Will technology replace teachers?

Technology won’t replace your empathy for your students. It won’t have a conversation with a parent about something that their child did that day. It won’t go on field trips or sing a song out of tune. It cannot replace what has kept teachers in the classroom since the beginning of time.

21century_logoby Elizabeth Goodhue

Skepticism

Sometimes, when marketing wants to sell our e-learning package, teachers meet them with skepticism. Is there really a lingering fear out there that they will be replaced? I am a teacher and the only thing on my mind about teaching is how can I make it effective? How can I engage students? How can I be sure that my students can make it in a 21st-century world?

Of course, teachers are skeptical

But they shouldn’t be. According to The Guardian, Classrooms will continue to change shape, but it’s safe to assume that there will be a human teacher at the front of them for a long time yet. Technology is a tool to help teachers do what they do best, not to replace them. Technology can enhance myriad 21st-century skills. Pick anyone of those skills from the graphic above and it can be supported with technology. But not technology alone. Students need mentors, guides, and models to steer them in an ethical direction.

Students need teachers

In a screen-centered world, students, now more than ever, need to learn how to collaborate, adapt and negotiate the world. Business leaders do not want someone who is proficient in responding to one-dimensional routine tasks that a computer generates to sell their product or negotiate business deals.

Schooling that trains students to efficiently conduct routine tasks is training students for jobs that pay minimum wage—or jobs that simply no longer exist. Justin Reich

Never Fear

When an e-learning company knocks on your virtual door, or your principal emails you a link to its product, embrace it, learn it, make it your friend. E-learning is here to stay because it will make your job easier. It will create and grade those standardized tests for you, it will do the research for you, it will engage your students with games and all of the bells and whistles that technology can provide. But it won’t replace your empathy for your students. It won’t have a conversation with a parent about something that their child did that day. It won’t go on field trips or sing a song out of tune. It cannot replace what has kept teachers in the classroom since the beginning of time. We know who we are and we know where we belong, no piece of technology ever thought differently because it can’t.

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