Could computers ever replace teachers?
Academia | The Guardian
In the early 1960s work was underway in a US laboratory on a project that had the potential to revolutionise education. Professor Donald Bitzer, an electrical engineer at the University of Illinois, was creating one of the world’s first teaching machines. By 1972 his software had gone from serving a single classroom to being used across America.
But with its growth came speculation and apprehension – could a computer replace a teacher?
“Computers at this time were viewed as gigantic brains that would control our lives,” says historian Brian Dear. Bitzer’s software – known as the Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations (PLATO) – let students answer questions on six-inch black screens using teletype keyboards costing around £5,000 a terminal.
Forty years on, the question of whether computers could render teachers obsolete is still being asked. Fiona Hollands, senior researcher at Columbia University’s Teachers College, says computers are now being used for several distinct reasons in the classroom: they help face-to-face teacher instruction in “blended learning” models; can be used to supplement educators in “hybrid” teaching models; and replace teachers in “virtual” classrooms.
“A few states and districts have created their own virtual schools with Florida Virtual School being the best known,” says Hollands, adding that a recent study claimed not only can students do just as well with this approach, but there may also be cost savings.
In the US, Rocketship schools have cut overheads by introducing more online classes and employing fewer teachers. They have attracted global attention through their “blended learning” approach in which a quarter of a student’s school day is taught by a computer. Teachers without credentials supervise online sessions while qualified teachers focus on critical thinking. Any savings are used to pay existing teachers more.
Speaking on British radio in 2014, the chief executive of Rocketship, Preston Smith, said that computers had let them “re-think” the school day. But Gordon Lafer, a political economist and University of Oregon professor, thinks they offer a “stripped down program of study”.
Hollands argued that Rocketship schools provide a lower quality education to deprived children. He believes it is hard, for example, to work alone online if your English reading skills are weak and if you are easily distracted.
The UK version of Rocketship, Ark Pioneer academy, will open its doors next year. But Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, has been sceptical. Speaking to the Daily Mail last year, she said that if children end up sitting in front of computers for a significant amount of time, with no routine access to a teacher for every lesson, then that would be a “wrong departure”.
Tricia Kellher, principal of the Stephen Perse Foundation, warns that technology should not spell the end for teachers. Rather, it should be seen as a useful tool in the teacher’s armoury. “If you’re no longer just standing up and delivering instruction you need to think how that changes the way you teach,” she says.
Sugata Mitra, professor of educational technology at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University, thinks that in the future the role of teachers will be similar to that of a football coach. “Children can now go out into cyberspace and the teacher is the friend at the back telling them where they might need to go,” he says.
In May 2013, Mitra did a Ted talk on the “school in the cloud” where he discussed his hole in the wall experiment. Mitra placed a computer in a kiosk in a Delhi slum and allowed children to use it freely. He found that many of them, lots who had never seen a computer, could teach themselves all on their own.
“Teachers often ask me, am I going to lose my job? I say no because your job will get harder. It will become a different job. It will go from being a master standing at the front of class to a helpful friend at the back.” He adds: “There will have to be a dramatic change to teacher programmes but we are no where near that yet.”
One thing that is going to change, however, is the need for teachers with technological skills. José Picardo, the assistant principal of Surbiton High school, says teachers who can use technology will replace those who cannot. He adds that tools like video now allow children to learn at any point, and teachers need to make the most of this.
But in this complex debate there’s one thing that continues to reassure Plato developer David Woolley: “Will computers replace a teacher? It never came to pass then and I doubt it ever will. Humans are social animals and there is something about the human connection between students and teachers that matters a lot. That is not to say that other means of teaching are not valuable. They are, but there are things that a computer will never be able to do as a good human teacher.”
