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December 09, 2003

Can you automate teachers?

Someone has just raised the question (please add your questions via the "comments" link at the bottom of the articles so others can read them too) Can you really automated a teacher?

The best answer is: You can't automate the good ones.

The right question to ask here is "What defines a good teacher for the next five to ten years?" The essence of that answer hasn't changed since homework was invented. Successfully answering that may not guarantee long-term employment, but it certainly will produce good students.

Posted by dmzach

Comments

All the qualities of the exemplary teachers of the past will be exhibited by the exemplary teachers of the present and future: they’ll listen and match their teaching to the needs of the student. The push to automate teaching fails to address this single issue. Great teachers have and will use ALL the resources at their disposal, including programmed instruction.

It’s no different than the field of medicine. All the progress in drugs and surgery are worth little without GREAT diagnosticians. And great teachers are GREAT diagnosticians. They’ll just have more resources and solutions to assist learning in the future.

Great teachers know that one size fits all is rubbish!

Posted by: Dan Neesley

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