Theoretical Design of Values and Communication Education through Convergence Methodology: with priority given to the development of a college liberal arts education course “Value and Communication”

Kim, Jeong Sook; Song, Ji Yeon

Korean Journal of General Education 2013;7(2):39-72.
Published online April 30, 2013.

Jeong Sook Kim, Ji Yeon Song

융·복합적 방법론을 활용한 가치관 및 소통 교육의 내용 제언

김정숙, 송지연

Abstract

A wide variety of incidents have taken place in Korean society just for a short period of time such as occupation by a foreign country, war, the establishment of government, industrialization, democratization, the emergence of the powerful digital web market, the birth of unprecedented new generations, the discontinuity of cultural heritage and the indiscreet import of foreign culture. As a consequence, there is a coexistence of heterogeneous values at present, which must be taken seriously. However, no education has currently been provided in conjunction with values and communication for the younger generations who are thrown into confusion. The purpose of this study was to make a theoretical design of a college curriculum of a general education course about value and communication in an attempt to facilitate the successful resolution and coordination of value conflicts through smooth communication. This course is expected to help college students to build well-balanced and creative values. The themes and phenomenological keywords presented by the curriculum of this course show the diverse appearances of society that are linked to each individual of the younger generations, and thereby pose a serious question related to moral responsibility and value judgment. A convergence attempt to link popular keywords of students, which reflect their phenomenological matters of concern, and classical education could be said to be an effort of combining what s variable and what s invariable in a vertical way. That will stimulate students to keeping on shifting their perspectives from a phenomenon to a theory and from a theory to practice. Also, the presentation of conflicting keywords makes it possible to create a symmetrical model of self vs. others, which will contribute to horizontal convergence that stirs up fierce conflicts and productive harmony between the two parties. Four self-related themes and four others-related themes were selected based on various theories that could possibly be generated by the symmetry between two different things in order to make the communication model of I and you cover the major key themes of value conflicts that might happen in the 21st century s Korean society. The selected self-related themes are beauty/ugliness, man/woman, desire/reason, and family/I. After the self-related themes are covered, a seminar will be held to talk about success/ happiness. The selected others-related themes are individual/nation, true/false, region/world, and man/nature. And then the themes that are associated with the nature of human affairs are covered in the wrapping-up stage: life/death as life ethics and good/evil as one s own ethics. The effort of convergence by this study is expected to actualize vertical convergence between the actual life of students and their theoretical understanding and horizontal convergence between conflicting and symmetrical themes at the same time, which will lead to convergence education in a true sense, not just for exhibitionism. Students will be able to overcome stereotyped and authoritarian moral laws to build their own practical ethics instead of merely sticking to the fossilized good while they receive that education. And they also will gradually be able to improve their thinking faculty to make their standpoints clear about major principles necessary for the maintenance and development of society, and then to provide rationale on their standpoints. They will learn the best wisdom from this undergraduate general education course to foster their insight and judgment to build their own ethics in the 21st century s Korean society marked by the extreme confusion of values, and they will learn how to put it in practice from a perspective of humanities as well.

Key Words: Value and Communication, liberal arts education, convergence methodology, well-balanced and creative values