Are you a believer, a cynic, or an inevitabilist?
A new technology occasionally has the promise (or the threat) of revolutionizing education as we know it. It is released onto the market amid a flurry of hype. What impact this technology will have in the long run on the economy, students’ daily lives, or even their minds is impossible to predict.
Over the past few decades, this has repeatedly occurred. Technologies as disparate as the smartphone, broadband internet, coding, and the computer itself have knocked on the schoolhouse door and demanded admission. Hell, I remember a fleeting time when wikis were going to transform everything. Now it’s the time of artificial intelligence.
When a new technology is introduced, educational opinion typically divides into three camps:
The first category of persons can be referred to as enthusiasts. They honestly think that the new technology will revolutionize society. They frequently hold the belief that newer is better and that using technology in the classroom would better prepare pupils for life beyond school. They are therefore enthusiastic about the potential of AI. The following characteristics of fanatics are typically true:
These are the ones that assert that “over 50% of jobs will require coding in the future” and that students need to have “21st-century skills,” and they are concerned with educating students for the workforce.
They frequently assume that integrating technology in the classroom will be adored by children. They appear to believe that the students will give each other high fives when the teacher adds, “Well, let’s ask ChatGPT.”
They believe that the old “industrial” model of education will ultimately be destroyed by this new technology, freeing up a fresh, student-centered approach. They’re more likely than not going to mention this Ken Robinson Ted Talk, as if you hadn’t been urged to view it throughout the previous 37 days of in-service.
They typically assume that whatever is happening with technology now will last forever and regard educating children to use it as a good in and of itself. implying that pupils will profit in the future by mastering current tech skills.
