There’s a growing consensus out there that not only does education needs to be disrupted, but that the logical conclusion of such change is to digitize learning. While I agree that schools need a major overhaul, the diagnosis that education ought to be automated is completely absurd.
Two articles speak to this ideology. The first was published on TechCrunch and claimed that teachers would be replaced by technology – essentially, software can do as effective a job as a human. The second was published on the Huffington Post, stating that higher education was necessarily being disrupted by new self-service online instructional platforms that would break down the cost barriers to university.
Both articles are based on an ideology that defines learning as the accumulation of knowledge – I would contest such a notion. To be truly educated means one must be able to think critically, to synthesize different facets of knowledge, to effectively express one’s self to others, and to learn how to learn. Education of this depth can never be adequately facilitated by an online platform powered by multiple-choice exams.
There’s no doubt that the way schools currently operate needs disruption. The traditional model features a teacher transmitting “knowledge” into the empty brains of students. This is the way most schooling occurs, from grade school to grad school. This model lends itself greatly to replication online. Indeed, why should any student go to a physical building or pay thousands to attend university if the quality of the education can be obtained cheaper or more conveniently from an internet connection.
In this sense, the disruptive forces of these so-called innovations are good. They are prompting brick-and-mortar education to up their game and change their modus operandi. To survive in such an environment, face-to-face learning will need to become more valuable that a simple one-to-many transmission of static knowledge.
In its replacement will emerge collaborative, multi-disciplinary, engaged, and personalized learning that delves into the deep questions. Teachers will no longer be “teachers” but rather facilitators of the learning process.
Technology will play a part in enabling this shifting of roles and learning environments, but it will never outright replace the vast majority of face-to-face education. In depth education is simply too multi-faceted, complex, and ever-changing for algorithms to ever produce.
