第六期(2/5)

E-education in China started eight years ago when the Internet technology began to prevail. People realized that the Internet technology was more powerful than TV, because it really created the opportunities for students to interact with teachers and among themselves. In 1996 or later than that, the Ministry of Education initiated a piloting project using the Internet technology to promote education. My understanding is that an online education project may involve a large amount of money and yet most investors would expect a quick return for their investment, so how did you solve that problem? This is the lesson that lots of investors have to learn from this initial investment into online education program. Initially, they thought it might be possible to have a quick return of cash after the investment for one or two years. It is a misconception of online education. Sometimes, I used a metaphor of building a supermarket. If you want to build a supermarket, first of all, you have to have these infrastructures. On top of the building, you have to develop various goods that people like. It's the same with education. You must realize that you have to develop courseware that people really love. And it takes quite a long time to develop really good courseware.

在网络技术开始流行时，网络教学在中国已有8个年头。人们意识到网络技术比电视更有影响力。因为它确实创造了机会让学生与老师、甚至是自我的一种影响。在1996年甚至更后些，教育部发起了一个小规模的试验计划，通过网络技术来促进教育。 我对在线教育的理解是要投资一大笔钱，并且绝大多数的投资者都会期待一个快速的投资回报，对此你是怎么解决这一问题的？ 这是许多投资者在初次投资在线教育时所需要学习的课程。一开始，他们想着能在一两年内快速得到现金的回报。这是对在线教育的一种误解。或许，我比喻成建立一个超市。如果你想要建超市，首先，你需要有基础设施。除了建筑之外，你还必须有人们喜欢的各式各样的物品。教育亦是如此。你必须意识到你必须开发人们喜爱的课件。而且这也需要相当长的一段时间去开发。