The rise of massive open online courses — a new generation of Web learning — mayrevolutionize study and the way universities teach, a Ministry of Education official haspredicted.
"Although these types of open-source courses are only offered by a few elite universities,the trend will grow," said Li Zhimin, director of the ministry's Science and TechnologyDevelopment Center.
Analysts say these courses will result in a higher education revolution — instead ofeducating only a selected few on college campuses, access to college education will be freefor everyone.
The new online classes, launched by major universities in the United States in 2012, haveresulted in the enrollment of millions of students worldwide.
In 50 years — maybe much sooner — half of the 4,500 colleges and universities operatingin the US will cease to exist, said Nathan Harden, editor of The College Fix, a highereducation news website, when speaking last year about changes driven by IT technology inhigher education.
Li said a similar scenario may happen in China.
"It's expected that some universities may fold even earlier than the 50 years predicted,with the popularity of the new online courses," Li added.
A 12-week online course on bioinformatics offered by Peking University has attracted13,770 students at home and abroad since it was launched in September.
Bioinformatics is an interdisciplinary field that develops and improves on methods forstoring, retrieving, organizing and analyzing biological data.
The course is taught through a platform created by Coursera, a social entrepreneurshipcompany founded by two Stanford University professors.
The two other online platforms providing the new courses are Udacity, also founded by aStanford faculty member, and edX, jointly founded by the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology and Harvard University.
Professor Wei Liping, from Peking University's School of Life Sciences, said: "The amazingpower of the Internet brought more than 10,000 people from around the world together,making the MOOCs possible. But diverse student backgrounds are a real challenge forinstructors."
Her team conducted several surveys and found that up to 65 percent of the students whoregistered for the courses live in more than 40 countries.
Of the students in China, more than 80 percent come from economically developed regions,including Beijing and Shanghai, and have a good command of English.
"Therefore, we provided lecture videos in Chinese and slides with English subtitles," shesaid. "Also, the new online courses have been run in synchronization with classes oncampus to encourage interaction between on-campus students and those online."
Pubudu Nawarathna, an undergraduate student from the University of Colombo in SriLanka, said the way instructors explain and provide material is very interesting, eventhough she cannot understand Chinese.
"I like to study with subtitles and watch videos. ... This course is very helpful," Nawarathnasaid.
Li, from the Ministry of Education, said that compared with previous online educationsystems, the new courses enhance a comprehensive approach to teaching and study.
By taking these courses, students can share their opinions with others and receiveimmediate feedback. They can also gain certificates issued by course instructors once theypass grading requirements for assignments and exams.
Students can pass Wei's course and receive certificates after scoring 70 marks out of 100.The total score consists of the results of 10 tests and two exams.
Li said: "Of the 13,770 students registered for the course, around 100 are from PekingUniversity. They can get two credits when they pass both the online course and anadditional 15-20-minute presentation.
"When such certificates, especially those issued by well known colleges and universities,become more acceptable and help people to secure better jobs in specific sectors, collegeswith small endowments will see a decline in student demand."
A Chinese platform will be launched to provide the new online courses, and will be set upby domestic colleges and universities, Li added, without giving a specific schedule.
However, some analysts say it is too early to assess the long-term effects of the courses.
Stephen Gomez, an online education specialist at the Higher Education Academy in Britain,said the new system for online education cannot replace traditional teaching in highereducation, at least in the near future.
