Technology and Education

I recently read an article called “Kids and Robots Learn to Write Together” on sciendedaily.com.  The author wrote about how the best way to get young kids to learn something they are particularly weak in is for them to teach a weaker student in that subject, this allows the student to be a teacher and reinforce and improve their skills. In this case, students have been testing a new technology called CoWriter created by EPFL which was recently presented at the Conference on Human-Robot Interaction in Portland USA. CoWriter is a humanoid robot who is programmed with a progressive writing algorithm that starts off weak in writing and gradually progresses as the student teaches it more writing. The technology is very new as it is still being tested on how well it meets demand, how usable is it for teachers and if it can be used for speech therapy or other applications.

After reading this, it really sunk in how fast the classroom setting was becoming more and more filled with different gadgets and technology to help “improve” learning in the past decade. I remember the most technology ever used in the classroom when I was in first grade was an old TV/VCR combo and maybe a projector with clear pages of notes on a white screen (early version of slides). Computers were not really available and everything was taught by a teacher out of a book and on a blackboard. Recently, that has completely changed. Students do tons of research on the internet on school computers or if the school has the budget, personal iPads. The front of the classroom has a Smart Board. I’m sure there are even more technological examples that I don’t even know about being implemented even now.

The above mentioned robot doesn't seem so strange when looking at the changes seen only in the past decade and a half. However, in some ways, I feel a bit skeptical on how well all these changes are actually helping students. If the teacher is competent then the students will learn. I feel the problem is the standard of teachers has dropped. In addition, the standard of students has dropped even more. They are not disciplined or respectful at all and expect to breeze through their classes with As. I don’t see how technology will help them when they can’t help themselves. It seems like a type of bandage to cover up the problem and not an actual medicine to make it better.

Cheating is on an all-time high internationally. AP test scores are being revoked because of suspected cheating. National tests are being given at different times online and so students are able to get questions and answers before they even take the test. Sometimes those questions are even leaked weeks beforehand! Teachers are beside themselves to stop the cheating but can do nothing about it when students have phones and other electronics to get around the system.

Ease of access to information results in students not actively thinking for themselves and coming up with new ideas/innovations. Students just regurgitate information they found on the internet. Anything they come up with is created because of something they read and learned instead of actually created because they themselves thought it up and created it.  In addition, with so much information on the internet, students are becoming overwhelmed with it all and their research doesn't really go into depth. Nothing is ever truly understood in depth, just snippets and bits and pieces are really covered.

I sometimes wonder if our children are better off without the constant distraction on phones, tablets and computers. What has happened to the good old days of reading an actual physical books and getting the light bulb above your head when you finally understood something?