Robotic teachers

Working with a group of elementary students recently, I asked what jobs will be gone in the next ten years. One answer resonated with me for obvious reasons, teachers will be gone was their reply. Upon further investigation they did not believe schools would be gone, just teachers. Teachers would be replaced by robots.

When I think of the technology usage seen in a multitude of schools, there is always a sense of frustration. Is the technology being used for a good educational purposes? Or Is it being used for substitution, digital pacifying or behavior management? We want it to be taking students to places they can't possibly go without it.

Back to the students comments, what does this say about their opinion of educators? Think about it from this perspective, the robots students know today are very mechanical. They perform specific programed tasks. A robot vacuum is simple example, C3PO brings a more life-like sample to mind. Teachers are mechanical, in some students minds, they deliver content, they monitor them and than they test us. Is that what a teacher really is?

Teachers are continually striving to use technology better but we can't beat a computer at what it is best at. My continued conversations with teachers help highlight this idea. Technology is a tool and tools don't replace the operator, if used correctly. What is correctly? If the classroom is about delivering content in order to pass a test, than technology can replace us. Teachers need to start pondering if using technology is as important as questioning it? Why does my search on Google return these results? Why does my page generate these possible ads? Why does it say these people might be worth following? Using technology is becoming more and more ubiquitous and children are being more conditioned, as all of us are, to simply do what technology tells without questioning how that happened. A good example is navigation systems. Have you ever gone to the wrong location, when your instincts were telling you it was wrong, simply because that's where the digital navigation system told you to go? Next time you are headed home from work or a store, get directions from your digital device. Does it take you the way you would go? Does it take you a way that you hadn't thought of? These are the questions we need students to understand instead of the simpleness of using technology?

When thinking about what we do, how do you answer these questions?

Could you be replaced by a robot in your class today, this week, the year?

              Do your students think so?

How can you be what technology and computers aren't?

Are you helping students understand the world they live in and the technology around them? Are you helping them create questions about it?

If you feel like commenting that would be awesome....if you feel like tweeting, be brave and lets use #Notrobotteach for the tag.


Be what we are...people and use the passion that brought you into education to make it the remarkable experience are kids deserve.