Fall 2016 - Professor Kate Poirier

Category: HW #10: Article and video review

Name: Jodel Delectable

Date: 11/22/16

 

I disagree with the assertion from the article because; regardless, there will always be necessity for teachers. According to tedtalk, the type of teaching education we have now started three hundred years ago in British Empire. Therefore, to take away a system like that they will need to wipe out the root; so, it will take decades to do so.  As a matter of fact, most of the websites from the articles are tutorial’s website for teachers. They furnish info for those who does not know how to prepare a lesson plan, or those who need guidance. In my perspective in the next two decades or less scholar books will not be as important as it is today. For instance, somewhere in the article the author reported that a teacher said”I don’t ever write my own lesson plan anymore. I just give credit to the person who did.” To me, that statement shows that some teachers are lazy to read books in order to process their job properly.

The problem with Ted in tedtalk is that all his experiments were made in different villages of India only and he picked some videos in London and Australia to support his ideology. Then, he made his conclusion about future of education base on that. So, what about kids from other countries? Are they as smart as Indian kids or smarter than them? It is true that Ted did prove that very soon there will be no need for teachers in education; and he did that. Meanwhile, after scrutinizing tedtalk he said after an experiment he made several times with the Indian kids, they still had zero he stated “we need teachers.” Regardless the type of learning they use, student will always need a teacher, specifically a human being not a machine!

Actually with the evolution of technology especially the internet where teachers and students can find everything does not make education better. Before when students were doing research paper, they went to library, they read books; and that improved their thinking and made them wiser. Nowadays students find information easily, but education, especially math and science, in USA is not getting better internationally, according to http://www.pewresearch.org. There is a statement from the article, which is ““schools as we know them are obsolete” because the country no longer need teacher.” Basically, schools are obsolete because of involvement of technology; students are lazy to do educational research. They don’t spend time to read anymore. From the article a principal said “we’re at the point where the internet pretty much supplies everything we need
..” on that statement if they do not dissociate education and technology, education will never get better. In fact, the day they decide to replace teachers with machine that will be the end of education not only in USA but in every country that adapt this system.

If by any chance they attempt to replace teacher by machine, which I don’t believe that will happen, there will be a major decade in education. However, the best way for teachers to survive this fight is to get themselves efficient, get use to the new software, and the most important is to keep up with the technology.

 

 

Age of technology: Will Teachers be reduced to Facilitators . Luis

While the article is merely a prediction it is still a scary situation to ponder. What’s more intriguing is that more articles similar to the one read are appearing. This information tells me a few things such as educators all over the states are either already teaching using technology and agreeing or disagreeing with it as a tool. I can only perceive the future as an educator to be a nightmare similar to George Orwell’s 1984 if technology extinguishes teachers as dictators. If we are limited to an orthodox way the whole role as an educator becomes nothing more than an interpreter a google translator.  Technology has existed for quite some time so why hasn’t the revolution begun already ? The author comments that “all computing devices—from laptops to tablets to smartphones—are dismantling knowledge silos and are therefore transforming the role of a teacher into something that is more of a facilitator and coach.   I believe technology regardless how sophisticated can not replicate a teachers ability to make meaningful connections, pedagogy, answer questions about experiences, emotional support, deliver an activity with motivation the list can be continued.  Technology will never replace a teacher , but it can certainly reduce the profession.

As a science specialist my job is to plan activities for students in elementary schools. My first day I was given resources such as DVDs, booklets and the state manufactured curriculum including planning, exploring , summarize, of topics the whole works. My duties became facile using their format. I used one text for fifth graders and felt like it was not my class anymore so i scrapped it. What’s interesting is that the teachers in the school use the same thing no one really plans a lesson anymore. They use smart boards to play videos and games to teach students about trees and etc. Technology has already changed the field the only question is whether you’re in the boat as education sails towards a new horizon.

The best possible way for me to be prepared for the many directions education may go is to educate myself. I will never be able to have as much knowledge as the inter web ,but i can manipulate classroom instruction and teach my students the best way i see fit for which ever era presents itself.

Students have always taken charge of their own learning in the video Sugata Mitra places a computer in a remote destination and finds that children will at great lengths push themselves to learn ,but they need encourage. Students with encouragement can take charge of their own education i believe. In the video students are giving a presentation on molecular biology and the first thought was it is far easy to recite words than to express them with your own. No evidence suggests they were or weren’t the students own interpretation , but we have all done this copy and paste scenario. Are students really learning or are they memorizing.

Homework #10 -By Tyniqua Hinton

I agree with the assertions the article makes about the classroom being geared towards a more technological based learning because the schools are implementing technology more and more in the classrooms. But, as the article expresses the notion of a teacher’s job being replaced by the computer in as little as ten years from now is a bit extreme. I think we have a long way to go before there is  a program that will bring to the students the same or an improved method of teaching students what is needed for the real world and to encourage the same students to be innovative. I highly doubt that the school system would take the risk of fully implementing a computer ran classroom in order to experiment with young children in order to see if the method of teaching is more effective than the old fashioned way of teaching as a teacher being the main source of instruction in the classroom.

