Robots, Information Delivery, and Dictators

The estimable Bjorn Paige drew my attention to this article from the Atlantic in March. Michael Godsey, veteran high-school English teacher, is concerned that technology will take over his role as provider of knowledge to his students.

I describe what I think the public-school classroom will look like in 20 years, with a large, fantastic computer screen at the front, streaming one of the nation’s most engaging, informative lessons available on a particular topic. The "virtual class" will be introduced, guided, and curated by one of the country’s best teachers (a.k.a. a "super-teacher"), and it will include professionally produced footage of current events, relevant excerpts from powerful TedTalks, interactive games students can play against other students nationwide, and a formal assessment that the computer will immediately score and record.

From 1958, via Paleofuture

This is a view of students who are remarkably passive. They're all listening and learning at the same pace, on the same topic, at the same time. It's a strikingly un-imaginative vision, in which education is structured in exactly the same way as it has been for the last 60 years, only with computers!

Godsey's article is rife with concern about the loss of content delivery by teachers:

I recalled a veteran teacher who recently said with anguish, "we used to be appreciated as experts in our field."...

I don’t remember the last time I’ve attended, or even heard of, any professional-development training focused on my specific subject matter. Instead, these experiences concentrate on incorporating technology in the classroom, utilizing assessment data, or new ways of becoming a school facilitator....

At a seminar about project-based learning, I told the presenter with an increasing sense of desperation, "You know, some of us English teachers still believe that teaching literature is still our primary job." He smirked and put his pointer finger near his thumb and said, "A very little part of your job."...

The relatively recent emergence of the Internet, and the ever-increasing ease of access to web, has unmistakably usurped the teacher from the former role as dictator of subject content. These days, teachers are expected to concentrate on the "facilitation" of factual knowledge that is suddenly widely accessible. [emphasis mine]

I'm fascinated by the use of the word "dictator". It is a particularly strong word to use here, but as Godsey is an English teacher, I cannot believe it was an accidental choice. I take the intended meaning in this context to be "one who decides the course or path". A secondary meaning is, of course, political: "one who has absolute control and power". That's pretty revealing, but not nearly as revealing as a third meaning: "one who speaks". Are the students taking dictation?

If so, they shouldn't be. 21st-century education must be about students doing, not simply students listening. Students taking dictation, sitting passively, listening as a group, and proceeding all at the same pace is a vision that is just as outdated as the illustration above. Part of a new vision for education is a new role for the adult in the room. That adult needs to be much better at incorporating technology, utilizing assessment data, and becoming a school facilitator. Skill at delivering content to students is not nearly as important as it used to be. Neither is skill at cleaning a slate.

Godsey recognizes this, and laments it. Paige recognizes this, and argues that teachers' humanity can never be replaced:

The inspiration that comes from a teacher, and the interaction between a student and a teacher, is unique. It happens in classrooms and art studios and science labs. It happens in the gym and the theater and the auto shop. It happens in those thousand human moments that make up a school.

I recognize this, and I celebrate it. A variety of student-centered learning models are in use around the country, preparing students to take control of their own learning throughout their lives. Godsey doesn't like this, either:

I’ve started recognizing a common thread to the latest trends in teaching. Flipped learning, blending learning, student-centered learning, project-based learning, and even self-organized learning—they all marginalize the teacher’s expertise.

If the teacher's only expertise is "delivering factual knowledge", then this statement is true. For actual teachers (as opposed to lecturers), this statement is ridiculous on its face. Teacher-centered lecturing is the easiest thing to do in the classroom. Student-centered learning, including all the "trends" that Godsey dismisses, is incredibly difficult to do well. Far from marginalizing the teacher's expertise, these methods will place the teacher's expertise (or lack of it) smack in the center of the classroom experience.

Godsey's vision for flipped learning is in line with the rest of his vision of teaching:

[I]f I think my lesson plans or video tutorials rival some of the best on the Internet (for now), shouldn’t I be trying to make six figures on the open marketplace at teacherspayteachers.com or as a curriculum designer for a private company?

If your idea of effective teaching is writing lesson plans or making video tutorials, then you probably should be working as a curriculum designer rather than as a classroom teacher.

There's a lot more in this article to disagree with, but here's the key paragraph:

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. Why isn’t this line being publicly and sharply delineated, or even generally discussed? This line should be rigorously guarded by those who want to keep education professionals in the center of each classroom. Those calling for teachers to "transform their roles," regardless of motive or intentionality, are quietly erasing this line—effectively deconstructing the role of the teacher as it’s always been known.

Godsey has completely missed the de-centralized sharing community that has emerged in social networks, instead focusing on large organizations like Microsoft, Activate Instruction, or Edmodo. We could quibble with his choices of targets, but in general, I agree with Godsey's caution about teachers simply implementing lesson plans from corporations. But he's completely wrong that this problem is not being publicly discussed: he's just missed the discussions.

As for the claim that those of us calling for a transformation in teacher roles are "deconstructing the role of the teacher as it's always been known", I plead guilty as charged. It can't happen fast enough.