????虛擬課堂真正的難題在于，雇主如何看待沒有真實學位的商學教育。許多MOOC課程通常會有償提供一份結業證書（SOA）。皮卡德很懷疑這種證書的價值。她指出，大多數求職者不會把自己的成績單給面試官看，更不用說一堆結業表。此外，課程的難度和質量參差不齊，因此人們很難判斷這種結業證書的可信度。她說：“如何完整呈現自己的學習情況，對此，我一直在努力想辦法。我目前主要依賴博客，這樣其他人就能詳細了解我做過什么……”

????對皮卡德來說，知識比正式的證書更重要。她并不打算進軍金融業或咨詢業，在這些行業，MBA是獲得好工作的先決條件。相反，憑借自己在尼加拉瓜擔任農業與食品安全志愿者的經驗，她打算從事可持續供應鏈開發方面的工作，重點是咖啡。她還計劃把自己的博客擴展成一種資源，為志趣相投的人們提供一個社區：在這里，既可以省錢，又不會錯過商學院課程。

????皮卡德顯然已經規劃好了自己的職業方向。然而， MOOC的反對者眾多，且十分活躍，他們反對的理由也一大堆。但“免費MBA”博客卻認為，這些否定者們忽視了互聯網教育的潛力。皮卡德說道：“最近有許多文章在談論MOOC的失敗，許多人認為它與課堂教育相差甚遠……盡管它并不是人們所期待的人人平等的教育改革，但我卻看到了MOOC許多積極的方面。”

????她堅信，對于合適的人，MOOC教育能夠像課堂教育和在線MBA課程一樣有效。她說：“如果一本書能讓你從中學到知識，MOOC自然也可以。而且，從MOOC中，你可以學到更多?！逼たǖ略敢庥靡粋€博客和1,000美元為MOOC的未來下注——如果賭贏，她不僅能接受高水平的商學教育，更能省下數萬美元。（財富中文網）

????譯者：劉進龍/汪皓????

????The real elephant in the virtual classroom is how employers will perceive a business education that doesn't come with a bona fide degree. Many MOOC courses offer a Statement of Accomplishment (SOA), often for a fee. Pickard is skeptical of their value. Most jobseekers wouldn't bring their transcripts to an interview, much less a stack of course completion forms, she points out. Also, the level of difficulty and quality of courses ranges widely, making it tricky to decipher how much credence to give a particular SOA. "I'm still struggling with how to present it overall," she says. "For me, at this point, it really does hinge on the blog, so I can direct somebody there to explore what I've done...."

????For Pickard, the knowledge is more important than the formal credential, anyway. She has no plans to enter finance or consulting, where an MBA is often a prerequisite for top jobs. Rather, building on her experience as an agriculture and food security volunteer in Nicaragua, she plans to work in sustainable supply chain development, with a focus on coffee. She also plans to expand her blog into a resource and community for like-minded students looking to save money without missing out on the B-school network.

????Pickard certainly has her work cut out for her. The critics of MOOCs are an active bunch with plenty of fodder to pull from. But the No-Pay MBA argues that these naysayers are missing the potential of an Internet education. "I've seen a lot of articles come out recently talking about the failures of MOOCs and people saying it's not as good as a classroom experience ... it's not the egalitarian revolution in education that people were hoping for, but I see so many positive things about MOOCs," says Pickard.

????She's particularly adamant that, for the right person, a MOOC education can be just as effective as classroom-based and online MBA programs. "If you can learn from a book, you can learn from a MOOC, and you can probably actually learn better from a MOOC than you can from a book," she says. Pickard's willing to bet on it with a blog and $1,000 -- if right, she'll come out with a quality business education and save tens of thousands of dollars in the process.