I am a little worried about the way the speaker in Ted Talks spoke in a way that discredits the job of an experienced educated teacher.  For there is no way a computer can assess the needs of the different types of children that enter a classroom with different needs and levels of learning. My favorite quote from the article is, ” There is a profound difference between a local expert teacher using the Internet and all its resources to supplement and improve his or her lessons, and a teacher facilitating the educational plans of massive organizations,” I say this because I like the idea of teachers getting ideas from other sources in order to maker the classroom more engaging for the students but I do not think the sole purpose of computer software to be as the main source of learning for students. A student can not ask a computer certain questions that has never before been asked or addressed while a live teacher can help a student arrive to an answer without the use of technology. This type of learning places too much responsibility on the students, especially younger students who need guidance from adults. Computers are just not well rounded when it comes to learning, because even in my own experience I tried using videos like Khan academy but it only showed me the basic concepts of what I needed to know, when my professor actually figured out the way I was thinking and was able to determine the fault in my logic.

I find that technology will be a major tool for learning throughout my career but I do find that I as well as my future colleagues have to have a firm foundation n our field of learning in order to be effective teachers because what happens when the computer crashes. We have to be prepared and not be too dependent on technology to teach our students things that we already know. While I feel technology can never replace a good or even mediocre teacher I do find that it is important to stay knowledgable about the advances in technology by taking technology courses (as we are doing now), reading informative articles about new and upcoming innovations in technology, and keeping on top of studies done by professionals that is monitoring the effects of technology in the classroom. I think the home should be the place where a self organized learning environment is key for when the teacher is not around and the parents are not as informative as we’d like them to be to guide in learning at home, but a teacher should never be replaced with a computer.

Armando Cosme-HW #10

 

The video of ted talk was a very interesting twenty something minutes. The way technology impacted these little areas of the world is truly inspiring , but if I recall, the students who were a part of this study, were being directed, or supported by a another person. At first, they did fail to grasp any information but essentially with a person there, they were being encouraged by the person to really push them to be able to make connections which is essentially what a teacher does. The only difference is, no board, no markers, no paper and pen, just words of encouragement.

The article also discusses this and the impact of technology in the classroom. Though the focus was really the change in the role of the teacher in the class room, I want to discuss a bit the another thing mentioned. I get the feeling this article is starting to say teachers are no longer needed. I get the feeling that this idea of teacher following the student-driven model not only restricts the teachers, but so does the availability of lesson plans and activities online which then lead to less preparation and less participation by the teacher in the classroom. A misconception I believe is being insinuated is that  youtube, khan academy, ted talk and many other resources available really make the job of being a teacher extremely easy such that in a way that these resources are really telling what the teacher should be doing such as goals, activities and requirements for the students. I feel the article is basically saying any average man that can fix a problem with computers can do that as well.

 

The article and the video both made me reflect a bit on the state of education and my future job. See I’m not one who is a big fan of technology. I realize that it is an amazing resource and supplement for any lessons, but I do know there are many flaws in it. Honestly, I believe the role of technology will constantly change and teachers will have to adapt to that and even change their methods of teaching but it will never replace them in the classroom. It’s an amazing resource but is is not the best way to learn. The ted talk experiment may have worked in a place far far away, but that would never work in the U.S. Many students don’t have a drive to do work, they don’t set aside time to do research. The fact that we already set aside time by law to learn is the only saving grace for them. I may have drifted a bit, but I think I made my point on the impact it would have elsewhere vs. in the U.S.

 

Respond To Article and Ted Talk Video

I agree with what the article was stating because in the current times of teaching profession now that in the classroom are using technology. In the classroom teachers used to teach students from their own knowledge but now teachers use teachers to help them teach their lesson. Teachers use different educational websites to help them to the lesson and also help the students learn. The article really connects with how teachers are teaching now currently in the different grades.

The video was similar to the article because both were talking about teaching now and also about technology. When watching the video I believe that a school should be named the cloud. A school should be named the cloud because in this day and age technology are becoming more and more advanced than 50 to 60 years ago. Technology helps a teacher from another country help students by teaching them how to speak. Technology is everywhere in the classroom now and helps the teachers with their lessons.

Teachers aren’t using their own knowledge when explaining materials to students but using to help them learn better. I believe that technology in classrooms do help students learn better than a teacher just writing on a chalkboard answering questions. Technology in the classroom is a good way for students to not be behind learning lessons. When technology are adapted into classrooms teachers need to learn how to use computer programs that they are unfamiliar with. Technology in the classroom are a positive way for classrooms and teachers to keep up modern times and teach students the way that students now are able to learn from the technology that they use in their everyday lives.

