虚拟大学的历史演进与现实反思

Historical Evolution and Realistic Reflection of the Virtual University

“虚拟大学”是互联网时代的产物,是人类适应数字化生存的创设。“虚拟大学”的发展历史是“教育”与“媒介”交互不断深入的历史。虚拟大学,一般是指基于互联网创建并运行、以多种媒介技术为主要支撑、以学习者为中心的新型高等教育组织网络。虚拟大学的职能,集中体现在以“开放”弥合高等教育与数字化时代的发展位差。通过采用“依附型”“联合型”“独立型”“融合型”等办学模式,虚拟大学重塑了“教”与“学”、“师”与“生”的关系,延展了“课堂”“教室”“校园”的边界,融合了“知识”“社会”“媒介”的力量。作为一类新兴大学,虚拟大学发展仍面临诸多挑战,如教育质量的参差不齐、“数字鸿沟”所衍生的新的教育不平等、知识商品化与公共性价值的矛盾、媒介技术的误用与滥用等。

“Virtual University”is a product of the Internet age.It is a creation of humanity to adapt to digital existence.The development history of the virtual university is the history of interaction between education and media.The virtual university generally refers to a kind of new higher education organization network based on the Internet,supported by various media technologies and centered on learners.The function of the virtual university is embodied in bridging the development gap between higher education and digital age with“openness”.By adopting the operation modes of“dependency”,“association”,“independence”and“integration”,the virtual university reshapes the relationship between teaching and learning and between teachers and students,extends the boundaries of class,classroom and campus,and integrates the forces of knowledge,society and media.As a new type of university,the virtual university faces many challenges in its development,such as the uneven quality of education,the new educational inequality arising from the‘digital divide’,the contradiction between knowledge commercialization and public value,the misuse and abuse of media technology and so on.