Dropping out of university to launch a start-up isold hat. The twist with Joseph Cohen, Dan Getelmanand Jim Grandpre is that their start-up aims toimprove how universities work. In May 2011 thethree founders quit the University of Pennsvlvania. to launch Coursekit,soon renamed asLore.whichhas already raised $ 6m to develop what Mr. Cohen, its 21-year-old chief executive,describes as a social-learning network for the classroom".
Lore is part of a trend that builds on the familiarity with social networking that has comewith the success of Facebook. It customizes the rules of a network to meet the specific needsof students. Anyone teaching a class would reasonably worry that students using Facebookwere gossiping rather than learning useful information from their network of friends. Loreallows teachers to control exactly who is in the network by issuing a class-membership codeand to see how they are using it. They can also distribute course materials, contact students,manage tests and grades, and decide what to make public and what to keep private. Studentscan also interact with each other.
In the academic year after launching its first version last November, Lore was used in atleast one class in 600 diversities and colleges. Its goal for its second year, about to begin, is tospread rapidly within those 600 institutions, not least to see what the effects of scale are fromhaving lots of classes signed up within the same institution.
The firm has a fast-growing army of fans in the faculty common room. Lore, says EdwardBoches, who uses it for his advertising classes at Boston University, makes teaching "moreinteractive, extends it beyond the classroom and stimulates students to learn from each otherrather than just the professor. "
Among other challenges for the company, there remains the small matter of figuring out abusiness model. For the moment it has none. Mr. Cohen hopes that eventually Lore couldbecome the primary marketplace for everything from courses to textbooks, but so far theservice is free and carries no advertising. Blackboard, the industry incumbent (占有者), chargesusers for its course-management software. It remains to be seen how it will respond to theupstart(新贵).
The lack of a plan does not appear to bother Lore's founders or investors, -who seemcontent to learn a lesson from another university drop-out, Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder ofFacebook: achieve critical mass in your network and the profits will follow. And after thatperhaps they can expect an honorary degree from the a/ma mater(母校).
56. What do we learn from the first paragraph about Lore?
A. It specializes in producing old hats.
B. It aims to improve the way universities work.
C. It invests $ 6m in the development of social network.
D. It promotes the communication among classmates.
57. What does Lore enable teachers to do?
A. Meet specific needs of students.
B. Learn useful information from friends.
C. Control the online class membership.
D. Monitor students' personal privacy.
58. For its second-year goal, Lore is to __
A. increase fans in the faculty common room
B. launch its second version in 600 universities
C. make more classes from 600 institutions signed up
D. spread its influence within the same institution
59. Concerning the prospect of Lore, Mr. Cohen expects it to
A. confront with Blackboard as an equal
B. offer free service to the advertisers
C. cover businesses from courses to textbooks
D. Develop its own come-management software
60. What do we learn about Lore's founders?
A. They can't be bothered to design a business model.
B. They learn a lesson from the success of Facebook.
C. They will not make profits without drawing mass users.
D. They desire to receive an honorary degree from the alma mater.
56 B)。本题考查学问公司的相关事实。定位句指出，约瑟夫.科恩.金提曼和吉姆.格兰坡的合作创业旨在提升 学校的运作方式，故答案为B)。
57.C)。本题考查学问公司对教师的帮助。定位句指出，"学问"使得教师们通过发行课堂成员代码来严格控制上网的学生以及他们如何使用网络，故答案为C)。
58.C)。本题考查"学问"的第二年计划。定位句指出，即将开始实行的第二年计划是在600所机构里扩大影响范围，不仅仅是看到同机构里很多班级报名的规模效应，故答案为C)。
59.C)。本题考查科恩先生对学问公司的期望。定位句指出，他希望最后"学问"能成为自课程到教科书等一切的主要市场，故答案为C)。
60.B)。本题考查学问公司创建者们的创业灵感。定位句指出，他们似乎满足于向另一所大学的辍学者和脸谱网的共同创建者马克·扎克伯格学习经验，故答案为B)。
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