技术时代关于大学之道的省思

Rethinking the University in the Technology Era

技术已经成为大学不可或缺的一部分,如大学的其他组成要素一样与大学纠缠在一起。技术对大学的影响有利也有弊:一方面,技术推开大学命运的边界,打破传统高等教育在时间与空间对受教育者的限制;另一方面,大学又在投入成本和教育理念上受到技术的钳制。无论技术给大学带来新生或是危机,大学已无法回避这一切。当下大学需要做的是重新思考技术时代大学应该坚守些什么以及应该改变些什么。一是重新思考技术时代如何复苏人文学科和它们曾在大学中享有的权威性,以坚守固有的理性;二是大学主动变革自身、引领技术,使其成为技术的主人而不是奴隶。

For the university,whether it likes or not,technology is like a ghost,infiltrating its body and becoming an indispensable part of the university,entangled with other components of the university.However,the influence of technology on universities has both advantages and disadvantages.It is extremely necessary to rethink what universities should stick to and what should be changed in the era of technology.The opportunities presented by technology to universities are obvious.The boundaries of universities have been rapidly melting under the influence of technology.Neither space nor time can prevent,it can no longer prevent universities from continuing the original conservatism and bondage and responding to changes by maintaining the status quo.Instead,it is liberated from the shackles that once bound the aspirations of universities,and the situation is out of control.In terms of time,technology breaks the limitation of traditional higher education that requires the educated to learn all the necessary knowledge for survival and development in at least 9 years or more,and creates a more potential and imaginative prospect for people to obtain more lifelong learning and instant learning opportunities.From the perspective of space,technology provides infinite space for the generation,organization,storage,dissemination and sharing of knowledge,thus making it possible to cross the boundaries of higher education between countries,higher education institutions within countries,and colleges and departments within universities.At the same time,technical limitations do always exist.While technology provides opportunities for the development of universities,universities are also constrained by technology.On the one hand,at the beginning of the application of technology,the development and availability issues can create new costs for the university,as well as the huge costs input appearing in the subsequent application,which allows the technology to dissolve the boundaries of traditional high quality education due to economic ability,while at the same time,the availability boundary of highquality education in the network world has been created.And we cannot see any immediate prospect of finding a way out.On the other hand,universities and people in universities have some degree of resistance,prejudice and one-sided understanding of technology,making it impossible for universities to make profits incisively and vividly and without reservation.What is more difficult is that the difference between technology and universities in education purpose may be an insurmountable gap.In conclusion,technology has the ability to transform the future of universities.However,we cannot rule out its risk of weakening universities.No matter whether the technology brings opportunities or crisis to the university,the university must admit that transformation has become an inevitable problem for the university in the age of technology.Changes must be followed by making universities the master of technology,not slaves.What universities need to do first is to rethink how to revive the humanities and the authority they once enjoyed in universities in the age of technology,in order to preserve their inherent rationality,the meaning and value of their existence and a certain degree of introversion.At the same time,we should take the initiative to change ourselves and become the master of technology,the leader of thinking change,the planner of strategy and the guarantor of public interests in the age of technology.