Interactivity is the lifeblood of live streaming. That’s what powers its monetization model in China, where audience members shower live streaming hosts with virtual gifts in exchange for attention and entertainment. Live streaming in the classroom, however, is a slightly different story.
網(wǎng)絡(luò)直播的本質(zhì)是互動交流。這是中國直播最主要的盈利模式。在直播中，粉絲向主播贈送虛擬禮物以求獲得主播關(guān)注并（通過這個過程）得到消遣。然而，在教室里進行直播，則是另外一回事。

“In the past few months, there [have been] a lot of doubts about what kind of role live streaming can play in education,” says Lu Jian, president of CCTalk Cloud, the live streaming arm of Chinese education company Hujiang. “A lot of people […] think it’s a fad.”
CCTalk云是中國互聯(lián)網(wǎng)教育公司滬江旗下的直播社群學習平臺。CCTalk云總裁陸堅說：“在過去的幾個月，人們對于直播在教育體系中所扮演的角色存在很多疑問，很多人……認為這只會是曇花一現(xiàn)”。

“However, I think it’s because of the misunderstanding of [how] live streaming for entertainment is different from live streaming for education,” he tells Tech in Asia.
“但是，我認為這主要是因為人們不太了解娛樂直播和教育直播之間的區(qū)別?！彼嬖VTech in Asia的記者。

CCTalk is part of a growing number of live broadcasting services in China’s education industry. Similar to entertainment and ecommerce applications of live streaming, educational live streams open a real-time channel between a host and an audience, or – in education vernacular – a teacher and students.
中國教育行業(yè)中直播平臺日益增多，CCTalk也是大軍中的一員。和娛樂直播、電商直播一樣，教育直播打造了觀眾和主播之間（站在教育的角度來說，是老師和學生之間）的實時互動平臺。

The key difference, however, is in host and audience interactions. On CCTalk, for example, virtual gifting is not encouraged. Beautifying effects, such as filters that make your eyes bigger, are also non-existent. Instead, there are tools that are familiar to anyone who’s tried MOOCs like Coursera and Udemy.
但是，主播和觀眾之間的互動是最主要的區(qū)別。打個比方，在CCTalk上不鼓勵送虛擬禮物。那些能使你眼睛變大的濾鏡美顏等工具也不復(fù)存在。相反，上過MOOCs課程的人（例如Coursera 和Udemy的公開課）應(yīng)該會比較熟悉CCTalk上的一些功能。

Teachers can share their screen with students and write on a virtual whiteboard. To prevent CCTalk students – as many as ten thousand in a single class – from drowning out their classmates or teacher, students have to ‘raise their hand’ to participate.
老師和學生共享一張屏幕，在虛擬的白板上書寫。在CCTalk上，為了防止老師或?qū)W生被班級里上萬同學淹沒，學生們必須“舉手提問”才能參與課堂活動。

Even though the classes are less polished – teachers can’t edit footage – live courses feel more authentic, says Lu Jian.
陸堅說，老師們不能剪輯視頻，盡管這種上課方式少了很多修飾成分，但是課程直播能讓人感覺更加真實。

“I think live courses […] are more popular because they are more similar to the experience of the classes that we all have experience with,” says Lu Jian. “The teacher is teaching on the stage [and] we can interact with him or her.”
“我認為直播課程…更受歡迎，因為它跟我們平時上課的體驗差不多”陸堅表示?！袄蠋熣驹谥v臺上授課，我們能跟他/她互動。”

The company plans to add more live interaction features in the future, such as pop quizzes and in-class vocabulary games. Because classes are live, interactions can be more dynamic, says Lu Jian.
他說：“未來滬江計劃增加更多即時互動功能，比如隨堂測試和課堂學詞的游戲環(huán)節(jié)。因為課程是直播的，交流互動能活躍課堂氣氛?！?/div>
Currently, Hujiang has over 10,000 individuals and organizations teaching classes on CCTalk. Though most classes are free, some teachers are making more than US$200 per class. Unlike Hujiang’s MOOC-like video classes – the company’s main revenue stream – CCTalk has no restrictions on content or teaching experience. Anyone can register as a teacher and start broadcasting live.
目前，滬江 CCTalk 直播平臺已經(jīng)吸引超過1萬名老師和機構(gòu)在此進行授課。盡管大多數(shù)的課程是免費的，但是還是有一些老師每堂課的收入超過200美元。滬江的MOOC類視頻課程是公司的主要收入來源，和這些課程不同的是，CCTalk對內(nèi)容和教學經(jīng)驗沒有限制。每一個人都可以注冊成為老師，然后開始直播教學。

MOOC+?

Hujiang is not the only company implementing live classes. Larger players, such as Tencent and YY, have their own live education platforms as well. Their product offering is almost identical – open platform, shared screen capabilities, education-specific interactions – which means content and reach will be key differentiating factors. No doubt each company has been able to leverage the hype around live streaming in China this year.
滬江不是唯一一個做課堂直播的公司。其它更大的公司，像騰訊和YY，也擁有自己的教育直播平臺。他們提供的服務(wù)幾乎一樣——開放的平臺、屏幕共享、教育行業(yè)特殊的互動功能，這就意味著內(nèi)容和平臺的傳播度將會成為最關(guān)鍵的區(qū)別因素。毫無疑問，今年每個公司都能利用中國直播領(lǐng)域的熱潮大肆宣傳一番。

However, at the moment it’s not clear whether live classes offer anything new to the edutech industry. With virtual whiteboards and screen-shared powerpoint slides, they look very similar to traditional online courseware. Adobe Connect, for example, even has a little ‘hand raising’ button so students don’t talk over each other.
然而，目前尚不清楚課堂直播是否會給教育體系帶來新的變化。在直播課堂上使用虛擬白板和屏幕上共享PPT，這些看起來和傳統(tǒng)的在線課件相似。例如，Adobe Connect（全球知名的視頻會議軟件），甚至有一個小的“舉手”按鈕，以保證學生的討論秩序。

Still, it’s worth noting that student attrition – the Achilles’ heel of MOOCs- might be mitigated if edutech companies can make live classes more engaging for students. For now, Hujiang will rely on external factors, such as acing the TOEFL to study or work abroad, to drive student motivation.
不過值得注意的是，如果教育公司能夠讓直播課程對學生產(chǎn)生更大的吸引力，那么學生流失（MOOCs課程的弊端）情況將得以改善。目前，滬江將依靠外部因素，比如通過托?？荚嚦鰢鴮W習或工作來提高學生的積極性。

“In our case […] most of the students have strong motivation,” says Lu Jian. “They are not studying for fun.”
“我們的情況是…大部分學生有很強的學習動機，”陸堅說?！八麄儾皇菫榱撕猛娑鴮W習?！?/div>

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