这篇文章介绍几个与教育相关的背景知识。在online learning/education、technology and education、education and employment等写作话题中都可以用到。多积累一些话题相关的知识和语料，可以避免在写作中无话可说。
1 MOOCs(大型开放式网络课程)
MOOCs的全称为massive open online courses，中文可以翻译成“慕课”。这种教育模式最早起源于美国顶尖大学，现在也在逐渐影响国内的教育形势(education landscape)。与大学一样，MOOCs也提供系统的高等教育课程。
MOOCs的几个主要提供商有Coursera、Udacity和edX，这几个在写作中都可以作为在线教育的例子。在写作中第一次提到MOOC时，需要在后面加个括号或同位语解释一下：MOOCs(massive open online courses)或MOOCs, massive open online courses
①The companies offering MOOCs gain through payments for invigilated tests, course materials such as books, and helping employers find workers with the right skills. School children will take them to make their university applications stand out from the crowd. Others will take them to update their knowledge and apply for jobs a little outside their area of expertise. MOOCs will make a huge difference in places with little access to higher education.
提供慕课的企业通过学员支付监考考试、书籍等课程材料的费用，以及帮助雇主找到具备合适技能的员工来盈利。学校的孩子们会参加这些课程，从而使他们的大学申请书脱颖而出。其他人会参加这些课程来更新知识，并申请一些稍微偏离其专业领域的工作。慕课将在几乎没有机会接受高等教育的地方产生巨大影响。这一段的update their knowledge和area of expertise在之前关于能力与技能的一篇文章中详细讲过：写作高分同义替换 | 能力与技能，可以结合这篇文章一起学习。
②Online education allows colleges to innovate with regard to the quality, length and cost of their offerings. It should be possible to offer shorter and cut-price degrees that are demonstrably equivalent (in terms of employability) to the degrees of today.
在线教育使高校在课程的质量、长度和成本方面进行创新。应该有可能提供较短、价格低廉且（在就业能力方面）与当今的学位相当的学位。
employability变成形容词employable有就业能力的，如：Universities can make students more employable by equipping them with practical skills.高校可以通过使学生们具备实用的技能来提高他们的就业能力。
2 nano-degrees(微学位)
nano-degree(微学位)指通过短期内参加内容高度集中的课程学习(intensive course)而获得的教育结业证书，通常是学习MOOC课程所获得的证书。微学位课程旨在传授一套范围较窄但可以明确应用于某项工作的技能(job-specific skills)。nano-degree的英文解释：a short-term online educational credential programme that focuses on a particular discipline or skill。
①One promising development is the proliferation of "micro-credentials" or "nano-degrees"—short vocational courses, often in computing and IT. Udacity, an online education company, offers a variety of such courses, including one in self-driving cars approved by Uber and Mercedes-Benz, and another on digital marketing approved by Facebook and Google.
一个有前景的发展趋势是“微证书”或“微学位”的涌现，这是一种短期职业课程，通常是计算机和IT课程。在线教育公司Udacity提供各类这种课程，包括优步和梅赛德斯奔驰批准的自动驾驶汽车课程，以及脸书和谷歌批准的在线营销课程。
②At Udacity and Coursera self-improvers pay for cheap, short programmes that bestow "microcredentials" and "nanodegrees" in, for example, self-driving cars or the Android operating system. By offering degrees online, universities are making it easier for professionals to burnish their skills.在Udacity和Coursera，
自我提升者为价格低廉、为期较短的课程付费，这些课程授予在自动驾驶汽车或安卓操作系统等领域的“微证书”和“微学位”。通过在线提供学位，高校正在使专业人士更容易提高自己的技能。表示授予学位，除了bestow，还有个常用词：confer，用作confer a degree on sb，是个四六级考研词汇。
3 apprenticeship(学徒制)
apprenticeship(学徒制)由企业和学校共同推进的一项育人模式，对接受教育的学生而言，就学即就业，一部分时间在企业实习，一部分时间又在学校学习。
学徒制是解决失业(unemployment)和技能缺口(skills gap)问题、拉进教育和就业距离(bridge the gap between education and employment)的一个好方法，在写到相关话题时就可以用到。
学徒制在欧洲的几个国家比较流行：Austria(奥地利)、Denmark(丹麦), Germany(德国)和Switzerland(瑞士)，尤其是德国。德国有着双教育体制(dual-education system)，即企业和学校共同培养人才，培训期结束之后会由官方进行行业资格认证，之后正式上岗。
①The two European Union countries with the lowest unemployment, especially among the young, have dual-education systems: Austria and Germany. Like Switzerland, they have a tradition of combining apprenticeships with formal schooling for the young so that education is always tied to demand. When youths graduate, they often have jobs to walk into.
失业率(尤其是年轻人失业率)最低的两个欧盟国家，实行双教育体制：奥地利和德国。与瑞士一样，他们有将学徒制与年轻人的正规教育相结合的传统，因此教育总是与需求挂钩。当年轻人毕业时，他们往往有工作可做。
②In Germany, school-leavers have the option of taking up a vocational apprenticeship instead of choosing full-time academic education. It is a highly regulated and well-regarded system whereby young people learn through a mix of on-the-job training and classroom teaching. Typically, learners will spend 70% of time in the workplace and 30% at college. Most apprenticeships take around three years and almost always lead to secure employment.
在德国，中学毕业生可以选择职业学徒制，而不是选择全日制学术教育。这是一个非常规范和备受好评的体系，年轻人通过在职培训和课堂教学相结合的方式进行学习。通常，学习者70%的时间在工作场所，30%的时间在大学。大多数学徒制需要三年左右的时间，而且几乎总是能带来稳定的就业。
school-leaver表示中学毕业生，通常是中学毕业后直接就业，而没有继续读大学的学生。
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