaw  n. a mistake, mark, or weakness thatmakes something imperfect 瑕疵；弊病

proponent   n. a person who speaks publicly insupport of a particular idea or plan of action 支持者

 

 

Notes:

 

Stanford University is an American private research university located in Stanford, California.It is one of the most prestigious universities in the world. 斯坦福大学

Khan Academy is anon-profit educational website created in 2006 by educator Salman Khan, a graduate of MIT and Harvard Business School. The stated mission isto provide “a free world-class education for anyone anywhere”. 可汗学院（美国一家教育性非营利组织）

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world, foundedby Bill and Melinda Gates.It is “driven by the interests and passions of the Gates family”. Theprimary aims of the foundation are, globally, to enhance healthcare and reduceextreme poverty, and in America, to expand educational opportunities and accessto information technology. 比尔和梅琳达·盖茨基金会（全球最大的慈善基金会）

 

Exercise1: Listen to the news report and get the main idea.

      

What is the main point of the report?

A. Education system. 

B.Development of online education. 

C. Free education.

D.Online course from Stanford University.

 

Exercise 2: Listen to the news report again and fillin the blanks with the exact words or phrases.

 

Brian Padden: This engineering class at Stanford University is also beingrecorded as an online course. The university is offering 30 to 40 free coursesonline, and more than 1.5 million students have enrolled. There are regularschedules, homework and tests but those enrolled do not earn    1    towards a university degree. John Mitchell,the Vice Provost for Online Learning at Stanford, says the university offersthese courses as a    2   .

John Mitchell (StanfordUniversity): We're teachers.This is what we love to do. If we can see people around the world learning fromus, that's very   3   .That's what gets us up in the morning.

Brian Padden: These free courses are also meant to entice students toapply to Stanford or enroll in other online classes that are not free. Whileonline education is    4    of major universities, Mitchell says they willnot replace the on-campus experience. But DavidStavens, who taught at Stanford and recently co-founded a free onlineuniversity called Udacity, says a quality education is becoming too expensivefor most people.

David Stavens: It's a good system for a lot of people, but there isanother set of people who are equally smart, equally determined, equally hardworking but who don't quite fit into that mold, and it's an unfair system forthem.

Brian Padden: While Udacity is a for-profit company, the vast majorityof its courses are free and they are developed specifically for onlinestudents. They include short videos, followed by exercises designed to engagethe students and    5    the lesson. Students can pay for    6    or use the free chat rooms to discuss problemswith their peers. While the number of universities offering online classes isgrowing, some classes are free and others are not. The Khan Academy is anon-profit free website that contains    7    video classes in a variety of languages and isutilized by six million people each month. Salman Khan founded the company. Hesays it wasn't difficult to    8    donors like the Bill and Melinda GatesFoundation by offering a quality education to everyone in the world.

Salman Khan:Anytime, with so littleincremental on your part, you can create    9    an unlimited potential on someone else's part,I think it would be a shame not to do it.

Brian Padden: Critics say there are flaws with online education,citing studies that show a higher    10    for online students. But proponents say theevolving technology is coming together to open up new educational opportunitiesas never before to millions around the world. Brian Padden, VOA news, PaloAlto.