Reflection On Undergraduate Teaching Evaluation In The Perspective Of Postmodernism

With powerful propulsion of education administration, undergraduate teachingevaluation research and practice, beginning at1980s, has got tremendous progress incultivation of professionals, accumulation of research achievement and practicalexperience, institution construction.”Regular university undergraduate teachingassessment” push it forward to a new climax. Nowadays it has become particularphenomenon and professional terminology in higher education practice and researcharea，covering the forms of evaluation of school, major, curriculum, teachers andstudents.While the research of education evaluation and higher education evaluation is inthe ascendant, undergraduate teaching evaluation, as a more concrete area near topractice, has not got enough attention from higher educational circles. Theorist lackresearch interest concerning it, practice-oriented characteristics is prevalent, there isshortage or inappropriate use of in-depth analysis framework except education,administration and system science theory, and too much emphasis on quantitative andstatistics method etc.The study try to stand at the joining point of solid accumulation of highereducation theory and practice of education evaluation. Through ushering constructiveand vigorous elements of postmodernism, building new analysis framework andresearch perspective by integrating life and value philosophy, self-orgnization theory,and postmodernism, the study try to make an in-depth reflection on the hamperingfactors upon, or limitations of current undergraduate teaching evaluation, and providetheoretical foundation for transition of culture, adjustment of policy, and update ofideas in undergraduate teaching evaluation area.Symbolized by canonizing ‘science’ and ‘rationality’, modernism is similar with undergraduate teaching in historical development. The influence of modernism isobvious, like the control of evaluation object by powerful evaluation subject on thebasis of modern subject-object opposition model, scientism tendency, and rigid andenclosed linear evaluation ideas. School, major, curriculum turn into scientific conceptwith certain intension and extension. A university becomes a factory, a major becomesan assembly line, a curriculum becomes a tool, a student becomes product or rawmaterial, a teacher becomes technician. The evaluation turned into goal from tool,become systemized and programed, override vital teaching activity, and shadowed itsvitality, culture nature, humanity and spirituality.The study expound on the constructive postmodernism and life philosophy.According to the higher education exterior relation law, it demonstrate various impacton undergraduate teaching of the postmodern transfer of economy, politics,sci-technoloy and culture. Undergraduate teaching should be the special common lifeprocess for teachers and students, and the special existent relation based on the process.The active, ascending, durative life of teachers and students should be cared for. Thenature of completeness, experience, transcendence, freedom, individuality should befully unfolded, so that orderly evolution of their life state be boosted. By comparinglife philosophy with politics-oriented and epistemology–oriented higher educationphilosophy, the study point out that the life value is the value base of undergraduateteaching.Self-organization theory and synergetics take on evident postmodern flavor. Thestudy analyze the elements and state parameters of the undergraduate teaching system,and describe its self-organizing characteristics like, openness, nonlinearity andnonequilibrium, fluctuation and dynamic generation. Undergraduate teaching evaluationis collective or society value coordination on the basis of individual value experience. Itis an complicated and diversified value idea interation, stirring the string of value,adjusting value relations, integrating value goals, expanding value world, propellingfluctuation and orderly evolution of teaching system. To maintain tension balancebetween self-organizing and heter-organizing evaluation, self-organizing evaluationshould accept the supervision of heter-organizing evaluation, heter-organizing evaluation should activate the vitality of self-organizing evaluation.Finally, from the cultural, institutional and practical perspectives, the study putforward the advice on postmodern transfer of undergraduate teaching evaluation. Firstly,impel the organic blending of teaching and evaluation, propose openness of evaluationsystem, and diversity of evaluator and dynamic generation of evaluation. Secondly,construct well-arranged institution system containing mutually-supporting andcomplementary laws, files, guidelines and specifications. Thirdly, employ the method ofvalue experience based on quantitave analysis, put more emphasis on comprehensionthan on designing, create a participative evaluation context which encourage experience.