Rethinking the orientation of undergraduate education
2022-05-24
Discipline and specialty are the core concepts of undergraduate education Generally speaking, disciplines are not only a classified knowledge system, but also a talent training system in specific knowledge fields. The construction of undergraduate majors is inseparable from the talent training program and curriculum system pointing to specific social occupations. Generally speaking, the relationship between disciplines and majors is reflected in: majors generally have clear objectives and put forward specific requirements for talent literacy and ability structure, while disciplines, as the source of professional knowledge and intelligence, meet the requirements with the supply, organization and implementation of courses. Therefore, there is no corresponding relationship between discipline and specialty, let alone conceptual superior inferior relationship. From a historical point of view, although some undergraduate majors, which traditionally focus on academic training and aim at cultivating academic successors, may be called disciplinary majors here, have stronger relevance with specific disciplines, even so, majors are often more extensive than disciplines and less in depth. As for a large number of undergraduate majors with application orientation, such as agricultural and engineering majors, which have emerged since modern times, although their evolution process also reflects a disciplinary track, their knowledge is far beyond the boundary of specific disciplines, and more reflects the characteristics of multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary disciplines. In short, because the undergraduate specialty embodies the dual logic of the internal growth of discipline knowledge and the change of social career, not only its connotation is always in a state of constant change, but also its survival or decline, expansion or reduction, old or new, all depend on the changes of internal knowledge and external career market. Therefore, both the setting and adjustment of disciplines and majors must have strong flexibility and flexibility. Undergraduate major has never been a comprehensive and comprehensive closed system. It not only needs to continuously inject external water, but also needs to take into account the potential, preference and career planning of students' diversity. Therefore, neither the subject catalogue nor the internal training scheme of the organization should too strengthen its rigid management, standardization and restraint, but should always maintain the state of open source and variable. "General" and "specialized" are eternal topics in undergraduate education Since the establishment of universities in the middle ages, there have been three forms of higher education at the undergraduate level: generalist education from the Middle Ages to modern times, modern professional education, and the emerging educational orientation focusing on career and entrepreneurship. The three forms are not a simple substitution relationship, let alone a mutually exclusive relationship. The latter is often a critical choice and inheritance of the former. In the era of relatively scarce higher education at the undergraduate level, neither the combination of general education and specialized education nor the training mode based on specialized education pay less attention to the issues of employment and entrepreneurship. However, the limitation of traditional post resources in the labor market and the continuous expansion of undergraduate training scale have shaken the original elite orientation and relatively closed training mode and training system of universities, which is also the main background for universities around the world to pay special attention to the employability of undergraduate graduates in recent years. Even Harvard University and MIT pay more and more attention to the employment and entrepreneurship status of graduates and the collection of feedback from employers, and adjust the professional training program and curriculum system accordingly. European comprehensive universities, which have always attached great importance to academic training and specialized education, now favor the cultivation of employability and entrepreneurial ability. However, how to understand employability? Although there is no exact definition so far, people have a general consensus on its basic framework, such as general (transferable) ability / specialized ability, soft skill / hard skill, academic / technical / professional skill, and so on. It is not difficult to understand that the above structural framework covers all abilities. It involves not only the broad vision, thinking ability, innovation ability, expression ability, ethical judgment, value care, aesthetic interest, independent personality, cross-cultural understanding and interdisciplinary communication ability related to "communication", but also the basic theory, professional knowledge and skills and practical ability related to "specialization", It also involves the qualities and abilities that are difficult to locate in the category of "communication" or "specialization", including two aspects: one is the quality of flexibility, such as personality, interpersonal communication and coexistence ability, teamwork spirit, organizational leadership ability, personal willpower, time management ability, ambition and dedication, etc; The second is to deal with the specific technologies and skills required by different positions, which are highly contextual and timely. Undergraduate education is generally just four years. At best, it can provide students with necessary "equipment" for their life, but it is impossible to provide them with life-long security. The function of this "equipment" obviously does not lie in students memorizing and mastering a lot of knowledge during school, because it will be constantly updated and replaced; Nor does it lie in mastering the technology that can be sold immediately, because the technology will be eliminated at any time. The "equipment" that truly benefits students for life is the ability and quality with theoretical knowledge and professional practice as the medium. It has the expansibility of extension and the sustainable development of connotation. For example, broad vision, interdisciplinary learning ability, independent personality and critical thinking formed through general education, mathematical thinking and analysis ability formed through basic science training, professional knowledge and professional ability in specific fields formed through professional education, etc. Although the cultivation of these qualities and abilities can also serve the temporary livelihood needs of graduates, it mainly points to long-term career development. Therefore, with the development of the times and the change of the environment, the "general" of undergraduate education is indispensable, while the caliber of "specialized" needs to be wider. As for the educational orientation focusing on career and entrepreneurial ability, strictly speaking, it should be a major strategy to deal with the choice of