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十年之前，沒有人能夠準(zhǔn)確預(yù)測(cè)今天我們生活在這樣一個(gè)資訊無比發(fā)達(dá)，網(wǎng)絡(luò)連通你我的環(huán)境中，科技給我們生活帶來改變的速度正在不斷被刷新紀(jì)錄，原本不可能的事情變?yōu)榭赡?。《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》的教育專家預(yù)測(cè)，十年之后的大學(xué)會(huì)有同樣精彩的變化，大學(xué)從表面上可能或許跟今天沒什么兩樣，但學(xué)生所獲得的學(xué)習(xí)體驗(yàn)將有根本性的不同。

Ten years from now college might not look too different from the outside—the manicured quads,1. manicured： 修剪整齊的；quad： 四方院子。the football games, the parties—but the learning experience students receive will probably be fundamentally different from the one they get today.

Textbooks. Lecture halls. September-to-spring calendars. Over the next decade, technology may sweep away some of the most basic aspects of a university education and usher in a flood of innovations and changes.2. sweep away： 清除，消滅；usher： 迎來，使……開始。Look for online classes that let students learn at their own pace, drawing on materials from schools across the country—not just a single professor and a hefty textbook.3. at one’s own pace： 以自己的步調(diào)或節(jié)奏；draw on： 利用，吸收；hefty： 重的，沉重的。

All those changes probably won’t make a university education cheaper—alas—but they will likely upend our perceptions about how we value it.4. alas：（表示悲哀、遺憾、懊悔、憂慮等）哎呀；upend： 顛倒，顛覆；perception：認(rèn)識(shí)，看法。Traditionally, schools have been judged by how many prospective students they turn away, not by how many competent graduates they churn out.5.在過去，評(píng)價(jià)一所學(xué)校的好壞是看它們拒絕了多少申請(qǐng)者，而不是看它們培養(yǎng)出了多少出色的畢業(yè)生。prospective： 未來的，將來的；churn out：（艱難地）制造出，生產(chǎn)出。

“Those are status rankings, driven by exclusivity and preservation of an old model,” says Michael Crow, the president of Arizona State University.6.“這些（學(xué)校的）排名其實(shí)是受排他性驅(qū)使和對(duì)舊模式的保護(hù)?！眮喞Ｄ侵萘⒋髮W(xué)校長(zhǎng)邁克爾·克勞說道。exclusivity： 排外性，排外性；preservation： 保護(hù)，維護(hù)。But as new technologies seep into7. seep into： 滲入，影響到。the classroom, it will be easier to measure what students actually learn. That will “make universities more accountable8. accountable：（對(duì)自己的行為）有責(zé)任的，應(yīng)負(fù)責(zé)任的。for what they produce,” Dr. Crow says.

Here are four areas where you can expect to see major changes and one area where you probably won’t:

The Classroom

In the near future, professors will run their courses over digital platforms capable of collecting data on each student’s progress. These platforms were initially developed for massive open online courses, or MOOCs9. MOOC：=massive open online course，大規(guī)模開放在線課堂（課程），一種針對(duì)大眾人群的在線課堂，人們可以通過網(wǎng)絡(luò)來學(xué)習(xí)在線課程。. However,universities are now using these platforms for their traditional classes because they make it easier to share content, host discussions and keep track of student work. A professor might still “teach” a class, but most of the interaction will happen online. If professors and students do meet in a physical classroom,it will be to review material, work through problems or drill10. drill： 練習(xí)，操練。down on discussion topics. Scenes like John Houseman lecturing to an auditorium full of students inThe Paper Chasewill be a thing of the past.11. 像電影《力爭(zhēng)上游》中約翰·豪斯曼對(duì)著滿堂學(xué)生授課的場(chǎng)景即將一去不返。John Houseman： 約翰·豪斯曼（1902—1988），美國(guó)演員，以在《力爭(zhēng)上游》中扮演查爾斯·金斯菲爾教授而知名；auditorium： 大講堂。

These platforms are constantly improving. Soon, they will be able to monitor which students are spending 15 minutes on a calculus problem and which ones slog away for an hour.12. calculus： 微積分；slog away：苦干，辛苦地工作。This can raise red flags13. red flag： 危險(xiǎn)信號(hào)，警示信號(hào)。for professors (and their teaching assistants) about who might need extra help. As Rovy Brannon,associate dean at the University of Wisconsin-Extension, says, “The course platform will get to know you far better than your professor does today.”