[Abdelmajid Ihda][ Respond to Article and TED talk video ]

Firstly, let me say that both the article  and the TED TALK about substituting teachers by a computer or robots are both depressing to read and watch, they both want to end a job that got our humanity to this level of knowledge, a job that provided knowledge, ideas instructions to so many of us in so many areas in life. There is no doubt that schools and teachers have played an essential role in childhood development and learning, and I’m surprised how some people who have this vision denied that fact and undermined the role of a teacher. It is true that we have everything in one hand click, even though half of it may not be true, as we all know not everything in the internet is accurate. It is also true that the role of a teacher have changed a bet but I will not call it “facilitate”, I will rather call it effective, Because if we combine the teacher and the technology our education system will get its desired outcomes. As a result, i believe that we invented all this technology for education to be teachers friends not enemies. We invented this technology to help teachers to do their job effectively and enhance students learning, we did not invented it to destroy the ability of communication and interaction of our children and society. the vision of both the article and the video just assumed that all children will some how interested and stick with learning everything like they do in schools, from history to science. They forget that the majority of children including adults are only drawn to  social media like Facebook and YouTube and anything that is a form of texting. The speaker even mentioned it in the video, he said they found that kids mostly chatting  or downloading music.

we have to be smart and think about equipping teachers with all the technology invention rather then excluding teachers from the education system. the combination of teachers with technology will have a better outcome for the educations system but thinking about killing the human connection and interaction it is not the solution . teachers and schools are not against technology like the speaker think, instead they implement anything that technology has to offer, they even downloaded  tons of lesson plan and videos to the the internet so they can help students around the world learn and grow. and by the way, that is mentioned in the article. Teachers used  technology from enhancing the learning to proving theorems, a good example is Geogebra software, where we have a visual component to some of the theorems that proven to be true. we have used the drag test to actually show that those theorems are true. In this process the teachers showed the theory side witch is the proof in the theorem and the technology showed a visual and accurate calculation to it. this is a good example of a perfect education that consist of both teacher and the technology should be. and this is what our education needs, not a robot. I’m not just saying this because I’m going to be a teacher, I’m saying this because we don’t want to put the future of the next generations in the hand of a machine.

My opinion about being a teacher will not change, I will get my degree and go into teaching and at the same time go for my master degree then my PHD. Yes the future is unpredictable, this whole idea may be true but I will not lose interest on something that I enjoy. Over all our education needs teachers and technology like geogebra and desmos,  but not a robot.

 

 

Technology vs Teachers

         After reading the article and watching the video, not only did it amaze me but it also frightened me. It’s a weird mixture. On one side, I put myself in the student position and I’m all for it. We need better teaching methods. But when I put myself in the teacher position, I see a decrease in wanting teachers.  

           Watching Sugata Mitra experiments and seeing his plans for the future made me change my vision of learning. It made me realize that children are capable of learning something new without the help of a teacher. These group of children were able to use a computer even when they did not understand the language. It also made me realize that his plan will bring some sort of equality among students. His idea is to transform classrooms into a room where all students would have access to some sort of technology. That means that not only the “rich” people will have access to best resources. Now referring to the article, I don’t entirely agree with the idea that teachers will be replaced with technology. The reason why is that as humans, we need to have some sort of interaction between each other. I understand that letting students learn on their own is good strategy but students cannot always work independently. Communicating with others is an essential tool that we are taught in classrooms. Learning this skill will be beneficial for us in our future careers.

            This article didn’t really make feel depressed nor hopeful. I would say I was in the middle. I was more amazed on how learning is changing drastically. If this was to come true, which is possible considering the increase of technology, as a future educator it would be a good idea to have some sort of a back-up plan. I should develop technological skills meaning to become more of an “expert” in using technology.

We need technology so as teachers [Zhu, Mei]

The article and the Ted Talk are new and fresh to me. At the beginning of the reading, I felt a little depressed and worry that in the future the role of teachers will be questioned and eliminated by people all over the world. For me as a future Mathematics teacher, I could not stop thinking if this became real, how I am going to face it and make a decision. However, if I were ten years old right now, I may change my dream to be another profession instead of teaching. Too late I am not a teenager anymore, and I could see myself changed through schooling. People are humans with brains to think and reasoning, with nose to smell, with eyes to see, with ears to hear, with mouth to talk, and with our hands to work. If students learn things at home alone or as a group in a room in front of the big screen, how long are these students’ interest of learning going to last? In the video, we can see that students feel excited and read after the “teacher” in the screen asked them to do so. I believe this is going to be a good success for very poor countryside that people cannot afford technology like smart phones or TVs. When a thing that can talk and even responds their questions, students will feel excited and wish that they could see the “robot” every day.

