BETT: Can technology replace the classroom?
- 27 JAN 2014
- BY IAN BAUCKHAM
I visited the annual BETT education technology fair in London on Saturday and took part in a panel debate on whether the classroom, or the teacher, could or should be replaced by technological advances. BETT has been running for 30 years now. It more or less coincides therefore with my teaching career. When I think back to the BBC computers and floppy disks I knew back in the 80s the fair must have looked very different back then!
Going round a fair like BETT, it is tempting to think that there is so much clever technology that surely the time is fast approaching when teachers will be superseded by computers. I think the reality is otherwise. And that's not just vested interests!
It is stating the obvious to assert that technology is changing our homes, our workplaces, and the world. We all know about 3D printers, driverless cars, and the power of the smart phone as a dashboard for controlling every aspect of our lives. It's changing the economy, the way we work, live and, yes, think, as well.
However, as a headteacher, when I look for good teaching, there isn't always a simple correlation between quality of teaching and learning on the one hand and, on the other, use of technology. Some excellent teaching I see uses ICT in only very simple ways. And some teaching, which on the surface tries to use ICT much more, turns out to be not particularly effective teaching, because students do not learn and progress as much as they might. In other words, lots of technology doesn't necessarily mean more or better learning.
And on those occasions where you see really effective learning in a technology rich environment, what is it that makes it so effective? The answer to that, of course, is the mind and hand of the teacher in the design and concept, creating the best ethos for learning, taking students from where they are forwards in a way that is communicative and engaging.
I think that all too often we look at what new technologies can do, and simply hang the latest device or software onto existing approaches to teaching - our rigid conceptions of what effective teaching strategies are. We can often be too easily wowed, seduced, by gimmickry, and in these cases the technology can actually become a barrier to learning, an obstacle in the relationship between student and teacher.
That's why research tends to show that on average technological solutions to underachievement implemented on their own are relatively ineffective, compared with other approaches. How much money has been wasted over the past thirty years on technology that promised great things but never quite delivered?
For me, good teaching and learning are about a dynamic, responsive and individualised partnershipbetween teacher and student, and, indeed, between students, something which social media increasingly facilitates.
Communication technology has the power to enrich, democratise, individualise, extend, make more informal, flexible and responsive that learning partnership. It can accelerate learner autonomy, as long as necessary skills and knowledge are properly taught first, and student learning is properly monitored and steered. But, if the concept of good learning is poorly understood, or, indeed, if the teacher thinks the technology is replacing him or her, then the technology will be a cumbersome obstacle to learning, rather than an enabler of learning partnerships.
So are either the classroom or the teacher doomed by the advance of technology? Well, the classroom will certainly change, and expand for some purposes outside its four walls. That's happening already. But school does have complementary functions, as well as just learning. Socialisation is one, and sadly refuge from chaotic and dysfunctional homes is all too often another. So there will be change, but both school and teacher will continue to be part of our social fabric.
As Melinda Gates, wife of ‘Microsoft’ Bill, said recently:
"Technology is just a tool. It’s a powerful tool. But it’s just a tool. Deep human connection is very different. It’s not a tool. It’s not a means to an end. It is the end – the purpose and the result of a meaningful life." (Melinda Gates 2013)
In preparing for the BETT debate, I found Pearson’s excellent report ‘A rich seam’ published this week very thought provoking and exciting.