Since I'm sure you don't have 15 minutes to sit and watch a video during the day, I'll go ahead and sum this up. The world is and has been becoming increasingly mechanized making humans increasingly unnecessary. The go through several examples, but the most pressing for our purposes is education. Can computers replace the need for classroom teachers?
This video is a hook that I use regularly in my classes toward the beginning of the year that the kids enjoy. It's also useful as a hook for the industrial revolution for all the history teachers / robotics coaches out there.
With internet more widely available than ever before, books becoming increasingly digitized, and online learning technology becoming more sophisticated, what is the future of the traditional classroom teacher? Does the role have to change? Will it be eliminated entirely?
It goes without saying that the roles and responsibilities of teacher are going to change within the next few decades. I'd argue that the teacher will become no less necessary than they are today. Look at reconnect. Kids go and get rubber stamped so that schools can be compliant and keep graduation numbers high, but the understanding of the material isn't always necessary there. I don't know the laws around reconnect, but I do know that it is unusual and, in my opinion, unethical to have a kid in reconnect for 6+ class periods. That was the case for a few of my students last year. They used to escape, skip, and cheat just to minimize their time in that room.
Technology is a tool, but it can't teach motivation. There is no replacing, mechanically, everything that teachers do for their students both inside and outside the actual content. It also doesn't account for many of our students that still don't have 24 hour access to the internet or even a computer.
Now, I'd be remiss if I didn't pose a question to a few of the readers that made it this far. Those of you who are whispering "Amen" and all out rejecting the idea that computers can replace teachers, how many of you got your bachelors or masters from an online program? I know for a fact that DISD has HUGE numbers of teachers with one or both of their degrees from the internet. Does that diminish the value of that degree or your education? If not, then why can't students achieve just as much as you did online. If so, then why does your degree count as legitimate qualification for you to be in the classroom in front of kids? Does a degree matter at all?
These are the questions I think about over my mid morning coffee.
New technology means education is changing. We're going to have to change with it, but there's no replacing us.
Related Articles:
Dallas Student Technology
Technology pushing Dallas Teachers out of schools
This video is a hook that I use regularly in my classes toward the beginning of the year that the kids enjoy. It's also useful as a hook for the industrial revolution for all the history teachers / robotics coaches out there.
With internet more widely available than ever before, books becoming increasingly digitized, and online learning technology becoming more sophisticated, what is the future of the traditional classroom teacher? Does the role have to change? Will it be eliminated entirely?
It goes without saying that the roles and responsibilities of teacher are going to change within the next few decades. I'd argue that the teacher will become no less necessary than they are today. Look at reconnect. Kids go and get rubber stamped so that schools can be compliant and keep graduation numbers high, but the understanding of the material isn't always necessary there. I don't know the laws around reconnect, but I do know that it is unusual and, in my opinion, unethical to have a kid in reconnect for 6+ class periods. That was the case for a few of my students last year. They used to escape, skip, and cheat just to minimize their time in that room.
Technology is a tool, but it can't teach motivation. There is no replacing, mechanically, everything that teachers do for their students both inside and outside the actual content. It also doesn't account for many of our students that still don't have 24 hour access to the internet or even a computer.
Now, I'd be remiss if I didn't pose a question to a few of the readers that made it this far. Those of you who are whispering "Amen" and all out rejecting the idea that computers can replace teachers, how many of you got your bachelors or masters from an online program? I know for a fact that DISD has HUGE numbers of teachers with one or both of their degrees from the internet. Does that diminish the value of that degree or your education? If not, then why can't students achieve just as much as you did online. If so, then why does your degree count as legitimate qualification for you to be in the classroom in front of kids? Does a degree matter at all?
These are the questions I think about over my mid morning coffee.
New technology means education is changing. We're going to have to change with it, but there's no replacing us.
Related Articles:
Dallas Student Technology
Technology pushing Dallas Teachers out of schools
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