I still remembered the first time I saw and touched computers in my elementary school in China. We had to share computers with each other. I was scared to touch it because I was afraid that I would break it if I did not use it properly. I just sat there and watched my peers surfing. Even though I learned how to use computer in my junior and high school life, I did not learn actual computer skills until I came to college. I bought my first laptop when I was enrolled in BMCC because my friends all have one. I used it to translate, to search articles, and to watch some YouTube videos for learning purposes or entertainment. Technology helps us many things, but it cannot be a substitute of education. Instead, we should use it as a tool to checking our learning.

I met a girl from Hunter who never got her K-12 education in school. She had home schooling and passed the GED test. After that, she finished her Bachelor degree and also her Master in Hunter. I intended to ask her some questions and her opinions when I got this reading assignment. Even though she was a home schooling with no teachers in her teenage life, she also disagrees with the idea that technology can take the place of teachers. She told me that she was not able to do some chemistry experiments in her kitchen although she got the materials and watched videos. Also, she told me that she felt a little afraid when she entered college because she never learned how to get along and socialize with other people. She loved reading and writing, but she hates Mathematics and gives up easily when she could not solve the problem and returned to reading. From her experience, I learned that even though children can learn by self-organization, but there are some limitations that can be solved in school. For example, when a student is doing an experiment at home with instructions from the video, it is hard to prevent dangerous incidents happening if there is no instructor around.

I agree with the idea that teachers are sometimes act as a facilitator, but it is not always the case. There are so many roles that a teacher has and so many duties they need to handle. In a class, we are not just learning content knowledge but also learn how to get along well with others. We also have some activities that are not curriculum relevant. The host takes the fact that Mathematics is universal around the world, but he ignores the important part of reasoning. Even though some students know how to do the operations of Mathematics, many of them do not know how to express their opinions. They need the communications and practices with people not just staying for hours in front of a big screen. Every piece of learning needs connections. If a subject is unrelated to students’ life, students will get bored easily. Also, we learn and understand things differently. We also learn from our mistakes and the people around us. Assuming that everybody studies at home, how they are going to communicate with others and express with thoughts. Teachers not only taught us knowledge but also taught us living skills. I learned how to control myself when I was depressed, I learned how to manage my time, and I learned how to be a responsible person. There are so many things that we learned from teachers, our peers, and ourselves. Without formal education, we may not be able to define these behind every school day.

Also, in real life, it is kind of impossible to have children like in the video that they enjoyed reading with a teacher in the screen unless they feel it interesting and important. For example, I will follow after the instructor read like the one in the video because I know I need to improve my English speaking skills. Look around us, how many children know how to play Ipads and some parents feel very proud of them. They think their kids are smarter than them because in such an early age, they already commanded the skills of technology. They never think about the negative impact, even they realize it they will have nothing to do with it because it is too late. I saw my 3-year-old nephew playing his Ipad on the floor. He talked to himself and followed the behaviors inside the video with no concern that I am around. He will get mad when I chose a channel for him. We can predict that, if students self-learning at home, who is going to be the one to assist if their parents both work.

In conclusion, we need teachers and we also need technology. As teachers, we should learn corresponding technology skills to better equip ourselves. For instance, as a Mathematics teacher, he or she should be able to teach students how to use some math software to learn something outside of school. Teachers should be able to make students believe that computers are not only for entertainment but also a good place to learn and explore more things.

 

Teachers: Sage vs. Guide -Josiel

I am a very gullible person and I sometimes over think certain things. The article that I just read made me rethink about becoming an educator. And that is not cool because I am so close to finishing. It’s not a matter of me agreeing to the article but I believe it CAN happen and it’s really scary to think about it. After watching the TED talk and reading the article, I can actually see a future education where teachers are merely just facilitators and the students are learning for themselves. They are being guided and being asked questions. Michael Godsy said in his article: “-that teachers should transfer from being a ‘sage on the stage’ to being a ‘guide on the side’”. Although it rhymed it hit me.

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Homework #10: Article and video review – due Tuesday, November 22

Read this article and the video of the TED Talk mentioned in the article.

Both the article and the video discuss a possible future of education based on technology; the article questions the role of teachers in this future. Respond to both the article and the video by posting your own OpenLab post. Do you agree with the assertions in the article? Why or why not? Does the article make you feel depressed? Hopeful? It’s impossible to know exactly what the future holds, but a teacher that is adaptable has a better chance of surviving and thriving during a major change in the field; consider ways in which you think technology may change the field of education during your career. What do you think are the best ways to equip yourself for changes caused by technology?

Don’t forget to select the HW#10 category to your post. Your review should be at least 3 paragraphs long and can be as long as you like.

PS, The video focuses on how technology can change learning, not just formal classroom education. You may like to consider this as you prepare your Maple Project…is there a way to use the tool that allows students to take charge of their own learning as they do in the video?