人工智能时代的高等教育变革——解读《不惧机器人:人工智能时代的高等教育》

Retool Higher Education to Beat Robots: A Review of Joseph E. Aoun's “Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”

人工智能将如何影响高等教育?美国东北大学校长约瑟夫·奥恩在其新著《不惧机器人:人工智能时代的高等教育》对此问题做了深刻的探讨。他指出,在人工智能时代,大学生需要一种全新的学习模式,即"人学"。它包括三种新素养和四种认知能力:技术素养、数据素养和人文素养三种新的素养;批判性思维、系统性思维、创业精神和文化敏捷性四种认知能力。为了更好地掌握"人学",一种有效的方式是进行经验学习。此外,鉴于机器人能力持续不断的增长,大学需要转变过去忽视终身教育的观念,把终身教育纳入其使命的中心地位。面对人工智能的挑战,中国的高等教育需要在人才培养、院系调整、宏观结构和办学使命等方面做出变革。

How will artificial intelligence (AI)transform higher education?In his newly published book "Robot-Proof:Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence",Northeastern University president Joseph Aoun offers an optimistic-and more important, realistic-vision of how we can retool higher education to defeat robots.President Aoun argues that to make our students "robotproof",we need a new curriculum called "humanics",which is based on the purposeful integration of three key literaeies,namely, data literacy (being able to manage and analyze big data),teehiaological literacy (being able to understand exponential technologies and conduct computational thinking),and human literacy (being able to communicate and evaluate social,ethical,and existential impact).Beyond the literaeies,at the heart of Aoun's new model are four cognitive capacities that are also crucial for making our students resistant to automation:critical thinking,systemsthinking,entrepreneurship,and cultural agility.The priority for universities,therefore,is to teach students this humanies esp.via experiential learning,and encourage students to adopt lifelong learning so as to keep up with technological change.Similarly,higher education institutions in China also need to transform their teaching models, optimize their organizational structure,as well as redefine their institutional roles so as to cope with the emerging challenges brought by AI.