students' diversified development path, not the transformation of direction and paradigm. Rigidity and flexibility of training program and curriculum system Since the 20th century, although there are differences in educational models among countries, respecting students' choices is the general trend of undergraduate education reform. In contrast, Europe and China traditionally pay more attention to professional education and formulate structured training programs, while the undergraduate education and training system in the United States gives students flexible choices in professional transformation, project types, curriculum selection of general education and professional education, and free combination of interdisciplinary courses and degrees. Although it is somewhat messy and disorderly, it has realized the organic integration of the higher education system and the external job market to a certain extent, It is conducive to the dynamic adjustment of training projects, programs, curriculum system and even curriculum content according to the market feedback, and is conducive to the exploration of individual personality and the exertion of potential. Relatively speaking, the traditional specialization mode in Europe and China will show certain advantages in the connection between talent supply and demand in the environment of limited training scale, relatively stable job market and weakening competitiveness. However, once the employment environment changes dramatically and the scale expansion leads to the intensification of employment competition, the coping ability of this rigid model is relatively limited. The reform path to deal with the above problems is: on the premise of comprehensively enriching and enriching project types and curriculum resources, reduce the total amount of credits required for undergraduate courses, adjust the curriculum structure of general and professional education, respect students' autonomy, strengthen students' sense of self responsibility, give students more professional conversion opportunities, and leave more room for their elective courses, interdisciplinary or interdisciplinary course selection, minor and double degree project selection. At the same time, by promoting the institutionalization of career and academic consulting services and the specialization of consulting teams, students can avoid the blindness of choice to the greatest extent and help them reduce the cost of trial and error. Ideal and practical problems in the process of undergraduate teaching and learning in Colleges and Universities In recent years, the theoretical exploration and teaching reform practice around the concepts of academic teaching and "learner centered" have enriched the teaching forms and methods of colleges and universities in China to a great extent, promoted the wide application of various technologies and tools, especially online teaching, and improved students' participation in curriculum and classroom teaching to a certain extent, We need to keep the necessary vigilance against some problems. The application of information technology in teaching has become an irreversible trend, but we must be vigilant against the problems and risks in the application of educational technology. For example, the confusion of ideas caused by too much and miscellaneous information; Virtual space "replaces" the real world, which leads to the difficulty of distinguishing right from wrong; The presentation of knowledge is more and more convenient, which makes the learning process superficial and lacks trial and error thinking training and experience verification; There are intellectual property risks in the use and dissemination of teaching materials; Personal whereabouts capture and information collection in the teaching process are suspected of violating the privacy of teachers and students, and so on. Therefore, we should examine and reflect more on the use of information technology in the process of undergraduate education and teaching, and make careful and rational use of it from the aspects of protecting human dignity, respecting individual rights and improving students' digital literacy. The concept of "learner centered" has a long history. With the progress of cognitive science in recent years, this concept is very popular in the field of higher education. However, no theory can be simply transplanted as a general rule to guide practice. Students' individual experiences, interests, preferences and potentials vary greatly, and the knowledge attributes of different disciplines are different. In addition, the size of the class, the diversity of teachers' personal styles, and the limitation of time, energy and economic cost... Under the influence of many factors, how to truly take learners as the center to carry out the reform of teaching forms and methods needs to be explored. The standard to measure the effectiveness of teaching does not lie in whether it carries all kinds of new and different labels, but whether it can properly combine and use all kinds of methods to truly mobilize students' enthusiasm to participate in learning and stimulate students' active investment in learning. In terms of the current actual situation in China, it is more fundamental to implement the concept of "student-centered" at the level of system and mechanism reform. Only in this way can we fundamentally realize the transformation from "want me to learn" to "I want to learn", and encourage students to take the initiative to study according to their interests, strengths and aspirations. In reality, the primary reason for students' negative response and even resistance is often the major and its courses, followed by the methods, forms and means in the teaching process. The two can not put the cart before the horse. The urgent reform direction and path of undergraduate education Back to the positioning topic of today's undergraduate education. Of course, the "elite aura" of undergraduate education has been bleak, but this does not mean that its talent training function has been weakened. In fact, as an important part of cultivating talents in higher education, the unique function and status of undergraduate education are still irreplaceable. However, ordinary undergraduate colleges and universities generally face the following difficulties: on the one hand, they must adhere to the basic responsibility of Building Morality and cultivating people and uphold the tradition of paying attention to personality education and academic training; On the other hand, we must actively respond to the needs of students' employment and livelihood. How to break through the dilemma with reform? The author tries to make a brief summary: First, combine general education with specialized education, and strengthen wide-ranging professional education on the basis of comprehensive quality cultivation. This is to provide necessary "equipment" for each individual's career development, and it is also the foundation for undergraduate education to maintain its uniqueness and survive; Second, appropriate weakening
Edit：Yuanqi Tang Responsible editor：Xiao Yu
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