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December 08, 2003

Automating teachers

So I'm looking at the Target ad supplement that came with the Sunday paper and I had to stop and think about the LeapPad Plus Writing learning system. (Search around their website for a variety of education automation tools.)

The ad copy reads: "Teaches fundamental reading skills plus writing and math." The LeapPad is on the lap of what appears to be a five year old, smiling little girl. It costs $48.89.

Why is she smiling? Probably because she knows this is another nail in the coffin of traditional education. Kids are smart at figuring things out like that. Adults are often too busy to notice when they're being outdated until it's too late.

Every occupation tends to have this sense that they should be immune from automation, especially if you go to all that trouble to get a degree that qualifies you to be in that occupation and prevents others w/o the degrees from doing the same.

Is all of education going to be automated? No, but it may very well mean that such basic tasks as, well, reading, writing and arithmetic can be better done by machines. And, it's not those HAL 9000 types that will kill you when you least expect it, it's the sort of machine that you can sit on your lap, that talks with you, that gives you some sort of recognition when you've done well and doesn't make you feel like an idiot when you've not done so well.

Of course any quick review of educational technology reveals almost unlimited examples of how technology has failed education, but it's undeniable to see that technology continues its invasion unabated.

A better question to ask here is, "How much of an educator's job can't be automated?" As I wrote about in a previous entry, it's that notion of the 80/20 rule. If 80% of what you do can be better done by a machine, what's your unique 20%? Another way of asking that is "What do teachers do best?" It's not passing on basic skills. Some of their uniqueness does come from knowing how to encourage a child (or an adult) why learning is both good and important. But a machine can also get a small child to respond well to a compliment or reward.

Another little angle on this sort of thing is that it may also be automating the role of a parent. Just as television often serves as a substitute for parent-child interaction (and wasn't there a study a few years back that suggested that more American children would rather have a TV than a Dad?) this is taking the concept of an attention holding TV and making it interactive and a "productive" use of a child's time. We keep getting busier and we keep coming up with technological solutions to fill the space that fast-paced lifestyle brings.

Am I against these sorts of toys/tools? Not at all. I think the better examples of this type of technology should play a bigger and bigger part of the educational process. We should just never use technology as a faster and cheaper way to get to the bottom line when we can use it to take us to the horizon. Will we use this sort of thing to downsize schools and downsize the role of good teachers? No, we shouldn't. Will parents use this so they don't have to be as involved with their children? That would be a bad idea too. But if this sort of thing can successfully encourage and support a child's love of learning, then by all means, put one under your Christmas tree.

Posted by dmzach

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