数字时代教育的可持续开放:基于成本效益的视角

Critiquing Sustainable Openness in Education in the Digital Age through the Lens of Cost-effectiveness

本文从成本效益的角度阐述数字时代教育的可持续开放。文章首先分析开放教育的必要性以及技术对于开放教育的重要性,接着分析教育技术创新的困境,提出机会、成本和质量是决定教育可持续开放的三个要素。长期以来,教育技术研究过分聚焦技术如何提高教育质量,常常忽视其他重要的问题。鉴于此,文章提出了一个数字教育可持续开放的研究议程,并重新思考数字时代教育开放的内涵,认为可持续开放是一个相对的概念。理想的教育开放应该包含一揽子解决方案,从借助高科技到使用低科技到不依赖任何技术手段的方案应有尽有,提供多种选择以适合经济社会多样性和差异性等因素。

This article critiques sustainable openness in education in the digital age from the perspective of costeffectiveness.It first reviews the rationale behind,and the necessity of,technology in opening up education.It then goes on to analyze the dilemma of innovations in educational technology and maintain that access,cost,and quality co-determine sustainable openness in education.The over-exaggeration of technology’s role in education has dominated the landscape of research,often resulting in the negligence of other important issues.In light of this scenario,the article proposes a research agenda for sustainable openness in digital education.It concludes by rethinking sustainable openness in the digital age,arguing that technology-based education should be cost-effective to educational institutions and students alike.Key to this rethinking is that sustainable openness is relative rather than absolute.Ideally,openness in education should embody a spectrum of solutions,from high-tech to low-tech to no-tech,with many choices to cater for socio-economic diversity and disparity,among other things,to ensure sustainable openness to all.