The Calendar

As more classes move partially or entirely online, the requirements of having a uniform start and end date diminish.14. uniform： 統(tǒng)一的，一致的；diminish： 減少，變小。Having all the class material online also means some students could sail through a semester’s worth of classes in a few weeks and then start again with new courses. Some might finish a bachelor’s degree in two years. Those who stick around for four years might have three majors.

It’s a move that educators are likely to encourage:Fast learning makes their undergrads look more impressive and lets schools pocket15. pocket： 把……裝入口袋內(nèi)。more revenue by moving more students through the system. “You used to be on a regimented16. regimented： 經(jīng)過嚴(yán)密組織的，經(jīng)過嚴(yán)加管理的。schedule that produced this experience,” says Dr. Crow, the Arizona State president.

The Institution

It used to be that getting accepted to a prestigious university was how you accessed the best professors and could hang out with the smartest students.17. prestigious： 有威信的，有聲望的；access： 獲得，利用。That’s because universities were, for the most part, closed information systems that doled out their content to a select few.18. closed： 封閉的，不公開的；dole out： （少量地）發(fā)放，配給。That’s changing.

More universities are making their courses available through online platforms, and great lectures can be found on YouTube. Students are supplementing19. supplement： 補(bǔ)充……的不足。their own school’s classes with online lectures from rock-star professors at other institutions.

More and more, this type of learning will become part of the fabric20. fabric： 構(gòu)架，根基。of college life. “Students will be able to acquire knowledge globally, across different campuses,” says Ron Kraemer, chief information and digital of ficer at the University of Notre Dame.

Schools, meanwhile, will take advantage of this setup to conserve their resources.21. setup： 機(jī)構(gòu)，體制；conserve：保護(hù)，保全。They might develop courses of their own only when they think they can provide a big advantage over other schools’ offerings. Otherwise, they might simply adopt an online course that was developed elsewhere, and then put their own stamp22. put one’s stamp on： 在……上蓋下自己的印記。on it by designing assignments, discussions and studentfaculty interactions.

“The university will be part of a club where they will share their resources,because they don’t all want to offer the same econ23. econ： economy的縮寫，經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)。class,” says Shelton Waggener, the senior vice president of Internet2, a research network founded by several U.S. universities.

Mr. Kraemer anticipates fierce battles over intellectual property as universities begin to open up their content to the outside.24. anticipate： 預(yù)料，預(yù)期；intellectual property： 知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)。If a professor develops a course that becomes popular at campuses across the country, who gets compensated25. compensate： 獲得報(bào)酬，獲得補(bǔ)償。? The professor? The university? And, as has happened in fields such as music and book publishing, what’s to prevent star professors from breaking out of the con fines of a university to strike out on their own?26. confine： 約束，限制；strike out： 想出，設(shè)計(jì)出。

But he also says opening up colleges will improve the learning experience.“It levels the playing field27. level the playing field： 使成為公平競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的情況。because it allows greater access to materials,” Mr.Kraemer says. “It challenges everyone to up their game.”

The Textbook

No professor will need to assign the whole textbook. Each class will have its own tailored28. tailored： 定做的，（按特定口味、目的）修改過的。materials. The books themselves will cease to be physical volumes and instead will be sources of interactive digital content that include text, videos and simulations29. simulation： 模擬，模擬實(shí)驗(yàn)。. In some cases, the material that used to be in a textbook will simply be integrated into the online course platform, where students can watch a lecture, read an essay and do a homework assignment.As students work their way through them, they will engage in social learning experiences with classmates or even students at other universities—everything from sharing notes on the reading to engaging in video chats about course topics.

The Cost

In the future, tuition will drop dramatically.30. tuition： 學(xué)費(fèi)；dramatically：顯著地，引人注目地。No, just kidding.

The expansion of online delivery has led some to believe that universities will be able to scale up31. scale up： 增加，提高。their classes and reduce their costs per student.While this will happen in a few cases—Georgia Tech is now offering an online computer science master’s for $6,600—it won’t transform the university’s cost structure. That’s because so many of the added costs32. added cost： 附加成本。are the result of the expansion of university administrations and other nonacademic functions,from career counseling to student activities.

Technology will help increase the class size, says Anthony P. Carnevale, the director of Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce,“but that’s pocket change33. pocket change： 零錢，小錢。此處指整個(gè)大變革中的一小部分。in the whole scheme of things.”