慕课的诞生和发展为高等教育创造了一个开放竞争的市场。作为一种新的高等教育产品,慕课必须切实为学习者创造价值,以及基于价值创造原则创新盈利模式,才可能真正实现可持续发展。本质上,慕课的价值创造主要体现在三个方面:为学习者提供精品知识内容、对学习者进行有效教学训练、使学习者实现能力认证。一定程度上,慕课为学习者创造价值的多寡,决定了高等教育自由市场上学习者选择慕课的几率大小,也决定了慕课利益相关者能否实现盈利和可持续发展。对慕课盈亏平衡分析表明,当前除了少数拥有大量学习者的热门课程能够盈利外,多数课程给大学带来的收入不足以弥补课程开发和运行的成本。为提高慕课的盈利能力,各国慕课平台已突破提供单一课程的局限,推出慕课学分、微专业证书、基于慕课的学位等高价值产品来吸引学习者。我国慕课应借鉴国际慕课产品的创新,设计适合中国学习者的慕课产品,从而增加收入,实现可持续发展。具体有四点建议:一是建议教育部成立“中国慕课学分课程联盟”,二是建议开设慕课的大学联合推出热门领域的微专业课程,三是建议引进慕课的大学开设混合教学课堂,四是建议慕课平台充分挖掘增值服务。
The rise and development of MOOC has established an open and competitive market for highereducation.As a new higher education product,MOOC must really create value for learners and its sustainable development practically depends on innovative profit models based on the principle of value creation.The value created by MOOCs for learners essentially consists of three aspects:high-quality content knowledge,effective instruction and training,and capability accreditation.To a certain extent,the amount of value created by MOOCs decides its probability of being chosen by learners in a free higher education market and therefore determines whether MOOC stakeholders can make profit and ensure the sustainable development.The breakeven analysis of MOOC certificate shows that only a few popular MOOCs with a large quantity of learners can make profit.For most MOOCs the revenue generated by certificate fees cannot cover their development and operation cost.In order to increase MOOCs’profitability,international MOOC platforms have overcome the limitation of a single course and tried to attract learners by offering credit courses,micro specialization programs,and MOOC-based degrees.Chinese MOOC providers can learn from the innovation of international MOOCs and design suitable MOOC products for Chinese learners in order to generate more revenue.The following suggestions are recommended to promote the sustainable development of MOOC in China.First,the Ministry of Education should form a MOOC credit consortium;Second,universities that offer MOOCs can develop micro specializations in popular areas;Third,universities that use MOOCs ought to adopt blended instruction model;Finally,platforms may provide more value-added services.