| Premature introduction of convergent education and its solutions |
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Il Woo Park |
| 대학에서 융·복합 교육의 실상과 그 해법 |
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박일우 |
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| Abstract |
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The notion of ‘convergence’ is being widely spread in the university classes nationwide. The tendency can be estimated as a result of general education renovation, but we think that it is premature and wrong directed. This paper aims at suggesting some solutions.
The idea of convergence was conceived and developed at the technology and industrial society, not that of academy. So-called I-PHONE syndrome and Steve Job’s famous comment, “connect the dots”, were the beginning. And then, some ideologues around the power quickly imported the idea to higher education and insisted that it would serve for the Creative Economy, slogan of actual government. Whether a university is equipped with a set of ‘convergent subjects’ or not becomes an important questionnaire at the various national university evaluations.
We do not underestimate the needs and purposes of convergence education. The present era of digital technology requires convergent knowledge that we can hardly acquire with the traditional individualized subjects. Being still defender of that new idea, we examined the present status of convergent education and curriculum, and we analyzed a few examples. Through this process, we found that convergent education has been in many cases misunderstood, and the introduction was premature at the field of higher education. It has been introduced to universities not by the academic ground but outer influences; industrial society and national education policies.
We suggest a check list that each university is recommended to answer and reflex before introducing, or revising, the convergent curriculum, as follows: 1) Did you fully understand the idea of convergence? 2) Did you fix the goal of convergent education and curriculum? 3) Don’t you regard that the convergence is the final solution of higher education? 4) Do you have enough economic and administrative support to maintain the convergent education? Finally, this article emphasizes the will of college administration to modify the platform to fit the convergent education, i.e, Liberal Arts College. |
| Key Words:
convergence, convergent education, convergent curriculum, evaluation, crisis of college, I-PHONE syndrome, educational policy |
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