After watching Sugata Mitra’s video, “New Experiments in Self-Teaching”, it is now very interesting to think about computers and their effects on learning. Mitra’s experiment shows just how impressive technology can be for the human mind. To be able to see an experiment where people of all ages, especially students, teach themselves using a computer is such a huge step in the world of education. This experiment shows that people coming from all backgrounds and socioeconomic levels can open themselves up to an extraordinary education. If we could supply the less able countries and families with computers or provide access to them, everyone would be able to reach a desired level of education through self-teaching.
One computer educational program that has been featured in the news is Khan Academy. The following link tells the story of Khan Academy and provides an interview with the voice of Khan Academy, Sal Khan.
Khan Academy is a free, online educational/tutoring program. Khan himself records his own lectures and posts them to Khan Academy for all people to see. There are currently schools and teachers now who are trying out his programs. It could be programs like these that could reach out to those countries or schools who are less fortunate and do not have access to top education programs. However, with the advancement in technology and self-teaching through computers, and with programs such as Khan Academy, will the role of teachers in the classroom be declined? Will technology take over? Or, will programs like these allow teachers to give more personal time to those who are struggling on certain material, while those who are exceeding in certain material can continue on in their work? The questions on whether technology will positively or negatively affect the classroom are endless.
I think you bring up a very relevant and scary question in the end of your statement. Will technology take us over? As many of us are working so hard to go to school and meet the requirements to become teachers, how do we know the positions will still be there when we're finished. There's part of me that assumes we'll always need teachers; they branch to create all the other professions in this world. However, it's an alarming idea that we could be "taken over" by a computer screen.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that technology will ever completely overtake teachers in the classroom. As someone who actively works in educational technology, we don't provide teachers with ways to pass their duties onto a computer; we work to provide another resource for the students to learn from. Just as adding encyclopedias to a classroom (what I had growing up) doesn't make a teacher's knowledge any less valuable because it can be found somewhere else, computers that are used properly only enhance the lessons being taught by the teacher.
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