Tech Should Only Be Used to Enhance the Teaching and Learning Process, Not Replace It
It’s so easy to be dazzled by edtech. When most of today’s educational stakeholders were themselves students, the epitome of high tech was VHS tapes, so it’s no surprise that VR, apps, and social networking seem like a stunning new vista.
Unfortunately, this sense of awe at the technological possibilities can lead to too little critical assessment of the role of edtech. While some have envisioned a world without human teachers, the research data on massive online open courses (MOOCs) and virtual charter schools has shown that students in those high tech environments are not even keeping pace with their peers in traditional classrooms.
Of course, given the substantial cost savings to be found in replacing human teachers with edtech, there are loud voices clamoring for the adoption of these platforms. But, given what the research data shows, this appears to constitute an enormous disservice—often to the students who are most in need of top-notch teachers.
Perhaps there will be a time when AI will do a better job than human instructors, but that day has not arrived. It isn’t even on the horizon. Rather, teachers will be the guides and coaches of the educational process for a long time to come. Which is not to say that edtech won’t be able to help them do their jobs better. But the model for the foreseeable future needs to be one that sees the human teacher as the central agent, aided by technology, rather than putting the edtech in the driver’s seat and allowing the teacher to function as merely a janitor and babysitter.
But that’s not a vision that will produce the best learning outcomes. Rather, teachers will need to be treated as professionals who vet, organize, and plan which edtech products to use—and how to use them—in a way that is most beneficial for each individual student.
But the temptation to replace human work with edtech isn’t limited to the teaching side of the equation. It’s true of students as well. Learning has to happen—not all information can be Googled. For example, there have been those who have argued that spelling should not be taught: what’s the point in the age of spell check? However, those who study reading have known for years that spelling instruction is essential for most students because of its impact on their ability to comprehend what they read.
In short, the challenge of edtech is to use it as a tool to help learners and instructors—not as a replacement for them.
EdTech serves better to amplify human effort to promote learning. We can’t force the new EdTech to do the same as with analog technology: improve teaching and increase the results of standardized tests.
I agree that teacher replacement is still far off, but generally certain technologies as of now, cover a big area.
Mainly it is another resource to be used in conjunction with a range of resources to provide the best support for our learners. SEN reachers use sequential lighting to assist communication with learners who cannot respond normally and so on.
I use communication platforms to deliver to adults in Higher Education at levels 3 to 7. I can deliver from my laptop, sat on the couch at home during the evening. It allows my learners to see my screen on their own device, ask questions and have a discussion with me and the others in the group. We can also see each other in small bubbles at the side of the screen. This brings education to learners from different countries to attend together, with a virtual learning environment to access fro all other resources.
Our 98% achievement rate is mainly because, as tutor, I can receive a text or e mail almost 24/7 With quick response, it keeps learners motivated and allows me to work at times to suit both me and my group. Using technology is a question of using horses for courses (no pun). In this case learners can still work a job and gain qualifications, work is submitted for formative assessment and feedback given to assist the learner in achieving. Technology will change a lot of things in education and the way it is delivered in the future. As long as it is used as a tool and not used just because i’ts there, steady progress will ne made
We need to change what we teach. We do not want to bring technology into the classroom, we need to bring the classroom into the 21st Century. There is much talk about the 4 C’s of the 21st Century, but those skills are not 21st Century skills. They were always essential. It is how we approach those skills.
Memory does not mean we cram our brain with rote learning. It should mean we teach the child how to search and know how to find information.
Arithmetic has been a stumbling block to STEM. Arithmetic has been made obsolete by the computer. Accurate estimation is a more valuable tool.
We should teach a child to solve any single variable algebraic equation of any level of complexity by using Excel’s Goal Seek.
We need to get rid of standardized testing. Testing tries to predict what a student will do. Most standardized tests are not standardized. There is no vailidity or reliability, and there are no norms and a standardization sample.
US students have been compared unfavorably to the Russions during the Cold War and Japan during the last half of the 20th Century. Look how that turned out.
Now we are scoring merely average on the international level. How do we interpret this? Take a look at the Nobel Prizes. During the last decade of the 20th Century, the US won about 30 prizes. During the first decade of the 21st Century the US doubled that.
The tests do not seem to do a good job of prediction.
Instead of the stage on the stage followed by microtesting of isolated facts, use the guide by the side with problem based learning and authentic assessment.
The change for education in the 21st century starts with reading. We learn to understand the spoken word by the word, not by starting with the sounds of the letters. Teach the child to understand the printed word in the same way, by the word. Postpone the alphabet until the child can read
[…] opinion piece from the Tech Advocate talks about how tech should only be used to enhance the teaching and learning process, not replace it. The author, Matthew Lynch, talks about how easy it is to get dazzled by ed tech. […]