Online learning trend to enliven Chinese education (2)

EDUCATION SHAKE-UP

Ng and MOOC students believe this new medium will revolutionize both online and offline education.

MOOC platforms set hours of homework every week besides lecture videos, and the homework is either graded automatically or by students' peers.

Another major departure from previous online courses is that MOOC has successfully brought together student communities. They either discuss difficult points online or come together in the real world to meet.

Furthermore, participants can earn a certificate to be included in a resume.

Many students in China have been attracted to the free courses for the chance to learn from top teachers worldwide who mostly speak English, while the number of MOOC members in non-English-speaking countries has been climbing.

"Essential knowledge points are chopped into pieces that suit the timeline presented online," says Ji Xiaohua, founder of China's popular science website Guokr.com, which also hosts the country's largest MOOC forum -- named the "MOOC Study Room."

Adopting high-tech measures, MOOC can imitate real classrooms in the virtual world, and even grade students and match them with suitable classes using computer programs, which was unimaginable in the past, Ji adds.X "A great impact will be brought to traditional college education," according to Sun Maosong, professor and Party secretary of Tsinghua's Department of Computer Science and Technology.

Sun, who invited Ng to Tsinghua for his lecture on March 26, predicts that university professors may soon find it difficult to lure students to physical classrooms as they are faced with the popularity of MOOC.

But, the Tsinghua professor stresses, this is not to their detriment: "It is the honor and social responsibility of great universities to open high-quality education resources to the whole society."

Others high up in Chinese education agree. "I have a dream, that all who want to be a student of Peking University can be a student of Peking University," said Zhou Qifeng earlier this month, referring to the institution of which he is president.

In 2010, the university made headlines by making a few of its courses available for study online free of charge.

"I believe the dream will come true," Zhou said at that time.

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