Can Technology Replace Teachers
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Can Technology Replace Teachers
© 2012 SAIS www.sais.org
the conversation continues inside of SAISconnect http://saisconnect.sais.org
Can Technology Replace Teachers? By: Holly Chesser Published: September 2012
travel agent, photo processor, even to some extent postal clerk. Fortunately, teachers, confident in their job security, have never had to worry. Sure, the chalkboard and overhead have been hauled off to the scrap heap, made obsolete by 21
st century technological innovations, but what could possibly ever replace a teacher? Well, what if the answer were “a computer”? Certainly, state legislatures, struggling to balance budgets, have found virtual education’s dramatic reduction in per pupil expenditure for public schools economically compelling: $6,400 for a fully-‐online model versus $10,000 for the traditional brick and mortar experience. However, the surge in digital education has also been fueled by a desire to keep pace with the rapid technological advancements across all cultural spectrums and to offer students the opportunity to learn in an environment that for many is comfortably familiar. The statistics reflect the increasing prevalence of online learning: today, 30 states boast full-‐time online schools, and 4 states even require students to take at least one online course before graduation. So what will this drive to reinvent school mean for the independent school community? Is this a danger or an opportunity? Naturally, it depends on whom you are speaking to. Advocates argue that online learning simply presents another occasion for choice, the sine qua non of independent education. Moreover, taking online classes helps develop proficiency maneuvering through the technological terrain where ideas and information are exchanged. However, critics contend that online learning equates education to a largely utilitarian pursuit, reducing students to walking flash drives. They wonder how a computer can ever teach tolerance or empathy, how it can inspire or encourage, how it can understand an individual student’s needs or challenge a child to take risks. http://tinyurl.com/9a2x3gt
© 2012 SAIS www.sais.org
the conversation continues inside of SAISconnect http://saisconnect.sais.org
Both sides pose legitimate arguments, but more importantly this on-‐going debate offers a powerful opportunity to examine the changing role of the teacher. Traditionally storehouses of knowledge, teachers were the primary means of content delivery to students. But knowledge today is a commodity, cheap and readily available. Now, the focus is on what students can do with knowledge: make distinctions between competing sources of information, predict the consequences of decisions, develop creative solutions to unique problems. If a teacher resists adapting to the changing educational environment and instead holds firm to the role of sage on the stage, he or she may risk being replaced by a computer. On the contrary, teachers, who embrace being freed to facilitate the process rather than deliver the content, can focus on what motivates students to learn in the first place. They can create environments that encourage collaboration, offer individual choice, provoke struggling with important, relevant ideas, and build competence. Most importantly, the teacher can offer what a computer cannot: a relationship. Consider how students respond when peers, family, or faculty come to watch them compete in a game or perform in a play. Would it be the same if their supporters simply watched online? Of course not. Students want to feel their presence, to be assured that they are known, understood, and valued. Technology provides students opportunities to engage efficiently and effectively with ideas and individuals, but it cannot replace teachers. It can, however, liberate those teachers to assume a potent new role in the facilitation of that learning process. Download 1.34 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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